How To Make Broth

Add chicken broth - this expression can be found in a third of recipes for hot dishes. Broth can be a base for risotto and some types of pasta, a base for stewing vegetables or meat , or an important ingredient in soups . But how to prepare the right broth - not lean, and not too rich, transparent, without sweetness in taste, and with a pleasant golden hue? Or at least just a tasty broth - from chicken , meat or just vegetables? Let's learn more about it.

How to cook broth

According to the classic technology of the Le Cordon Bleu school, it is customary to use the parts with the least amount of blood and fat as the basis for any broth (be it meat , poultry, or fish) - bones are best suited.

If we are talking about chicken , then you can use the frame or wings, and in the case of beef, tubular bones should be avoided - they contain less nutrients, and the broth turns out to be less rich in taste. A whole chicken can also be used - it is better to pre-bake it to remove excess fat, then the finished broth will be transparent. A whole chicken should be cut into pieces to get a richer taste.

Soup kits are the optimal and most cost-effective option for preparing broth . These are bones with a small amount of meat , ideal raw material for making broth .

How to choose a chicken for broth

Chicken for cooking and baking is different. First of all, the breed and characteristics of the meat . Chicken for cooking soup leads a mobile lifestyle, unlike breeds intended for baking. Due to this, it has more collagen, its meat is tougher, and this allows you to transfer all the taste properties to the broth . If you cook chicken broth for baking, it will be less rich and saturated, but such a bird needs less time to cook.

How rich the broth will be depends on the selected raw materials and the duration of cooking. To make the broth richer, it is better to choose chicken for soup and cook it together with pre-fried vegetables until blackened - this way they will give the broth the maximum taste and aroma. To obtain a lighter broth , it is enough to simply reduce the cooking time.

Many people are familiar with the problem of cloudiness of the broth . This can be due to several reasons. First, low-quality raw materials. Improper care and maintenance of poultry, the use of additives in the diet lead to a violation of the strength of the collagen network, and when cooking such a chicken , too much protein gets into the broth . The second reason can be scum, or foam - a protein that can spread throughout the broth if it is not removed in time. And, finally, long-term boiling of the broth - the fire must be reduced immediately after boiling.

Usually, coarsely chopped (into 2-3 parts) vegetables - onions, carrots, celery stalks - are added to the broth . Bulgarian pepper and tomatoes are not added - they will take the accent on themselves. As greens and spices, you can use allspice (peas), parsley stalks and bay leaves.

Salt is not added during cooking, it is used only in ready-made dishes, for the preparation of which broth is needed , for example, in sauces or soups , or when serving broth in a plate.

Approximate ratio of ingredients for preparing classic chicken broth : 5 liters of water for 1 whole chicken weighing 1.7-2 kg. Bring to a boil, remove all the foam from the surface. Only after that reduce the heat and add the vegetables. Cook on low heat (so that the broth does not boil) for another 1-2 hours. The finished broth must be filtered, brought to a boil once again (that is, sterilized) and cooled to room temperature.

Beef and vegetable broth

If beef is used in the broth , the cooking technology remains the same, only it needs to be cooked for 2-3 hours.

In the case of vegetable broth , onions (several types are possible), carrots and celery stalks are often used as the basis, but the ingredients can be changed depending on the purpose of the liquid. For example, peppers and tomatoes can be added to the base of a vegetable soup like minestrone. After boiling, such broth should be boiled for no more than 20-30 minutes, and then, just like meat and chicken broth , it should be filtered and sterilized.

How to store broth

The broth can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. If all the broth is not needed for cooking during this time, you can pour the liquid in portions into an airtight container and freeze for later use. In frozen form, the broth can be stored for up to 6 months. Such portioned preparations will come in handy if you often cook according to recipes in which chicken broth is one of the ingredients.

We prepare chicken broth

• 1-1.2 kg of chicken bones without skin.

• 5 liters of water.

• 2 bay leaves.

• 1 stalk of celery.

• 1 medium onion.

• 1 medium carrot.

• 5 peas of fragrant pepper.

• 100 g of parsley stalks.

Bake the bones in the oven for 15-20 minutes until a golden hue appears at a temperature of 180 degrees. The important thing here is not the doneness, but the golden hue.

Clean the vegetables and cut them in half. If you want to get a rich , golden-colored broth , fry the vegetables well in a dry pan - they should be black on the outside. For a light broth , use raw vegetables.

Put the baked bones in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and skim off the foam.

Add bay leaves, allspice, carrots, onions, parsley, celery and cook for 1.5-2 hours (depending on the type of chicken ).

Cool the stock to room temperature and strain to remove excess vegetables, herbs and spices. After straining , the broth must be sterilized - for this, bring the liquid to a boil again.