Is there any use to keeping the leftover food used to create stock?
February 15, 2016 10:05 AM Subscribe
I've never really been much of a cook, but since New Years I've been trying to change that. Lately, I've been making some soups, but I'm finding the leftover vegetables and chicken are pretty flavourless...though I feel a bit guilty just throwing out the leftover food. Is there any use to keeping it?
I always leave the vegetables/meat in the soup, to add substance to my soup. But then, I don't like stock.
And generally: when in doubt, add spice(s).
posted by jb at 10:20 AM on February 15, 2016
And generally: when in doubt, add spice(s).
posted by jb at 10:20 AM on February 15, 2016
Technically it isn't leftover food, because all the "food" is now part of your stock, and you can surely discard the part that's left over.
posted by Namlit at 10:21 AM on February 15, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Namlit at 10:21 AM on February 15, 2016 [2 favorites]
I puree some of the onions and carrots and add them back to the stock, especially chicken stock, for body.
posted by Dolley at 10:22 AM on February 15, 2016
posted by Dolley at 10:22 AM on February 15, 2016
i'm confused. are you trying to make soup from vegetables and chicken that are leftover from other meals? or do you have chicken and vegetables that are leftover from making soup?
posted by andrewcooke at 10:34 AM on February 15, 2016
posted by andrewcooke at 10:34 AM on February 15, 2016
Response by poster: I'm making stock using fresh vegetables and chicken. My question is about using the food that is leftover after the stock has been made.
posted by Proginoskes at 10:40 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Proginoskes at 10:40 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
I make stock from vegetable scraps that wouldn't go into the meal anyway: carrot peels, onion skins (not too many of these), celery ends, etc. I keep a pot in the fridge and bring it out to simmer while I'm preparing the meal, tossing in scraps as I go, then return it to the fridge after we've eaten, first giving it a quick-cool in a sink full of cold water.
Maybe try that for a bit and see if it suits you?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:46 AM on February 15, 2016 [7 favorites]
Maybe try that for a bit and see if it suits you?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:46 AM on February 15, 2016 [7 favorites]
You should be using chicken carcasses for stock. The butcher will have these, organic chicken thighs and wings can sub-in. You can pull the raw meat off the thighs and freeze it for future use.
Don't sweat throwing out the veg - once you've simmered it a few hours to a day, the magic there is gone.
I think technically, boiling water + meat + veg = broth, not stock.
If you have chicken breast you boiled hanging around... It's probably rubbery and flavorless. Salt might help, but likely, it's cashed out.
Anyway, use bones not meat. Problem solved.
posted by jbenben at 10:49 AM on February 15, 2016 [8 favorites]
Don't sweat throwing out the veg - once you've simmered it a few hours to a day, the magic there is gone.
I think technically, boiling water + meat + veg = broth, not stock.
If you have chicken breast you boiled hanging around... It's probably rubbery and flavorless. Salt might help, but likely, it's cashed out.
Anyway, use bones not meat. Problem solved.
posted by jbenben at 10:49 AM on February 15, 2016 [8 favorites]
I make stock too sometimes and toss the vegetables because they're nothing but mushy fiber after simmering for a stock. All the minerals and flavor are in the stock so it's not a huge waste. If you want the vegetables to be part of a soup, you should cook them for a shorter period to get both stock and edible vegetables that aren't flavorless mush.
As for meat - I would never throw out meat. Chicken meat in and of itself isn't good for stocks, anyways. That's what the bones and otherwise inedible bits are good for. Save your chicken meat for eating, not for stock-making. If you want chicken stock, buy cuts with the bone in. Use the bones to add to the stock and save the meat for something else.
posted by atinna at 10:50 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
As for meat - I would never throw out meat. Chicken meat in and of itself isn't good for stocks, anyways. That's what the bones and otherwise inedible bits are good for. Save your chicken meat for eating, not for stock-making. If you want chicken stock, buy cuts with the bone in. Use the bones to add to the stock and save the meat for something else.
posted by atinna at 10:50 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
YouTube for lessons on how to de-bone a whole chicken if you want to control source and freshness of the bones used. Same recommendation - use the bones in your stock, freeze or cook the meat as you like.
posted by jbenben at 10:51 AM on February 15, 2016
posted by jbenben at 10:51 AM on February 15, 2016
If there's onion, garlic, or any other alliums in the mix, you cannot give it to dogs or cats.
I try to only use the second-rate stuff for my stock - the weird carrots, limp celery, a dropped onion (or just several days' onion cast-offs). I use a pressure cooker now, and 1lb wings per quart (since wings come recommended by Serious Eats, though ideally you might have some breast, maybe trimmings), and do at least one if not two 90m pressure cycles.
I thank the final dregs for their service and toss them. I'm trying to find a source for wings with the least awful packaging, which is probably net far worse than the minimal food waste from making stock.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:56 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
I try to only use the second-rate stuff for my stock - the weird carrots, limp celery, a dropped onion (or just several days' onion cast-offs). I use a pressure cooker now, and 1lb wings per quart (since wings come recommended by Serious Eats, though ideally you might have some breast, maybe trimmings), and do at least one if not two 90m pressure cycles.
I thank the final dregs for their service and toss them. I'm trying to find a source for wings with the least awful packaging, which is probably net far worse than the minimal food waste from making stock.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:56 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
I make stock from vegetable scraps that wouldn't go into the meal anyway: carrot peels, onion skins (not too many of these), celery ends, etc. I keep a pot in the fridge and bring it out to simmer while I'm preparing the meal, tossing in scraps as I go, then return it to the fridge after we've eaten, first giving it a quick-cool in a sink full of cold water.
I was going to suggest the same sort of reverse-engineering solution. If feeling like you're wasting food really bugs you (it bugs me), you can also store up the stock ingredients in the freezer if you're going to make a big batch of stock at a later date.
The edible-but-not appealing vegetable trimmings can just go into a bag in the freezer every time you've got some left over from preparing this or that. Make some chicken drumsticks? The bones can go in the stock bag, etc.
The other solution is to peruse the gnarliest-looking clearance produce that's suitable stock material. It's probably not going to sell anyway, so you're repurposing something the market or store is going to end up chucking out.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:12 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was going to suggest the same sort of reverse-engineering solution. If feeling like you're wasting food really bugs you (it bugs me), you can also store up the stock ingredients in the freezer if you're going to make a big batch of stock at a later date.
The edible-but-not appealing vegetable trimmings can just go into a bag in the freezer every time you've got some left over from preparing this or that. Make some chicken drumsticks? The bones can go in the stock bag, etc.
The other solution is to peruse the gnarliest-looking clearance produce that's suitable stock material. It's probably not going to sell anyway, so you're repurposing something the market or store is going to end up chucking out.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:12 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
An Everlasting Meal is a lovely read on this very subject. You'll never throw out onion skins again!
posted by Elsie at 11:45 AM on February 15, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Elsie at 11:45 AM on February 15, 2016 [5 favorites]
If you make stock using a whole, fresh chicken, then yes, you should be separating the meat from the bones after you make the stock, then chopping the meat and using it in the soup. You probably won't find a way to use the vegetables, though; they'll be pretty spent by that point.
That said, I don't think there's any reason to make stock with fresh, whole chicken and vegetables. It's thriftier (and IMO, more staisfying) to make stock out of what are already scraps. Get in the habit of saving and freezing chicken carcasses and bones, meat bones, onion peels, carrot peels and ends, celery butts, etc., that are left over from your cooking. When these reach a critical mass, make stock. Afterward, throw the scraps out—no guilt there.
posted by toomuchkatherine at 11:58 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
That said, I don't think there's any reason to make stock with fresh, whole chicken and vegetables. It's thriftier (and IMO, more staisfying) to make stock out of what are already scraps. Get in the habit of saving and freezing chicken carcasses and bones, meat bones, onion peels, carrot peels and ends, celery butts, etc., that are left over from your cooking. When these reach a critical mass, make stock. Afterward, throw the scraps out—no guilt there.
posted by toomuchkatherine at 11:58 AM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mash everything up, mix with some potato and fry. It's not the most delicious thing you've ever eaten, but it saves it going to waste. Maybe add some spice or herbs or even more fresh veg. I like it rolled into balls and deep fried.
posted by Solomon at 12:22 PM on February 15, 2016
posted by Solomon at 12:22 PM on February 15, 2016
Chicken backs and feet (cleaned) make the best chicken stock, once you've reduced them to soup, throw the bones away. Don't feel bad about the veggies, if you've read Bunnicula, you'll know that they're pale after having the flavors and vitamins sucked out of them.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:24 PM on February 15, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:24 PM on February 15, 2016 [6 favorites]
Throw away the stuff you've used to make stock. Don't use expensive ingredients (for instance chicken breast meat) to make stock in the first place.
(Edit - people's definitions here differ. For instance, I've read recipes suggesting one throw away the meat used for chicken soup and then use new meat to serve it. Well, in my world, you boiled a chicken into soup; but you also ate every scrap of that meat, either in the soup or alongside, later on. Same for the vegetables. But if you're just making stock itself, then you can do that with bones.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:04 PM on February 15, 2016
(Edit - people's definitions here differ. For instance, I've read recipes suggesting one throw away the meat used for chicken soup and then use new meat to serve it. Well, in my world, you boiled a chicken into soup; but you also ate every scrap of that meat, either in the soup or alongside, later on. Same for the vegetables. But if you're just making stock itself, then you can do that with bones.)
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:04 PM on February 15, 2016
When I make chicken soup (not stock), I use a whole chicken. I then sometimes use the meat & some of the vegetables in various ways - minced with soy sauce & ginger to stuff in wonton wrapper dumplings, mixed with rice & salsa (or mole sauce), or blended in a tomato sauce for pasta. Basically anything where I can add lots of flavor to replace what's been cooked out.
posted by judith at 9:52 PM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by judith at 9:52 PM on February 15, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you are boiling chicken breasts to make soup, you could shred the flavorless chicken and use it as the base to make various types of Mexican food: enchiladas, tacos, burritos, etc. Or sliders. Use a lot of seasoning and/or sauce.
But I'm on the team that says use scraps to make soup or stock. Strip the carcass of edible meat to set aside, boil the gross stuff, strain, and throw it away. Then make soup out of the reserved meat along with your vegetables.
posted by CathyG at 7:52 AM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
But I'm on the team that says use scraps to make soup or stock. Strip the carcass of edible meat to set aside, boil the gross stuff, strain, and throw it away. Then make soup out of the reserved meat along with your vegetables.
posted by CathyG at 7:52 AM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
They don't have much flavor left, but you can puree the spent vegetables and add them to soups, stews, or curries for body (as a thickener).
I found a chowhound topic on this, but the answer is that they've pretty much given everything already.
posted by bookdragoness at 10:13 AM on February 15, 2016 [2 favorites]