I have various stashes of jarred food-stuffs (a term my grandad uses and I adore it, reminds me of a Oregon Trail trading post or something) that every once in a while I have to take some time to replenish. These are things I use throughout the week and have come to need in my cooking. The most important of these is my frozen jars of stock. So far I have only made chicken stock as I find that to be the most versatile (and you’ve seen my freezer, which necessitates some restrictions), but making a fish or beef broth is an eventual plan.
I use the stock mainly for a soup base or to cook rice. Homemade stock is one of those things where the time you put to make it yourself saves a lot of money and the quality is unsurpassed by any store-bought option (even those wastefully-packaged boxes). I used to use stock for extra flavor and now I understand that it is adding much more to my food. Broth brings out minerals in the meat, bones, and veggies in a form that is very easy for our bodies to absorb. The gelatin that forms from the simmer is essential to digestion and overall health. It may be a cheesy metaphor now but stocks heal. There are much more specifics about this to be found here: Broth is Beautiful
So, I bring this up to clarify a description in a previous post on Turkey Soup. This is a pre-Nourishing Traditions post (that is pre me actually owning the book, as are most from before the New Year) and described the solidified state of the cooled soup as being indicative of fat. I should have realized that the gelatinous quality was, well, gelatin. As I was making my batch of stock last week and skimming the hardend fat off the top of the cooled and jiggly broth, I realized that fat doesn’t gel up, it rises to the top. The longer you simmer the stock the more jello-y it will become when cooled and that is only making the stock even better for you. It is rich, which is what I noticed about the turkey broth. While fats are good and important, that isn’t what makes an excellent or a rich broth, so give your stock time for a long simmer and drink up!
Chicken Soup with Rice (rather than white wheat noodles), makes for a texture that is just as comforting and much more nourishing. P.S. This made one chicken breast make four meals.
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