As I say, I have to make me some more soup. This is just the stock, it'll be soup later. (Is it soup yet?)
This time, instead of cheating and using chicken broth from a can to make my stock, I thought I'd try water and more reduction. I bought a pack of smoked ham hocks and a pack of smoked pork 'neck bone' chunks, and while bringing it up to a boil, added the following:
Four green onions (diced)*
two bay leaves
one bunch parsley (chopped)
10 (or so) stalks celery (chopped)**
3 large carrots (chopped)
3 shallots (chopped)
2 white onions (chopped)
2 tablespoons garlic (chopped)
2 broccoli stems (chopped)***
It took over an hour to come to a boil, but once it did, I just let it roll and steam. I love the way my house smells when I do this. I didn't add any pepper to the stock because I'm going to try to get Em to eat the soup this will be come the weekend, and I didn't add salt because by the time I end up reducing things down, the salt in the smoked pork parts should be sufficient.
And yes, as I did this huge amount of prep work, I heard the screams of the vegetables. The YouTube video I've embedded in the post takes me back to junior high, when I reported in the school paper on the Paraphenaliens, a cult that not unlike Jane Buddhists believe it's wrong to kill even plants for your own survival, but unlike Jane Buddhists back it up by eating only candles and soap. They meditate and achieve deeper and deeper states of relaxation until they're so relaxed they no longer have vital signs and, as a matter of fact, start to smell pretty awful.
*I was already cutting up the green onions to have to eat raw, and diced a bit to throw in the stock. But as I had some white bulb onions and some shallots as well, I didn't want to waste a bunch of them.
**I had an epiphany and realized I've been cutting off and discarding the trying tips of the celery as if I was prepping it to eat raw. I still cut out anything that looked like a blemish, but if it was obviously good celery that was just drying out, I included it in the stock.
***I was cutting up the broccoli to eat raw as well, and thought the stems taste fine, they're just tough, therefore, put them in the stock instead of trashing them.
And yes, as I did this huge amount of prep work, I heard the screams of the vegetables. The YouTube video I've embedded in the post takes me back to junior high, when I reported in the school paper on the Paraphenaliens, a cult that not unlike Jane Buddhists believe it's wrong to kill even plants for your own survival, but unlike Jane Buddhists back it up by eating only candles and soap. They meditate and achieve deeper and deeper states of relaxation until they're so relaxed they no longer have vital signs and, as a matter of fact, start to smell pretty awful.
*I was already cutting up the green onions to have to eat raw, and diced a bit to throw in the stock. But as I had some white bulb onions and some shallots as well, I didn't want to waste a bunch of them.
**I had an epiphany and realized I've been cutting off and discarding the trying tips of the celery as if I was prepping it to eat raw. I still cut out anything that looked like a blemish, but if it was obviously good celery that was just drying out, I included it in the stock.
***I was cutting up the broccoli to eat raw as well, and thought the stems taste fine, they're just tough, therefore, put them in the stock instead of trashing them.
No comments:
Post a Comment