Do you need a great stock recipe? Homemade stock is the basis for many great soup recipes. You can control the meat and vegetables you include, and you can also control the amount of salt added. Read on to learn how to make stock that will enrich your soups, sauces, and gravies.

Purchased stock is generally high in sodium, and low in real flavor. When you start with your own meat and vegetables, you control both the taste and the nutrition of your stock. Stocks are simple to make, and while the take several hours to cook, the preparation time is minimal.

Recipes for stock and broth vary by cook, but the terms themselves are interchangeable. Some people attribute lesser or greater amounts of salt and seasoning to one or the other, others state that true broth is not made with bones, and still others say the term refers to the use (stock being used for sauces and gravies, broth being the term for the same liquid when its used for soup). French, Spanish, and Italian only have one word for the liquid - its only in North America that you find both the words stock and broth.http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/food-cooking-questions-discussion/46550-stock-vs-broth.html

Regardless of what you call it, this page will teach you how to make stock (or broth), step by step.

In order to make stock, you'll need to fill a pot with meats and vegetables, then fill the pot with water, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours. Some ingredients you may wish to include in your stock include:

Basic Stock Ingredients

• Onions, scallions, or leeks
• Celery
• Carrots
• Bay leaves
• Peppercorns
• Cloves
• Mushrooms
• Parsley

Select Meat, Poultry, or Fish

• Cooked carcasses, meat, and bones
• Chicken skin, necks, and giblets
• Fish heads and bones

Do Not Use

• Smoked meats
• Oily strong flavored fish
• Strong flavored vegetables such as cabbage

To make a brown stock, you'll need to roast the ingredients in a hot oven before making the stock. If you make your stock in a Dutch oven, you can roast he meat and vegetables in the same pot you'll make the stock in, ensuring you don't lose any of the browned bits when you transfer the contents of a roasting pan to a soup pot. Toss the ingredients (excluding the seasonings) with a bit of olive oil and roast for about 30 minutes at 365 F.

The easiest way to defat stock is to refrigerate it over night so that it congeals. If you are in a hurry, you can try one of these approaches:

1. Use a spoon to spoon off fat as it rises to the top.
2. Mop the top of the stock with a paper towel to absorb the fat. Wrapping the paper towel around an ice cube improves the efficacy of this approach.
3. Place the stock in small quantities in the freezer to chill it quickly, and skim off the fat.