Pork Stock

Okay, I'm doing double duty in the kitchen this evening, making stock and casserole. For the stock, I wanted a rich pork stock. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, I'm pretty well beaned out after making Papa Legba and Lucky Legba on consecutive weeks. Maybe I'll finally have some stock to save, stick in the freezer for another time.




I started out with a bonanza of cheap pork: some smoked ham hocks, smoked neckbones, raw neckbones, and split feet. Gross, I know, but I'm pretty sure they wash it and I'm certain the hours of boiling kill whatever pig-feet-cooties are present. I figured the feet would be a particularly good source of gelatin, which is what makes stock be stock instead of being broth.



Chopped up a couple bundles of parsley and the non-heart of a stalk of celery. I cleaned and cut the ribs as I would for snacking, and put those parts in a baggie for snacking on, then I chopped up the leafy stuff and everything above the joints of the ribs and threw that in the pot.



I also put in three dried ancho chiles, which may be too mild to make a difference on a batch this size, but hey.



Then came a couple of diced onions, a couple bay leaves, some dried thyme, ahandful of black peppercorns. Oh, and a carrot, though I was running out of room in the pot, so just one token diced carrot.



It took fully two hours for all this to come to a good rolling boil, but now it's really going to town, reducing almost before my wondering eyes. I'll let it simmer until I go to bed, then I'll kill the heat, transfer the stock pot to the fridge in the morning. Then, tomorrow, I'll skim the fat off, heat it back up and strain it.

Then, knowing me, I'll get some notion for a recipe that'll use it right away.