In the Kitchen With Mattie

You will notice that in a lot of my recipes I use stocks. I used to be a big user of butter in all my cooking and I still use butter, but I have found that stock adds lots of flavor to lots of different dishes and it cuts down on all the butter we used to go through.
Making stock is simple, especially if you have access to a pressure cooker. You can make a decent stock in the pressure cooker in about 30 minutes, but 60 minutes makes an even more intense flavored stock, you can then use this stock to make soups, gravy, all kinds of sauces, moisten the bread for your stuffing etc. It is a versital item to have on hand, if you looked in my freezer at any given time you would find all different kinds of stocks in various containers, I go through lots of it in my cooking.
There are many ways to make a proper stock but I am a simple girl cooking simple food for my family and this is what I do.
Take out your largest pressure cooker  and add whatever chicken parts you have available, wings, backs, thighs etc. Fill the pot halfway with the chicken, add a large onion with the root end cut off, 2 broken in half celery stalks, 2 carrots broken in half, some peppercorns and 2 bay leaves to it, add water to come a little over the chicken but never fill the pot more than 3/4 full. Close the pot and bring the pressure to high, set timer to at least 60 minutes, adjust the heat as needed to maintain pressure. remove from the heat and let the pressure go down by itself when the time is finished, open the pot and strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer or a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Discard the solids or give the meat to your pets (they will love you for it, and you can’t use it any other way). Pour the stock into small containers and refridgerate overnight, remove the layer of fat from the top when it is thoroughly chilled and then freeze the stock in useable portions.
You will notice I don’t add salt or many seasonings to my stock, Hubby has high blood pressure so I have stopped salting foods pretty much when I am cooking them, I can always add it later but can’t remove it once I put it in, I don’t put anything else into the stock until I actually use it, I don’t want it to taste too herby in certain dishes.
I make pork and beef stocks the same way and have those on hand in the freezer too. You can also roast the meat and bones you use for stock making if you have the time , and make a little richer stock from them but, at this stage in life I am all for any shortcuts I can take and still produce some good meals so I usually do this quick version. The longer you can let the stock cook if you have to use a stove top regular stock pot, instead of a pressure cooker, the more flavor it will have, but the pressure cooker extracts the most flavor from the ingredients.
You can also do this on the stovetop in a regular stockpot, bring it to a low boil and skim it frequently, never let it come to a full boil. It will produce a nice stock in a few hours time and then proceed as above and chill then freeze it.
If you want to save time however, run and get yourself a pressure cooker, make sure it is tight when it is sealed, take good care of it, especially the gasket and safety seals, and it will last you a lifetime and save you tons of time in the kitchen. You will make great healthy meals quickly, compared to conventional cooking methods and can spend the saved time doing something you love, if unlike me you don’t love cooking and spending time in the kitchen.

     If you use one of the newer digital pressure cookers follow the basic instructions and adjust them to your particular cooker.
Mattie