Thanks!

First, I confess that I do not do sterilizing. I live in Canada and trust my butcher. I freeze my stock in clean, reusable containers or brand new ziplock bags. My deep freezer is set to -22C. I have a big freezer since I also freeze local fresh fruit and vegetables for the long winter when only imports are available. If I had to do the twice cleaning / sterilization you mention, I probably wouldn’t bother. I also likely wouldn’t bother if I lived in a tropical climate since I use stock to make cold weather dishes — mainly homemade soup.

Onto the “why bother?” aspect. (Note: My answer assumes you live in a cold climate where hot soup is practically essential.) Properly made, good stock is not just flavoured water. It is good enough to consume on its own. You’ll notice that when it’s chilled it turns gelatinous. This provides body when making soups and sauces. If you refrigerate a bouillon cube dissolved in water, it remains liquid. It doesn’t add to the texture or “mouth feel” of the finished dish. I’m a texture person and notice this. Not everyone does.

And what about the time and energy costs? I don’t think of the stock as taking much “active time.” It’s more a matter of planning and working in short bursts. While the stock might take hours to simmer, it demands little attention. I make it on a day when I’m home and check on it periodically. When it’s done, straining it and pouring it into containers doesn’t take long. Again, I don’t do the sterilization.

Energy costs? Once the water comes to a simmers I set my gas stovetop to the lowest possible setting. I’m not sure how much this costs, but here gas is less expensive than electricity, so I’m guessing not much. The freezer costs the most (about $125/year) but I use it for a lot of other food items, so it would be running anyway.

In the end, it boils down a personal decision. For me, homemade stock is well worth the time, energy and money. For you, it sounds like homemade stock would be a headache with little to no return on your investment.

As you can see, I didn’t delete your comments since I think you raise valid questions and bring up the often ignored aspect of geography. Where we live affects our approach to food and cooking.

Thanks for taking the time to write. I hope I answered your question sufficiently.

Food is selected carefully and preserved with great care when quality is available… but I still cannot figure any usage for a stock or broth of any kind that takes hours of total prep, storage, twice cleaning and sanitizing, and the extra energy costs in heating to create. Feel free to delete this and the previous post but I would like a reply to the email at least… yes, its a real email addy. I looked it up and the dishes that need stock stuff also seem to be quarter or daylong affairs and im thinking it’s a ton easier and massivle cheaper and safer just buying processed. I know the feeling of DIY and revel in it but truth be told, most of that DIY food prep gets fed to the fish, hermit crabs, or feral cats.

I know this sounds pretty sharp but please explain how your 10 minutes (that takes the rest of the world a half hour) and freezing and sanitizing and soaping and freezing and thawing and sanitizing again and disposing and hours of boiling and energy used and more washing…. is worth less than 10 cents?

I even bought myself a boning knife to see if it makes any difference. But that’s a post for another day.

Plus the chicken stock, as you say, is so worth it!
.-= Katerina´s last blog ..Chicken Thighs with Sage, Mushrooms and Onions =-.