Home cooking cannot do without a good broth. It will be useful not only for preparing the traditional Sunday broth, but is also the basis for many other dishes, soups and sauces. Both in meat and vegetable version. Check
Home-made broth – the traditional one at its best
Good stock recipe is the key to excellent base for many soups and sauces. It’s worth cooking it the traditional way, without using chemicals in the form of ready-made semi-finished products, to take advantage of its health-promoting properties. Homemade broth is an ideal remedy for a cold. It puts you back on your feet, is a real vitamin bomb, and increases your immunity
So many benefits in an inconspicuous broth. You can divide it into portions and use later for jellies, as well as a base for various sauces – tomato, cream or mushroom sauces; it can even be frozen! In addition, the vegetables we use to prepare it can be used later to prepare other dishes, such as pate or casseroles. Lovers of pancakes and croquettes can use it as a complement to meat or vegetable stuffing – it all depends on whether you prefer meat or vegetarian stuffing
What is important, the preparation of the broth is not time-consuming. All you need is about 20 minutes of preparation and 2 hours of calm cooking, during which you can take care of other household duties or rest in peace
Cube or jarred bouillon? Avoid it!
Fast pace of life and many duties make us not pay attention to composition of the products we buy. Leading the way are all kinds of deeply processed products. Many people do not see themselves as home Masterchefs, so they tend to prepare meals from semi-finished products. This also applies to soups, which seem not to be difficult to prepare. When we get lazy or lack the time or passion for cooking, we tend to reach for ready-made broth in cubes or jars. Unfortunately, when we decide to cook meals with the use of bought broth, we expose ourselves to consumption of a product with huge amount of salt and preservatives
Therefore it is best to use common sense and respect for your health, especially your stomach. This will allow you to avoid many health ailments in the future.
Why is this so important? Because many of these semi-finished products contain a mass of harmful substances. These include:
- salt,
- vegetable fat,
- enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate disodium guanylate, starch, chicken fat),
- flavours,
- sugar,
- yeast extract,
- citric acid,
- chicken meat extract (0,01%),
- color: ammonia caramel.
The list is really long. All the more we encourage you to choose products according to the idea I know what I eat – that is, I choose my own health and natural products.
What ingredients are in the bouillon?
Home-made broth is very simple to prepare and does not require skills comparable to those of master chefs from five-star restaurants. Even a beginner, sticking to the recipe, should easily cope with the preparation of homemade bouillon. You will need
- 2 liters of water,
- 3 smaller carrots,
- 1 small onion,
- medium parsley root,
- a piece of celery root,
- a piece of leek,
- fresh parsley,
- 1/3 bulb of garlic,
- spices: 2 bay leaves, 3 grains of allspice, a teaspoon of peppercorns and of course salt,
- for a golden color you can use turmeric
If you want to make a meat stock, such as poultry, it is worth adding 2 chicken thighs, 3 wings and the neck. Some people cook broth from the whole body. Remember that each recipe may be slightly modified.
How to prepare a traditional broth?
To prepare broth, it is best to take a pot with a capacity of 4 liters. If you do not have such a pot or you live alone and do not need a large amount of broth, a 2-liter pot will suffice. The way of preparing broth is as follows: wash vegetables, cut them up as you like, clean the meat and put it into the pot along with the vegetables and cover with water, then put it on the gas. Cut the onion in half and roast it for a while until it browns, then add it to the boiling broth along with the spices. This will give the broth an extraordinary aroma. First set the power on high so that the broth boils quickly, then reduce it to simmer for two hours. After two hours, the broth will be ready to eat. Just cook your favorite pasta to enjoy its unique flavor
A good vegetable or meat broth should have an intense taste and smell. It must be fatty, thanks to which it will retain its health-promoting properties and appropriate essence, ideal as a base for other dishes. The color of the broth depends on the ingredients used. The more cloudy, the better, because it means that we have used the right amount of vegetables and meat. Broth without “eyes”, can mean that there is too much water in relation to the ingredients.
What dishes can be prepared using broth?
On the basis of prepared vegetable or meat broth you can prepare many dishes. You can add it to other soups, which will surprise your family or friends. With broth you will prepare, among others, soup with chicken, Turkish soup with lentils or coconut soup with asparagus. Main courses using broth, such as vegetable ragout or crispy goose, will also be unique. In the form of a sauce, the broth is ideal for preparing dishes such as roast mutton with gooseberries or stuffed peppers
