Today's tip is not my own original tip, it comes from Martha Stewart. This tip is wonderful! it has helped me out a ton in the kitchen. When I make homemade chicken stock, I get about 4-5 quarts and of course I can't use all that stock at once, it only stays good in the fridge a few days, so I freeze it for future use. Well that's all fine and dandy until I need a measured amount of stock and find myself with a ginormous hunk of frozen stock. The tip:
Freeze your stock in muffin tins, once frozen you'll have little pre-measured disks of stock, you can pop them out of the muffin pan and throw them in a large Ziploc baggie then take out what you need when you need it. I use a silicone muffin pan, I place it on a baking sheet so it lays level and doesn't spill, the silicone pan works nicely too because the frozen stock just pops out of the cups. I measure out 1/4 cup increments, I like this size because my chicken pot pie recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of chicken stock, so I grab out 7 frozen stock pieces and I'm good to go; no measuring needed. If you don't have the space or a large quantity of muffin tins you'll have to do freeze in batches; what I do is freeze two muffin tins full and the rest of the stock I freeze in 1 or 2 cup increments in separate containers, you can also freeze the stock in Ziploc baggies, they will lay flat in the freezer and take up hardly in room, plus it's easier to label a bag than a plastic container. When I want to make soup or need a larger amount of stock I take out a container or bag to thaw, it requires labeling if you freeze more than one size. I tell you once you make your own chicken stock you'll rarely buy it in the store. Homemade stock is easy, has more flavor, is far more healthier (read the labels you'll see) and definitely more cost effective.
For more great tips and ideas check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes
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7 comments:
Good suggestion! I have been freezing mine in large freezer ziplocs because I usually use it in larger quantities mainly for soups, but I like this idea and will try it next time. Thanks for sharing!
great tip, thanks for sharing!
Oh, my gosh, what a great idea! I hate it when I need just a half cup of broth, but only have 2 cup containers of it. From now on, I'm doing the muffin tin thing!
Thanks for the tip! I am going to have find me some of those silcone muffin tins! I have read so many different uses for them!
How do you make your chicken stock? Mine comes out blah. Especial the salt part.
For barbaralee:
I wrote a post about chicken stock earlier with a link to an Alton Brown Recipe. I'm not sure what you do but I just simmer the chicken bones for a very long time with a ton of vegetables (often the end pieces, scraps, and peels-thoroughly cleaned of course)
Always with onions and garlic, I like to add whole peppercorns too. It turns out very flavorful. When using stock in recipes I still add the salt if it's called for. I haven't had any problems. I don't consume the stock by itself, it's more of an ingredient or base for other dishes and soups. Hope that helps
This is a wonderful idea!! I just wish I had read this earlier today!! LOL!! I freeze my stock, too, but I freeze them in mason jars. It takes SO long for them to thaw!! I definitely like the way that you've shared here MUCH better!!
His,
Mrs. U
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