Vegetable Stock Concentrate
Vegetable Stock Concentrate
Why do I make vegetable stock? This was a question that I asked myself and my husband, and it got me to thinking. Here are the main reasons why.
- I like cooking.
- I like to use the sad and tired vegetables and left overs cuttings.
- Do not like all the artificial and unnecessary preservatives that are of often added to a store-bought one. So lets look at those 3 points in detail.
Point number 1.
I am an avid home-cook who has been cooking since I was little, I really do not remember the age I started cooking. But it has always been a big part of my life. Our families small claim to fame is that my grandfather, who was a head chef in the Royal British Navy. He once cooked for the Queen when she came aboard one of the ships that he was serving on. Like I said, it is a small claim.
My grandfather, he is the one in the centre holding the big stick. Photo was taken some time in the early 1937. As you can see this is a very old photo.
My mother was a good cook, never trained.
When I was growing up, there was always a stock pot on the wood stove simmering away. Because we home killed all our meat, there was always either mutton bones or chicken carcasses and lots of home grown seasonal vegetables in a pot simmering away.
The smell was divine. Gave the kitchen a wonderful country aroma. So that is where the love of cooking comes from, now on to point number 2.
My mother was the most frugal cook and person I have ever met. She wasted nothing, she would save everything. Her stocks were made of bones, and I even saw a few sheep’s heads being boiled, which my dad and mum would eat with great delight, and the water was always saved for soup. I can still see those eyes of the boiled sheep’s head now, not something I could ever eat. Those nights I only ate vegetables or went to bed hungry, no way was I eating boiled sheep’s head. And guess what? I would still not eat boiled sheep’s head.
Her stocks were always very robust with flavour, something I try to strive for with mine. My mother would have adored having a MyCook kitchen robot in her kitchen, It would have made her time pressed life a lot easier.
Remember: the whole point of making your own stock is that you don’t get the same thing every time. I have never included a vegetable that hasn’t worked, even ones you won’t suspect like beetroots, cucumbers, lettuces and courgettes.
It is hard to be exact when making stock because it depends upon the vegetables you like, the vegetables you have, and what the stock is to be used for. It’s also worth mentioning that if you don’t have tomatoes, for example, don’t worry, just include something else to make up for it.
When I get home from food shopping, and begin putting away the fresh produce, I cut everything to size to fit into my containers in the fridge. So I often get ends of things like the springs onions and celery that are always a bit too long for the container. These go into a bag and any sad vegetables that are in the fridge are also placed into that bag. And this becomes my stock.
You can also keep a bag in the freezer with bits of vegetables to be made into stock. I like to keep my broccoli stalks and cauliflower stalks as well. Save everything.
I like to add seaweed to mine because that is the only way you will get me to eat anything fishy and It just disappears into the stock and adds a nice touch to it.
Enough of point number 2, I have already typed 605 words and the story is not finished. Now on to point number 3.
Store bought stocks. My pet hate. They taste disgusting. I would rather not have any stock than use a bought one. The are over salty, have preservatives added to them, some even have MSG added. Reading the labels on them does my head in. Sometimes I think you need to have a degree in science to read labels on food.
Food example label, salt it the first ingredient. So that means most of the stock is salt. They always have the largest quantity of any ingredient first.
Label example number 2. This vegetable stock has milk in it. And to be really honest, who knows what else, because if you have an allergy to soybean, peanut, sesame, egg, fish and crustacea. This label is saying that these products could be in it. On this box else where they proudly state *no added MSG*
I do not understand why you need sugar in vegetable stock or milk. Come on, milk in stock? Ewwww. And this is in a vegetable stock concentrate. And what are natural flavour’s ? Have you ever asked that question?.
By making the stock from real ingredients, would that not constitute as natural flavours?. Vegetables are naturally sweet, or are they adding more sugar to make us use more, play on our sweet tooth?.
The next point is why does salt have to be the third ingredient after water? Is it to keep the product for a long time on the shelf?. I do not like the taste or want a product that will keep forever. It is not a fresh product then.
Then comes the question, made on equipment that also processes products containing soybean, peanut, sesame, egg, fish and Crustacea. Well, my friend who is allergic to egg can not use this product or the people who are vegan can not use this product, and what about the people who are allergic to peanuts.
So the only way around this is to make your own.
The 2 packets I purchased for research were the better of the brands on the shelves at the supermarket. I stopped buying stock years ago when I learnt to read labels. Now I can not go back to them. I actually feel sick when I taste them, I think I would rather eat that sheep’s head stock first, and that’s pushing it for me.
So these are my personal reasons and opinions for making my own vegetable stock, and the MyCook Premium makes it so easy to do. 30 minutes from start to finish. Too easy. It is quicker than driving down to the shop and buying some. And the cost saving is huge. But I will let you work that one out for your self.
If you want more information on the MyCook Premium, check the Ozcook web site or give me a call. I would love to show you how easy it is to make vegetable stock.
- 90 ml water, (one cap full of the Mycook )
- 40 grams oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Small chilli, optional
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 2 mushrooms
- 20 grams sea salt
- Small handful kelp, cut up as small as possible
- Fresh herbs sprigs, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, rosemary (these are what I had in my garden)
- Vegetable off cuts,
- Eg: broccoli stalks, cauliflower stalks, spring onion tops, tops off Celeriac root or some celery pieces.
- Place oil in the Mycook jug, heat for 2 minutes, at 120 degrees, saute fuction.
- Cut the onion into 4 pieces, add the onion and garlic to the Mycook jug.
- Cook for 3 minutes, 120 degrees, Saute function
- Cut up the rest of the ingredients into smallish pieces. Try to make them all roughly the same size.
- Add the cut up vegetables and rest of ingredients to the Mycook jug.
- Cook for 20 minutes, at 120 degrees, on speed 1.
- When cooked, scrape down, Leave to cool for 10 minutes. Using the turbo function, pulse in short bursts till you get your desired texture. Stop and check how it is going and scrape down if needed.
- When done leave to cool, then place into small freezer proof containers and freeze.
- Because this recipe is low in salt, it will not keep long in the fridge. If you want a longer keeping product, add more salt. 1 Tablespoon = about 1 stock cube.
The ingredients from the sauteing to the finished product. Added in order. Do not exceed the max line in the jug.
The top photo is mine, in thier little containers ready for freezing and the bottom photo of a store bought one. The store bought looks like gel and tasted like a salty ball of Gelatin