Any time that I have a meaty bone(s), I make a pot of stock. I typically toss in some coarsely chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic, maybe a bell pepper, and various herbs from the garden. Put it on low and let it simmer over night. Then I refrigerate it to separate the fat. I pour it through a sieve (sometimes using cheese cloth if I have it handy). (I dig through the remnants and pull out any meat or gristle and chop it up finely to mix with the dogs' food - nothing goes to waste!)
But how to store it?
I have several extra large (2") silicon ice cube trays. Each one holds roughly 1/3 cup of stock. (These are typically used for whiskey/scotch.)
I typically end up with around a half gallon or so of stock, which works out to 24 cubes.
After they are frozen, I put four each into 1 quart zip locks (don't zip the bags!) and then put all the zip lock bags of cubes into a large vacuum-seal bag. This way, the cubes don't make the bag wet and difficult to reseal. I can open the bag, take out what I need and reseal. (Note: when taking the cubes out of the tray and putting in the zip lock bags, I do one tray at a time and put the bags back in the freezer while I do the next tray. Stuff melts too quickly even on a cold spring day like today (50s).)
I label each vacuum seal bag with the type of stock and date.
Here's the batch that I did today. (The zippers of the zip lock bags are all hidden between the cubes, but they are there...)
Really convenient!
I'm sure most of you know this already, but hopefully it has inspired some of you to make and keep homemade stock on hand. It's great for just about everything!
But how to store it?
I have several extra large (2") silicon ice cube trays. Each one holds roughly 1/3 cup of stock. (These are typically used for whiskey/scotch.)
I typically end up with around a half gallon or so of stock, which works out to 24 cubes.
After they are frozen, I put four each into 1 quart zip locks (don't zip the bags!) and then put all the zip lock bags of cubes into a large vacuum-seal bag. This way, the cubes don't make the bag wet and difficult to reseal. I can open the bag, take out what I need and reseal. (Note: when taking the cubes out of the tray and putting in the zip lock bags, I do one tray at a time and put the bags back in the freezer while I do the next tray. Stuff melts too quickly even on a cold spring day like today (50s).)
I label each vacuum seal bag with the type of stock and date.
Here's the batch that I did today. (The zippers of the zip lock bags are all hidden between the cubes, but they are there...)
Really convenient!
I'm sure most of you know this already, but hopefully it has inspired some of you to make and keep homemade stock on hand. It's great for just about everything!
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