Yep, and it was great. Had a freezer full of bones so made a big batch of stock, that is where it's at. Came out really good. Still working on seasoning but it was one of the best I've made
When making stock, I start with the bones, celery, onion, garlic and bay leaves in the pot. Then I cover it with cold water and use low heat. I NEVER let it get to a boil...only simmering. That's important because the gel is able to get out of the cartilage and into the stock. When you refrigerate stock it should come out like jello the next morning. I simmer it overnight if I have an electric range. I'm afraid to leave gas on over night in case the flame goes out and you have gas on over night. Most houses don't have a hood vented to the outside. If you boil it, the cartilage and bone sears and no marrow can seep out into the stock.
Same procedure as above. But in a dry saute pan heat up the raw shells...whether they're shrimp or crab shells. If they're already boiled, you can skip the cooking them part.
Thanks for the stock recipe. I've always been somewhat disappointing with my stocks and I'm eager to try your simmering method. For us amateur chefs without an electric range, there's always a slow cook crock pot which I'll use and not worry about gas poisoning or blowing up the homestead. Have you ever tried adding egg shells to your stock concoction...? Back in the late seventies, during an extended walk about in my hippie days, I spent a winter month in Yosemite. I was fortunate to find a job working at the incredible Awahnee Hotel Restaurant which due to copyright issue has since changed its name to the Yosemite Hotel. There's a link below and while the grounds and building are as beautiful as ever, the current menu has no relationship to the truly gourmet fare then offered at the Awahnee. I was the night kitchen clean-up man. While not a glamorous job, I never ate so well in my life! The chef, a German trained fellow with a classical education fluently spoke the major romance languages. What a great chef and manager he was. He had a piano in the kitchen and during hectic times, would play classical music for us. Once the kitchen closed, I worked alone for around four hours or so until the morning bakers arrived. Besides my clean up duties, every hour, I added fresh bones, vegetables and egg shells to a giant simmering pot which was floor level and stood three feet tall. The two most difficult parts of my job were avoiding the temptation to feed all the wild animals which frequented the area around the locked trash cans just outside and not eating too much so as to save room for the fresh baked sweet rolls and biscuits which started coming out of the ovens around 6am. https://www.opentable.com/the-majestic-yosemite-hotel
To make a bouillon or clarify the stock, you make what's called a "raft". Its a bunch of raw scrambled eggs that you gingerly add to the surface of the stock. It cooks and floats on top if you whip the eggs enough and trap a lot of air in the eggs. As the stock simmers, solid particles get stuck to the underside of the raft. Eventually as time passes, the stock clarifies and you gently remove the raft and give it to the dog, or raccoons, or grizzly bears. Lol
I never added the shells, but I bet they add calcium to the stock...a kind of salt. Salt makes other flavors taste better. There's salt in ice cream. Leave out the pinch of salt in bread dough and the bread is terrible.
This morning I thought it would be a great day for gumbo. Bought shrimp, crabmeat, oysters and gumbo crabs. And beer. It was getting colder by the minute so when I got home I thought I was all set and wouldn't have to leave the house again. I wanted to make some cornbread to eat with it but I saw I didn't have the box of cornbread mix I thought I had. Oh, well, I just won't have cornbread. Then I started to make the roux and found out I was out of flower. Got back into my eskimo clothes and bought flour and cornbread mix. If I had been one of those jarheads like some people around here I would probably have had some jar roux. Anyway I just finished a big bowl of gumbo and some fried shrimp and oysters. Now I'm really all set to not have to get out of the house tomorrow. Unless I run out of beer.
That made me chuckle. I had to run to the store today for oil to make cornbread. It was not busy at all unlike yesterday. I made chicken tortilla soup with my cornbread. It was really good
