I often think that if times got really hard, we could survive on bones.
Last weekend, I made a lot of stock. Monday was a public holiday, so I had a bit of extra time to potter around in the kitchen. And I’m completely addicted to making stock. There’s something incredibly rewarding about eking out every last bit of goodness from bones which most people would throw away.
I use a technique I learnt years ago from YouTube, and I’ve got my method down pat now…
- chicken carcases or pork bones or beef soup bones (brisket) or just about any other boney bits
- cold water to cover the bones by an inch (2cm) or so – usually 3 – 4 litres
- salt, to taste
- 2 onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- black pepper corns, to taste
- peeled thumb of ginger, sliced (optional – I usually only add this to chicken stock)
Note: please follow the instructions for your pressure cooker – most specify not to fill more than 2/3 full.
1. Rinse the bones to remove any small splintery bits, then place them inside the base of a large pressure cooker (mine has an 8 litre capacity). Add all the other ingredients. Lock on the lid and place over a large burner on high.
2. Bring the pot to full pressure (this can take a while), then reduce the heat to low (but keep the pressure up) and cook for 20-30 minutes. (20 minutes for poultry, 30 minutes for pork and beef.)
3. Turn the heat off and allow the pot to cool naturally for at least two hours. During this time, the pressure will gradually release by itself.
4. Open the lid and strain the stock, through muslin if necessary. Carefully remove the bones and pull off any meat with your hands. Allow the stock to rest in the fridge until it separates, then remove the fat (stash it in a small jar in the fridge for cooking) and pour the liquid into containers for freezing.
This technique produces a fabulous base broth – the perfect foundation for soups, rice dishes, pastas, stews and more. I will occasionally make it without any added salt, just to increase versatility. Using the pressure cooker minimises evaporation, resulting in the maximum quantity of finished stock.
The remnants of our turkey and chicken wing stock
. . . . .
Here’s the original YouTube video that I learnt this technique from…
. . . . .
Over the weekend, I turned a bag of chicken carcasses from Havericks (five pieces at $1/kg, total cost $1.45) into three and a half litres of delicious clear broth and three small containers of meat. The stock will go into a multitude of dishes, and the meat into savoury rice congee and noodle soups.
The second batch used pork tail bones – my mother wanted just the tips of the tails, so she gave me the “butt” pieces (the whole tails were $3.50/kg). These were cooked at pressure for 30 minutes, then left to cool in the pot. The meat was incredibly tender and plentiful – enough to fill two rectangular takeaway containers. It will form the basis of future pasta ragus, taco fillings and lasagnes. The pot also produced three litres of tasty pork broth.
My third batch used two turkey necks and a handful of chicken wing tips that I unearthed from the freezer. These were cooked for just 20 minutes at full pressure, then left for three hours while I ran around and did other things. The two and a half litres of stock produced were aromatic and sweet…
There wasn’t much meat on the wings, but a huge amount on the two turkey necks. It was beautifully tender, and I’ve tucked it away in the freezer to make Tanya’s arroz caldoso…
Finally, I confitted three duck breast/wing portions overnight for 10 hours at 90C (recipe is here) and shredded the meat for duck rillettes. I then scraped the skin, bones and all the surplus bits into the pressure cooker with two litres of water, a chopped onion and carrot, and a bay leaf (no salt, as the confit had already been well seasoned). The end result was five cartons of incredibly delicious “free” stock…
. . . . .
It’s amazing how economical this process can be – the bones cost just a few dollars per kilo (or nothing at all, in the case of the duck), the pressure cooker is quick and energy efficient, and the output is enormous. The four batches I made over the weekend produced enough meat for five to six family dinners, and flavoursome base stocks for many more. As I said, if times ever got really tough, we could survive on bones.
Here’s a photo of my well stocked freezer (ugh…awful pun, sorry!)…
Do you own a pressure cooker? I’d love to know what you make in yours!
Related post: Beef Brisket in the Pressure Cooker
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I’m a bit of a stock freak too – although I don’t have a pressure cooker and maybe I should given how quickly you make your stocks. I roast off the bones first and then the stock sits overnight in a low oven in a huge Le Crueset-like pot. It’s so heavy every time I go to lift it I do wonder if today is the day my back is going to start spasming!!!
Nancy, get a pressure cooker, hon. I don’t want to think about you putting your back out!! I find a full clay pot heavy to life out of the oven, and cast iron is 30% heavier again!
Again with the inspiration! I do have a pressure cooker, but seldom use it as I’m afraid of it. time to dust it off, I guess.
Amanda, so long as you hang around in the kitchen for a while to reduce the heat when it gets to pressure, I think they’re pretty safe. At least, the newer models are! :)
I don’t have a pressure cooker but I bet I could do this in a dutch oven. Inspired! Maz
You could probably do it in the oven like lots of others here do! :)
I’m a stock freak too but make it in a slow cooker over 24 hours – usually always chicken, but I’ve made lamb stock too. I purpose bought a massive slow cooker last year so I get between 3-4 litres each time. We easily go through that much chicken stock in a fortnight.
I wish I could like a slow cooker! I ended up giving mine to my mum! :)
Love making stock too….though I add celery & parsley stalks! So useful! Impressed with your freezer too
Parsley! We always have that in the garden, thanks for the suggestion!
Celia I love your Pun!!! Yes I have a Pressure cooker which I won in a competition. But I have yet to open it and use it. I’m still making my meat broths & stocks the old fashioned way, Browning, adding leeks, garlic, carrots & bouquet garni. I love using my stock mainly in Risottos & Black bean soup.
Lina, it sounds beautiful made that way! I mainly do mine in the PC because it saves so much time! (And gas!)
Love it… ♥ so nice Celia… keep it up….
Thank you!
You’ve inspired me. I am completely guilty of always buying boxed stock from the supermarket – salt reduced, but still! – and I always feel just that little bit guilty for cheating when I cook with it!
We bought boxed stock for a decade until we figured out how easy it is to make in the pressure cooker! Prior to that, the thought of four hours of simmering on the stove seemed like a lot of work! :)
I am addicted to stock making. I make it often as my freezer is groaning with stuff.
Our freezer is bursting too, but we probably go through four boxes of stock a week!
Don’t have a pressure cooker. Don’t use the oven. But absolutely love making stock, and very much the way you do. But use a heavy stockpot on top of the stove and the aroma just fills the whole house :) ! Naturally cannot reach your output but both living and working in the same house and that alone . . . no problem! Now to convince any of the local supermarkets or the lone butcher to sell chicken carcasses at the price you get them ;) !
Eha, sometimes the butchers will give you chicken carcasses for free! Ask and see what they say! :)
I don’t own a pressure cooker but I love making stock. It is so satisfying to tweak the stock to your own tastes, and then use it in a meal :)
Tandy, it’s like a secret ingredient! We can certainly taste the difference these days!
I’ve never used a pressure cooker but cook stock overnight in the aga, though sometimes I forget it and discover it when I use the oven for supper. Monday afternoon I found the carrots that I’d slow cooked in the oven for Sunday supper. They most certainly weren’t al dente.
Your freezer looks so organised. My stock is rattling around somewhere at the bottom of the chest freezer.
Pete never let me buy a chest freezer – I wanted one, as they were so much cheaper than the uprights. But he said, “unless you’re keeping half a beast in there, everything will get lost”. :)
I have a freezer just for stock :-) but I don’t have a pressure cooker, I just have pots on the stove! Liz x
Liz, do you make stock in your thermomix?
I do stock paste in my Thermomix which is just left over vegetables and salt… My chicken and beef stock paste the same… My bone stocks I still cook on the stove :-)
Being a chef I’m always looking for an opportunity to make stock for future use. I don’t own a pressure cooker so I just simmer on a low heat in a non-aluminium saucepan. When the stock first come up to a simmer, lower the heat to prevent it from boiling (and make it cloudly) and skim the scum that has risen to the top (again this is to help keep the stock clear).
I freeze down some of the stock in ice cube trays and then store in a ziplock bag. So I don’t have to thaw out a whole tub when it is not needed.
Kevin, thanks for the tips! The pressure cooker produces quite a clear stock – I strain it through muslin at the end if it’s at all cloudy. I think that’s because most of the time the pressure is off, so there’s no turbulence in the stock.
You certainly have stocked a lot of stock into your freezer. I was very pleased that this year I used my turkey carcass to make stock – no waste and yes, I had beautiful stock in my freezer too. I add ginger when I’m making an Asian-styled master stock xx
Charlie, that turkey you found at such a good price just keeps on giving! :)
I can’t imagine ever going back to buying packs of stock, it is so easy and cheap and so much nicer to make. I do it in the slow cooker. Save up all the trimmings and and end bits as I cook, toss them into a container in the freezer and when its full it goes into the slow cooker overnight with some bones. Yours looks very clear, I don’t fuss too much about straining it. My daughter asked last night if I know where she could get chook feet as they were nice and gelatinous. Nearly dropped off my chair :)
Asian butchers, they always have chooks feet. She’s right about the stock too, it will be beautifully gelatinous. As is pork trotter stock!
It is a virtuous feeling to have loads of stock! I’m in the slow cooker camp over here.
Yes, we’re all very virtuous! :D
Well I don´t have a pressure cooker but nevertheless I make stock in winter with chicken carcasses, not much this year because till Friday the weather (although it´s autumn here) was humid, hot and not at all inviting to eat soup!
Today some cold appeared and it´s sort of public holiday so I´ll be at the kitchen trying to fill my freezer. You are such a good example for us ji ji ji !!
:):) Love xxxxx
Ale, a public holiday with good weather to spend the day in the kitchen! It sounds perfect to me! :)
I don’t have a slow cooker, yet. It is among the kitchen “toys” I have considered getting. Plus I need to finish kicking my husband’s tools and manly stuff out of my garage to make room for a large freezer. Then I can finally stock up on stock!
I don’t own a slow cooker either – they’re not a good fit with my personality! :) I always use the pressure cooker! :)
Celia I have a super stupid question for you… When you say chicken carcasses, how do you approach to that? DO you roast a chicken and carve it at the table then save the bones? Or let’s say that everyone is having chicken thighs or legs in their own plates – do the leftovers get turned into stock? or is that too gross? I mean, everything will be cooked to death anyway, so I wonder.
Sally, no – I use raw chicken carcasses from the butcher. We’re Chinese, and everyone sucks on their bones, and even I can’t be frugal enough to reuse those in stock! As you say, too gross! If the meat was carved off the whole bird, that would be different, then I’d happily use it… :)
Sometimes I’ll roast the carcasses first to make a deeper coloured stock, but usually I just do the easiest thing and cook them from raw. When I cook confit duck, I strip the skin and meat off the bones, so I’ll happily use the leavings then for stock.
Good God if only I had the discipline. Do you want to swap freezers. ….I love my pressure cooker though I am not convinced mine is working properly?
You could come over and I’d “stock” you up. :)
HIya – I do own a pressure cooker, but am yet to reclaim it from my brother who fixed it when I thought it had died of not sealing! I’m looking forward to using it for stocks.
Can I just ask can I use already roasted or cooked bones or should they be raw?
Cheers
Lorelle, I use raw bones because I’m often making stock to use for Hainan chicken rice etc, but roasted bones produce a lovely brown flavour!
In Sydney’s west most Asian butcher shops will freely give their customers as many chicken carcasses as they want, I usually ask for 6 full carcasses which simmered on the stovetop with lots of vege bits, parsley stalks, bay leaves etc make a lot of stock plus the fleshy bits of chicken. Add dried chinese noodles, and shallots for a great meal.
Isn’t it amazing how much meat comes off the bones? Try frying rice in a little chicken or duck fat and then cooking it in stock – it’s our cheat’s version of Hainan chicken rice! :)
I have a pressure canner that I use for canning. Don’t have a pressure cooker though. I usually make my stock in a huge pot on the stove. After it’s ready, I pour the stock into quart jars and pop them into the pressure canner. The jars later go into the cellar where they can keep for quite awhile. I use the stock often to make a quick soup. Simply add some noodles, chives, and done! Turkey necks have a lot of meat on them! I like the above mentioned idea of freezing stock in ice cube trays.
Sounds delicious, Manuela!! I don’t have a pressure canner, but it would be nice to be able to keep the stock on the shelf!
I make all my own stock. I spent a few days cooking and baking so my fridge is full. This week is gallavanting weather and I am making the most of it.
Gallavanting is always important.. :)
Love it! I always have homemade stock to hand although I rarely specifically buy bones, just collect them as I go from other cuts. We love Asian style noodle soups made with my home made stock. I’ve been toying with the thought of buying a pressure cooker, this post may just have got me across the line. Your method Is much much quicker!! Do you have a brand you recommend Celia?
Sandra, I have two! I bought a Fissler one which is great, and then a friend gave me her Tefal Clipso one which she never used. It’s fabulous too, and quite a bit easier to store. It’s amazing how quick it is to make stock in it. Here’s the original video I learnt from:
Sandra, for what it’s worth, I’ve now used my two pressure cookers side by side, and the Fissler one is noticeably better. Steam doesn’t leak from it, it seals really well, and it’s super sturdy. The only small downside is that it’s harder to store!
I don’t use mine enough, usually only to cook kidney beans. Love that stock stash!
Jo, I’m still to figure it out for beans. I always end up with them going mushy! x
I love having stock in the freezer but I usually only make it in the winter because it brings too much heat into the kitchen in summer – but now – I will use the pressure cooker! Goodness knows why I haven’t thought of it – well goodness probably does know but is too polite to say. I do tend to be a bit nervous of the hissing of the PC which is pretty silly. Have you ever used it for fish stock Celia?
Jan, yes! It works well – doesn’t need very long at all either. The new pressure cookers have all sorts of safety mechanisms built in, so they’re quite safe. I like the fact that nothing evaporates out – it used to frustrate me no end that a big pot of stock on the stove would boil down to very little over time. Do have a look at the video I posted in the comments above! x
I don’t have a pressure cooker but do make stock in a big stock pot. I love making it with our left over roast chicken carcass as it makes me feel like I get the biggest bang from that free range bird – roast one night, chicken pie another and stock for the freezer to make soup or the like – great minds and all Celia :)
p.s. you have inspired me with your sour dough to get another mother (I killed one) from a friend. It is a 15 yr old starter but I’ve pushed myself and made it into a 100% hydrated one as it was really dry sponge like – I’ll know tomorrow whether it’s worked or not….cross your bits!!!!
Jan x
That sounds very exciting Jan, hope it worked well for you! If it doesn’t, still let me know and maybe I can send you some Priscilla if you like! :)
Celia, you certainly made good use of your holiday! I don’t have a pressure cooker, so I make stock in my Lodge Dutch oven (on the stove or in the oven.) The heavy lid stays put and all the flavor stays IN! Love your freezer stash — mine is coming along, slowly but surely, xo!
Kim, we pulled two boxes of beef stock out today for dinner – it’s like having gold in the freezer. And now you have a huge freezer to fill! :)
Hi Celia- not sure if my first message sent in the end so sorry for repeating myself. I have just posted my IMK for June. I hope you are well. Sorry I have only just posted my IMK but I have just had my first baby. Take care. Emma xx
Emma, baby Alice!! How exciting for you! Congratulations!!! :)
Celia,
I wanted to ask if you would be interested in guest blogging on surreyKitchen one day. I would love to host a post for you. Let me know if you think this is a good idea or not. I won’t be offended if you say no. Emma xx
Emma, it’s kind of you to ask, but I never do guest blogs. I never have them here either! Thanks anyway!
Never mind Celia. I thought you might be too busy anyway. Best wishes. Emma xx
I so admire your efficiency in the kitchen, Celia. I think there must be very little that you waste, and you inspire me to make a similar commitment. I’m so enjoying the sourdough baking and I’m experiencing what you described when you went through the stage of not wanting to waste any of that either. I need to start my own “giveaway” plan. LOL! Your stock must be incredibly delicious! I could live on bread and soup. :-)
Debra, thank you, but I’m sure we could do better! I’m SO happy to hear you and your family are enjoying the sourdough baking!! And have you tried sourdough pancakes? That’s what we’ve been making with our leftover starter!
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/09/13/sourdough-pancakes/
I took a 3 week cookery course last autumn and the first day was stock stock stock! We all said we wouldn’t bother with it when we got home, but I’ve become a bit of a stock fiend since then. It’s effectively flavour for free, and being able to use a pressure cooker really cuts down on the time. At the moment there’s ham, pork and chicken stock in the freezer – probably about 5 litres in total, since it’s only a small freezer. I don’t really bother to save the extra bits of meat though, I find they’re so overcooked from the pressure cooker that there’s no real flavour left in them. I’m now eagerly waiting to see what you’ll do with the duck stock!
Simon, I only cook the bones etc for about 20-30 mins, so there’s usually lots of flavour left in them, particularly if they’re being added to a flavoursome dish! The duck stock went into a risotto! Confit duck and duck stock risotto – I told my boys not to get used to eating like that all the time! :D
Always nice to have some homemade stock. If I make it, I usually will make it in a regular pot or my crock pot. I have a fear of pressure cookers from my mother warning me to never go near hers when she was using it. She was very good at canning everything & we always have produce from the garden. But I will always remember when something got stuck on the gauge or I think she opened it before it fully cooled down and that heavy top blew off making a hole in the kitchen ceiling. It left quite an impression on me I can tell you.
I’m not sure I could use a pressure cooker after I’d seen one blow a hole in the ceiling!! :)
Another great post Celia. I only make vegetable stock and once it is done the remnants go out to the chooks(no onion or garlic of course). Before l became interested in living a simple life l wasted so much. Now l look at your freezer and think how marvelous. What is also marvelous is the way the internet can unite us all:)
Jo, my friend Carol made a fabulous veggie stock in her thermomix recently – it’s quite salty and keeps in the fridge for ages! And yes, it really does make a difference when we adjust our mindset, doesn’t it! :)
What makes the stock salty? I don’t cook with salt or pepper myself. Have been reading about thermomix a lot. May have to look into them once l pay off my stand mixer:)
Jo, I think they add a lot of salt to preserve the veg so it can be kept in a jar in the fridge for ages!
I don’t have a pressure cooker but maybe I need to think about it as I make a lot of stock and cook a lot of pulses. Just back from Spain (yesterday evening) and one of the things we bought back as an “essential” is dried, salted, pork bones and pork skin which are soaked then added to chicken stock. A good stock in Spain is cloudy or white – the Spanish family were horrified when I first produced a beautifully flavoured but clear chicken stock!! It does taste good though either way. And I was reminded, reading this, of folk who own Aga cookers. Stories go round of them putting on a stock when the weather turns cold and the pot never empties, they just keep topping it up over the winter with bones and veggies. And if the socks drying on the airer which often hangs above the Aga should happen to fall into the stock – well…it all adds to the flavour ;) Love that youre still making Arroz Caldoso – I think we’re having that tonight!
T, you have no idea. Your arroz caldoso recipe is keeping us alive. Just the other night, we were going to go out for dinner because it was 5.30pm and nothing was even started for dinner, and I said, “hang on, we have heaps of stock and shredded meats, we can make arroz caldoso!”. And we did, and it took just half an hour, and we didn’t have to start the car, and we didn’t have to spent $60 and the boys ate until they were stuffed! And every single time, I offer a thank you to you – I hope you can hear it on the other side of the world! xxx PS. socks in stock is completely gross. :)
And cooking melas like this is often a faster process than ordering up a delivery or going out for fast food (god forbid!). I keep thinking of you every time I cook fideua which is so very like arroz caldoso and as soon as I get some half decent photos I’ll do a recipe! We’ve got a curried lentil dish today cooked in (y)our cazuela!
Nothing. That’s what I make in my pressure cooker. My parents used theirs almost every day of the week but mine sits on the shelf in the storage shelves. I need to take it down and pull out all the bones from the freezer and make stock. I have saved the bones – that’s a start. I need to clear out the bones to put food in the freezer. :)
Maureen, tonight I was making gravy beef casserole and the meat wasn’t tender enough even after hours in the oven, so I fished them out and put them into the pressure cooker with some of the sauce. Twenty minutes later, and it was perfect! :)
Any advise for a first time purchaser on what type to buy i.e. electric or cooktop, one handle or two, best size for 2 people? I never waste bones and always make stock but have only ever used my gas cooktop. I would love to be able to do it quicker.
From my very limited experience and reading…apparently the electric ones have a harder time getting to pressure than the stovetop ones. Our two handled tefal one is easier to store and wash, but I’ve tried them side by side now and the fissler one handled one seems to work noticeably better. Our pots are 8litres each which is enough to produce up to about 3.5 litres of stock. There’s a good buying guide here: http://www.pressurecooker.com.au/pressure-cooker-buying-guide
Thanks for that, I’ll check out the buying guide and do some more research before taking the plunge.
I love to make stock but never thought of using the pressure cooker which I use for all my dried beans – chick beans for hummus and salads etc, pintos and black beans for various Mexican/South American meals/Caribbean meals. I also do pulled pork, pulled chicken etc in it. Now I’ll be doing stock which always takes too long on the stovetop!! Thanks Celia.
Cathie, it really works so well! You’ll be amazed at how quick it is! :)
Yep, I could live on stock too… my mother’s veal shank broth, or nanna soup, sustains me, and my children. Always has. Great post love.
I was wondering if anyone knows where I can actually pick up and look at various types of pressure cookers in either Perth or Melbourne? Both stores that I’ve seen them in in the past (in Perth) are no longer around and I don’t want to buy without seeing some first. As yet my internet searches have not turned up an actual retail outlet – only online purchases.
I think Pressure Cookers Australia used to be in Subiaco. I don’t know if any of their numbers still work, but the old fridge magnet I have says their numbers are 1800 266 069 and 08 9388 7797. Good luck!
Yes, they were but no longer have a retail outlet. Actually I live within walking distance of where they used to be. Sadly I think the internet has killed off many of these types of specialty stores. I’ll just have to keep looking for the time being….thanks for trying!