Stocks

Often traditional recipes didn’t use stock; just water; if there was no animal for the pot, then there weren’t any meat scraps for the stockpot. If you’re making stock, it’s generally worth making a large quantity so you always have some in the freezer. Freeze it in plastic containers for up to 6 months. If your stockpot isn’t large enough, however, just halve the recipe.

When straining stocks it’s important to ladle the liquid through a lined sieve, rather than pouring it directly from the pan. Otherwise you’ll stir up the sediment and make the stock go cloudy – and you should always discard the last few centimetres of stock at the bottom the pot, as it will be laden with sediment.