From Freezer to Cupboard

Making stock involves taking meat or vegetable scraps out of the freezer and converting it to canned, shelf-stable stock. This is helpful for so many reasons, but one of the big ones is that freezer space is limited. Shelf space, not so much.

After making a big batch each of chicken and vegetable stock yesterday, today I could skim the fat off the chicken stock and can it. We did use a little last night to make soup, but I had just enough for 10 pints. Now the pantry is full and the freezer is...not empty, but a little roomier.

Happy Mother's Day!

Added Benefits

For the past few months we've been getting a mushroom share from our CSA. Every other week we bring home about 2 pounds of oyster, lions' mane, and sometimes shiitake mushrooms, all grown locally. In addition to a lot of mushroom based meals*, I have been saving the trimmings with my other vegetable trimmings to make stock.

Today I made and canned nine pints of vegetable stock. We were running out, and the pantry needed replenishing. The addition of mushroom trimmings makes the stock darker, and it smells richer as well. I'm sure it will taste better, too. 

I also made a pot of chicken stock, since I had everything out. That's in the fridge, so I can skim off the fat. Tomorrow I'll can that, too. 

*In addition to the usual mushroom things (stroganoff, pasta, pizza), we have made mushroom steaks with the lions' manes, a mushroom scampi, and some glazed mushroom dishes. A lot of these recipes are coming from the NYT cooking app which is a tremendous resource of recipes. I'm not sure why I waited so long to subscribe. 

Back From the Dead

Legion was ailing.

The rise time was getting longer and longer, and Legion didn't smell right. At first, it was more sour, but then it started to smell...off. It still made bread, but not very good bread. I wasn't sure if I should give up and start over. I mean, Legion is 9 years old. Maybe it was time?

Recently I was lucky enough to be at an event catered by the culinary school, and got to see the Chef who had given me Legion and still had the original culture. We chatted and I learned some things. Things like - don't leave it in the fridge. Feed it more often. It needs to be stronger.

So I followed his advice and started dumping out starter, feeding it a smaller amount daily, and keeping it on the counter, with the lid slightly off to give it more oxygen. After a few weeks, it lost the funky smell. Finally I felt like it was ready for bread so over the past weekend, I made a batch. 

And it was as good as I remembered, with normal rising and proofing times. I think I have been successful in resurrecting Legion!