Stendahl's Short-Cut Brown Stock

 

This is another recipe from NYC food critic Stendahl. 

Ingredients

1 pound beef short ribs

1 carrot, chopped

2 pounds veal bones

1 celery stalk, chopped

herbs of choice

1 onion chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

bit of flour

***Sprinkle chopped fresh parsley, thyme, marjoram, etc. Optional: add a good dash of Tabasco Sauce. NO SALT OR PEPPER T THIS STAGE, EVER***

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

2. Line a large roasting pan with the cur up beef, bones, and vegetables. sprinkle lightly with flour, and roast for 1/2 hour. 

3. Turn everything over and roast for another 1/2 hour. If the bones get a bit blackened, good. 

4. Transfer all to an 8-quart pot. Add water to fill the pot after you put in the meat and vegetables. 

5. Slowly bring pot to a boil. Skim off the scum with a spoon. 

6. Add the herbs, partially cover, and simmer for several hours - at least 4. 

7. Cool. Skim fat from the top and strain the stock through a fine sieve or cheesecloth.

8. Pour stock into paper cups, seal, and freeze. It's ready for a soup, stew or gravy base when needed. 

Freezing in paper cups is an interesting direction, but given that it is from anywhere from 1960 to 1980 I am not that surprised.

Simplified Brown Stock

 

 

 

 

 

This recipe is an interesting enigma. As you can see in the picture, Hi-Ho wrote, "I sent for this" and when I called my Dad, in my writing, he said it was a business acquaintance. But the internet tells me that Stendahl was a New York City Food critic. The article (or rather his obituary) states, "Arthur W. Bernal, who under the name Stendahl was a food and restaurant critic for The Daily News and WNCN-FM radio, died Sunday morning at his home in Bayside, Queens. He was 78 years old. All the above is likely true, but this piece of paper has three recipes, two for stock and one for demi-glaze.

Where was this recipe when I tinkered with making it at home!?

Directions

"Escoffier and other cookbooks detail stock-making methods that take many hours. A very simple way to get a usable stock is merely to throw your left over meats, plus a few vegetables, into a big pot of water and to simmer for 3 or 4 hours. Strain and keep in the fridge. If you do not use the stock within five days, boil it up again adding a few more bits of meat and vegetables. "

General Stock

 This recipe definitely came from Merry Meeting Farm in Stonington. 

"4 pounds fresh trimmings of lean meat and bones. Put in saucepan with some salt and 5 quarts water. Boil. Skim and add carrots and onions. Cover and let simmer for 5 hours. Strain and pour into bowl"

Chicken Stock

After making all that vegetable stock, I felt like I was on a roll and ready to tackle the world. In the freezer I had noticed many bones and bags of meat, incorrectly assuming they were pig for Shane to make pea soup out of!

But no! These are all poultry carcasses saved from a winters worth of eating! That one all the way in the back might even be our Thanksgiving Turkey!

Easy recipe...followed the one in Food in Jars and in my Pressure canners direction booklet.

Look at the time - almost 10 and canner coming up to pressure!

Waiting is the longest part!

6 quarts in the canner!

The chicken stock is such a rich golden color unlike the browner vegetable stock color.

Vegetable Stock

All winter I have been saving every vegetable scrap from the kitchen and freezing it instead of composting it. I did so for the purpose of making stock. This was probably one of the more sustainable things I have ever done. It was a good use of time and to get myself primed for using my pressure canner more often.

See that there thing on the left freaks me out!

All those gauges and buttons and rules and stuff make me cringe. It makes me want to whimper in a corner and cry for my Mommy. The hot water bath is just SO MUCH EASIER!

Frankly, pressure canners bring back a bad memory from high school when a poorly sealed espresso maker exploded in the kitchen. The bang and his caused most of us to hit the floor. I don't know that I've ever entirely recovered.

Here's the 3 Quarts of Vegetable Stock going into the pressure canner.

Here they are coming out. Just noticing it, but how the heck did my lid get such a dent in it?

These 6 pints are waiting to go in. Voila! They are done! 3 quarts and 6 pints worth from roughly 3 freezer bags full of scraps.

Quick Pickled Vegetables

One of our favorite meals to make is spring rolls with pickled vegetables, very similar to Bahn Mi and other Vietnamese meals. I immediately thought of the coming spring weather and this healthy meal when presented with Aprils Food in Jars Mastery Challenge - Quick Pickles. This very easy one jar wonder makes a wonderful crispy pickle for any dish.

Ingredients
A variety of veggies (I used a carrot, a cucumber, a celery stalk, a piece of pepper)
one wide mouth 1/2 quart mason jar
For pickling juice: 
1 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. coriander seed
1 tsp. peppercorns
1 bay leaf
lemon zest

Process
1. Prepare your vegetables and cut to roughly the height of the jar.

2. Using one of my favorite kitchen utensils, cut the vegetables into tiny strips. If not julienne them. 

3. Pack them into the jar in alternating layers of color.

4. Reserve what ever scraps you have for vegetable stock and store in the freezer.

5. In a small sauce pan, prepare the pickling juice.

6. Bring pickling juice to a boil over high heat and allow continue heating for a minute or so.

7. Pour hot pickling juice over vegetables in the Mason jar.

8. Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to use.

HERE IT IS HANGING OUT WITH ITS FRIENDS

My quick pickled vegetables are ready to go any time but for now I will just let them get tasty while resting with the salt preserved lemons and the Strawberry, blackberry, blueberry shrub I made for this week's mocktails.

Mushroom Stock

This mushroom stock is or can be used in many of the recipes in this blog.
Ingredients
1 to 2 pounds mushrooms
2 cups cold water
stalk of celery chopped
one clove

Process

1. Combine ingredients and bring to a boil.
   
2. Reduce heat and bring to a simmer.
   
3. Simmer 30 minutes.
   
4. Strain and extract all liquid.
   
5. Save in airtight container in refrigerator.
   

Potato Cream Soup

Yesterday our kids were playing in a leaf pile. I watched our 2 year old leave the pile and make repeated trips over to the stone wall. I walked over and saw that he was piling leaves and dirt on the wall. I said, "Hey! What are you making?" and he said,

"Soup!"

I think Mom would be so proud.

Ingredients
2 large Idaho Potatoes
1 cup cream
stock (from prior recipe)
salt
pepper
parsley

Process

• Peel and boil potatoes
• Drain and mash with 1 cup cream.
  
• Mix with stock
• Add salt and pepper and chopped parsley to taste.
  
• Reheat.
  

Simple, frugal, and tasty!

General Stock

This is a handy recipe to have with Thanksgiving coming!

You will also need this recipe made and on hand for some of the next soup recipes.

I love soup!

Ingredients
4 pounds lean meat
bones
salt
5 quarts water
carrots
onions

Process

• Put 4 pounds lean meat and bones in a pot with some salt and 5 quarts water.
• Boil
• Skim
• Add carrots and onions
• Cover and let simmer for 5 hours.
  
• Strain and pour into bowl.
  

I would then reserve the carrots and onions for a side dish for dinner. They must taste great!