Duromatic Pressure Cooking Tips: Stocks & Soups

Making Stocks & Soups

Stock is a basic element of EuroCooking. Many chefs feel the only way to make a good soup or sauce is to start with the freshest and most natural ingredients. When you make your own stocks, you know just how much salt was added (or not added) and you can remove much of the fat. Making your own stock in a pressure cooker is so simple, will greatly improve the flavor of your soups, sauces and gravies, and takes only minutes.

There are some very simple guidelines for preparing stocks. You need a meat source (unless you are making a vegetable stock), aromatic vegetables and herbs. The meat source for a stock can be the trimmings and bones from beef, pork, veal, lamb, fowl or fish. Because the temperatures reach above the boiling point in a pressure cooker, the connective tissue, or collagen, is converted into gelatin quicker due to the high temperatures. No longer will it be necessary to simmer a pot of ingredients on the back burner of the stove for hours. Beef bones should be oven-browned before starting if a deep, rich brown color is desired for the stock. Any inexpensive cut of beef along with a beef shank cut crosswise or a piece of short ribs will produce favorable results. For a chicken stock it is wise to save otherwise unusable parts (backs, necks and feet) in the freezer to have on hand. When making a fish stock the head works well, along with the carcass of any non-oily (white-fleshed) fish. Aromatic vegetables are required for a good blend of flavors in a sturdy stock. Usually, whatever is on hand in a vegetable lovers refrigerator will work nicely. Combine them to create a nice balance of sweet and sour flavors, with carrots, celery, leeks and onions being standards in most recipes. Vegetables avoid for an all-purpose stock, due to their strong and sometimes bitter flavors, are members of the cabbage family (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, collards, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts and turnips). Also avoid adding eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes and beets to stocks.

Herbs and spices are a subtle, yet key ingredient to a well defined stock. Whole spices should be used. Peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon sticks, coriander, celery seed, cloves and bay leaves are examples of whole spices to employ when creating your stock. If using powdered herbs and spices do so sparingly, and remember the flavors will become enhanced as the stock ages. Salt is also important to help extract all the flavor out of the meat and vegetables. Even if you don't add enough salt to be detected by the palate, a small amount will help extract flavors from the other ingredients.

Guidelines to help you produce excellent results:

• Start any type of stock with cold, clean water and the ingredients at the same time. Do not add ingredients after the water has become hot it will hinder the extraction of flavor.
• The pressure cooker should not be filled more than half full when cooking soup especially when cooking split peas, beans, barley, oats or any other food which expands or foams.
• Do not allow pressure indicator to rise above first red ring. Keep in this position during cooking process.
• When cooking soups with vegetables that require different lengths of cooking time, take the vegetables with the longest cooking time as a basic guide. Or, chop them into smaller pieces than those which require less time.
• Always use the Natural Release Method.