First off, sorry it’s been awhile since I put up a post! But this lesson was so cool! I used some previous learned skills, as well as some new skills to make a vegetable stock! I really enjoyed making this stock. Some of the pictures aren’t the best, but at least there are pictures!
To make the stock, I first started with two liters, which is a little over eight cups of cold water in a large pot, and then by chopping fairly equal parts of carrot, celery, and onion. (Side note: I learned I have to make sure I hear ingredients right when watching the video lesson. I had misheard another ingredient the chef in the video had said, because he has a accent. I had told my mom to get ‘parsley root’ at the store for my practicing, but she couldn’t find it. So I did it without it, but after reading the transcript for the video, I realized I had heard it wrong. The chef had said ‘parsnip fruit’, and not ‘parsley root’. So I missed that in this lesson. But from now on, I will read the transcript when I watch the video.)
I put the chopped carrot, celery, and onion into the cold water. I also used one clove of garlic. (Note: I learned about checking the garlic before using it. To do that, I cut it in half, and took out the little green bit with the tip of the knife) Then I crushed the two halves of the clove of garlic, and added it into the stock.
There’s one last thing I learned about in the lesson, to put in the vegetable stock. It’s called a bouquet garni. It’s a layer of leek, one stick of celery two sprigs of fresh thyme one small bay leaf and the few stocks of fresh parsley put them altogether in the layer of leek, and then I rolled it up, and tied it with a little string. I put the bouquet garni in the pot along with the other vegetables.
I brought the pot of water, with the vegetables and the bouquet garni up to a boil, and then turned it down and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
After that, I strained off the vegetables using a strainer, with a coffee filter, to make sure it’s fully clear. Then I put the stock in jars. The finished product is fairly clear, and smells really good too.
I hope you enjoyed this lesson. What should I make with this vegetable stock? Let me know any thoughts you have!
My dad also suggested since that there was a layer of leek in the bouquet garni that I made for this vegetable stock, that I ask for your best leek jokes in the comments. 🙂 If you’d want to, I’d love to see those too!!