Kitty learnt this trick from a chef who practices this at home. Keep two bags in the freezer at all times: one for less-than-perfect pieces of vegetable and one for meat bones. And once the bags are full, dump them all into a big pot, add water, and boil for ~2 hours to make a perfect tasting pot of homemade stock! If scraps are good enough for a chef to make stock, it is good enough for Kitty.
Some additional tips:
- Not all vegetable can be used for stock, sticking with the onions family (e.g. onions, fennel, spring onions) and carrots are safe (e.g. tomato won’t be ideal)
- Fresh herbs like thyme can also be added
- This is a great way to use up vegetable or fresh herbs before they go bad (e.g. put a whole bag of spring onions into the freezer for stock before a trip is better than finding them moldy when you return)
- Meat bones are optional; you can make pure vegetable stock
- Better to separate different types of meat bones so you can make chicken stock, beef stock, etc.
- Add dried herbs like bay leaf to the last 30 min of stock making can add extra flavor
- Skimming helps improve the taste of the stock and keeps it clearer but no need to over trouble yourself