{"id":1134,"date":"2022-09-09T17:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T08:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/?p=1134"},"modified":"2022-09-10T13:28:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T04:28:34","slug":"stephens-blog-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/?p=1134","title":{"rendered":"Stephen’s blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Newsletter Readers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello and welcome to this week\u2019s newsletter, and as always I hope there is something in it that will interest you enough to want to click the link open and read its contents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I move into writing out my newsletter contribution for you this week, I would just like to take a moment to pay my respects to our beloved Queen Elizabeth the 2nd<\/sup> that sadly passed away yesterday, September 8th<\/sup>, 2022.  She was 96 years old and she was the longest reigning female monarch in world history.  She apparently passed away peacefully with some of her family members around her.  Queen Elizabeth the 2nd<\/sup> was on the throne when I was born and like many UK residents I grew up with her, so although she is not a family member I do feel some level of sadness and sense of loss at her passing.  Her son, Charles will now take over her reign as the new king of England; a position of responsibility that he has been waiting all his life to undertake and I sincerely hope that he makes a good go of it.  I, like many more people, do have some concerns about his ability to lead as a king, but I think those concerns are better left to be highlighted and discussed on another day.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As follows is a recipe for that perfect chicken stock, so perfect that it can easily be enjoyed as a clear soup with bread if you wish.  I have been making my own chicken and other types of stock for years and I\u2019ve more or less always been happy with the end results; however, very recently, through reading through an old recipe book, I was inspired to try a different approach and I am glad I did as the end result is quite superb.  I usually make my stock, strain it, season it with salt and after it has completely cooled down I then put it into containers and put it straight into the freezer.  I did the same this time around and in addition I made some small cubes of stock by using a spare ice cube tray that I have.  I think the ice stock cube idea is good as it provides you with small quantities for recipes that call for just a couple of tablespoons or so of stock.  The next time you make chicken stock, please give the below recipe a whirl as it really does provide an excellent result.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My chicken stock recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  2kg of chicken carcasses and chicken wings mixed (use free range products if you can). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  1\/2 bulb of garlic (slice one full bulb of garlic in half).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  4~5 sticks of celery (include one or two of the inner leaves).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  2 medium leeks (including the green tops).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  2 medium sized onions (white ones are recommended).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  1 medium sized carrot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  2 bay leaves (fresh ones if you can get them). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  A small piece of fresh ginger (about the size of your little finger nail).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  2 sprigs of fresh rosemary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  6 sprigs of fresh parsley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  6 sprigs of fresh thyme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  5 black peppercorns (crushed as they release more flavour). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  6 litres of cold water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

l  Sea salt to taste (add salt at the end of cooking not at the beginning). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation Method<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Put all the ingredients into a large pan or pot and then add in the water.\u00a0<\/li>
  2. Put it onto a high heat setting and once everything is up to boiling point skim whatever scum has accumulated off the top, lower the heat and simmer gently for about 4 hours.\u00a0<\/li>
  3. Occasionally check the stock to make sure all is well during the simmering process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>
  4. After about 4 hours turn off the heat and allow the stock to cool down.<\/li>
  5. Remove the chicken carcasses, wings, all the vegetables and herbs from the stock and season with sea salt to the required taste.<\/li>
  6. Allow the stock to completely cool down before putting it into containers and placing it in to the freezer.<\/li>
  7. If you do place your stock into the freezer I would suggest you use it during a period of about 3 months as any longer and you will discover that the stock loses some of its flavour.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Freshly made chicken stock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When making chicken stock.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You\u2019d better follow a recipe rather than making it ad hoc. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    First, switch on the kitchen extractor fan. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Second, put all the required ingredients into a big pan.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Third, pour in the cold water and bring it to the boil.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then lower the heat to simmer or the stock will spoil. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now, skim any scum off the top with a ladle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Keep the ladle by the side of the pot on a saucer on the kitchen table. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Simmer for about 4 hours or more if you wish.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Low and very slow adds a special intensity of flavour to a soup or any dish.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Check in on your stock at intervals during cooking.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It should now be getting much better looking,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Its colour should be nearing brown and clear.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If it is then the end of the cooking time is near. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take the pan off the heat and let it cool down.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Remove the bones and vegetables and viola your stock should be clear and brown.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can use it straight away or freeze it for another day.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whichever way you choose, you now have freshly made chicken stock that you can use. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A poem by Stephen Austwick<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear Newsletter Readers, Hello and welcome to this week\u2019s newsletter, and as always I hope there is something …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stephens-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions\/1139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.alphabendi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}