Some people make soup. My Austrian grandmother made Zoop. It cured everything, was fragrant and delicious, and filled us up when we were hungry. And now I make Zoop.
I throw vegetables, bones, and seasonings
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| How to Make Stock. |
into a large pot to produce chicken, vegetable, or beef stock. Stock and broth aren’t interchangeable terms. As one culinary expert put it: “Broth is something you sip. Stock is something you cook with.” Stock contains a lot of bones; broth contains a lot of meat.
The stocks I make tend to use both. Turkey’s a prime example. Although we slice and pick the meat from the bones, there’s always some left. Turkey stock is rich in flavor. So’s beef broth. The marrow inside beef bones is flavorful.
A fast summary of making stock? Bring water, seasonings, vegetable scraps, and the (optional) meat, fish, and bones to a boil; reduce the heat to simmer; chill everything overnight; skim away the fat; drain the liquid from the vegetables and meat or fish; chill the liquid again; skim away the fat with greater precision than the first time ... And there you have it! The basis for a very fine zoop!
My grandmother, or “Mutti,” would have been proud. The posts highlighted above will show you exactly what to do and how to do it.
I grew up as the earth was cooling. European households were big on European morality tales - and my Austrian grandmother told some whoppers! Enter Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffmann. As any good child raised in post-war Europe, I recognized this as the Morality Tale to End All Morality Tales. Struwwelpeter - literally, “Shaggy Peter” - was an undisciplined boy who let his hair and fingernails grow too long. As a consequence, he was shunned by his friends. Today, the kid would be a rock star.
In these morality tales, naughty children always met dire consequences. A thumb sucker had his thumbs snipped off; a girl who played with matches burned to death; a boy who ventured outside during a storm blew away! What does this have to do with soup? Everything.
I was raised with the story of Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar (The Story of the Soup-Kaspar). You can imagine where this is going! Kaspar, a robust young boy, refused to eat his soup. Over the next five days, he wasted away. Surprise, surprise! While I remember Soup-Kaspar, I also remember Augustus - same story, same ending. It reads:
The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup:
Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had;
And everybody saw with joy,
The plump and hearty healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.
But one day, one cold Winter’s day,
He screamed out - “Take the soup away!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!”
How lank and lean Augustus grows!
Next day he scarcely fills his clothes,
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still -
“Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!”
The third day comes; oh, what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams as loud as he is able,
“Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!”
Putting Augustus to one side, Zoop! is an inexpensive, nutritious comfort. If you’ve never made stock, the methods below make it easy to start. My advancing years have changed the way I do things, so I sometimes buy prepackaged stock. Low-sodium commercial products have improved over the years. Once you have stock, making homemade soups, enriched rice, and gravies is deliciously simple.
Tip: Add 1 tbsp. (15 mL) vinegar or white wine or lemon juice to a full stock pot the size of mine (16 qt. or 16 L). Adding this small amount of acid to poultry stock helps move the calcium from the stock bones into the broth. Adding lemon juice to stock may impart a slight citrus flavor to soup, so don’t overdo it!
This tip comes from Ann Krahulec of Vancouver, who will be 99 in six weeks. Ann grew up on homemade soups: As the story goes, Ann’s mother could make a tasty meal out of almost nothing. Charming the butcher, she’d tell him about the delicious meal she created from last week’s meat, so he’d always give her a meaty knuckle bone for the family’s (non-existent) dog.
A handy site called lifehacker.com verifies the vinegar tip, crediting it to a site called The Kitchn:
Adding vinegar to the early stage of poultry stock will “break down the collagen in bones and tissue, releasing extra gelatin. The result is a finished broth that gels up in the refrigerator, but even hot you’ll notice the difference - richer in texture and taste.”
if you want to Read more, click here... How To Thicken Beef Broth? Easy Guide To Thicken Beef Broth?
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