Building Blocks of Meals

Sometimes cooking is not really about making a meal.  It's about getting all prep work together for future meals. I've learned a few handy tricks regarding two prep items.

First - Homemade breadcrumbs.  I don't know about you, but I don't always get through all the bread I buy.  I use some stale bread for french toast -- and make extras for breakfast for the kids during the week.  But I still end up with extra bread -- because, truth be told, I over buy bread.  (Can you blame a girl for wanting a fresh-bread sandwich?)  

Anyway, a few years ago when I would make breadcrumbs in the food processor, it wouldn't quite get the job done.  I'd end up with bigger clumps of bread than I wanted.  But when I got the Magic Bullet blender, it worked great on getting a fine consistency.  I also loving adding our garden's fresh herbs to it.  It smells amazing!  Today I made it with rosemary, oregano, and cilantro.  I keep the finished product in a bag and freeze it till I need it.

The next category is my beloved soup stock.  I really am not a fan of store bought stock -- even those in the boxes that are so ubiquitous in cooking shows.  To me, they taste like colored water.  I can't discern any sort of poultry flavor and I bet all the nutrients are long gone.

So, for years I've been making my own chicken stock from poultry carcasses I hoard like a mental patient, and a variety veggie scraps.  I recently learned that I've been missing out on a big part of the nutrition potential of these stocks.  The trick is, you have to give the bones a chance to soak (or drizzle?) in vinegar for about an hour to breakdown the material so that calcium can leave the bone and enter the water of the soup.   Alternatively, I've read you can just add a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar to the pot when all your ingredients are in.  

The other thing that ups the nutritious level of stocks is having cartilage in there that breaks down into liquid form.  The best way to do that is by adding chicken feet.  Now, they sell chicken feet at my farmer's market, so bought some and tossed it in.  While it makes for kind of creepy sight in the bot -- J. calls it my witches' brew -- I think it adds great flavor.

Look at all that yummy fat floating to the top!

I used to think 3 hours of cooking was the magic number.  I'm now learning that I can go longer.  I've done 10-12 hours and it was delicious.  I've heard that if you go past 24 hours the flavor is a little 'off'.

My bigger challenge is finding family friendly meals where everyone will eat the stock.  The kids categorically refuse to eat soup.  Sauces are out of the question.  They don't eat pasta and rice is also a hard sell.   So I have been making soup and rice for the adults for now.

I put this stock in quart glass jars and keep in the freezer.