A good chicken stock is more than chicken-flavored water. Though you should aim for your stock to be flavorful, a good one should also be rich and mouth-coating, with a body that just won't quit. This, my friends, is why you should make your stock with chicken feet.
Video: If you're a reader of Eating Trash With Claire the Lifehacker series where I convince you to transform your kitchen scraps into something edible and delicious - you should get excited, because it's now a video series. First up, I show you how to make a delicious, flavour-packed stock out of scraps, shells, and other "trash" that is actually treasure. Enjoy!
Cheap beer gets a bad rap, but I've been choosing it over the fancy stuff more and more these days. Unlike heavy IPAs, generic lagers don't compete with food or give me a hangover, and they're an absolute joy to cook with.
Vegetarian and vegan cooking should celebrate vegetables rather than forcing them into a meat-shaped box. I'll take "oh damn, I didn't know I liked eggplant" over "this is surprisingly tasty, but I'd rather eat real bacon" any day of the week.
Stock is the backbone of so many recipes. Whether it's used as a cooking liquid for rice or beans, or as the base of a soup or gravy, the quality of your stock influences the quality of your final dish. Though it isn't hard to make, there are a few tweaks you can make to ensure yours is a rich and tasty stock that's anything but watery.
A good salad is all about achieving that perfect balance of flavours and textures, and nothing adds crunch quite like a crouton. You can purchase pre-made croutons pretty easily, but it you want a truly great cube of golden, crispy, just slightly chewy bread, you should make them yourself. They're also dead easy to make.
For the uninitiated, this is chicken and rice soup with a hint of lemon and dill. For those in the know, this is the good stuff. This is the stuff I wasn't allowed to make during my time in the Greek restaurant, because it's the kind of thing only a mother's touch can truly perfect. I am, however, one persistent mother, and got to learnin', though I will admit it's a bit complicated.
Making chicken stock at home is great -- you end up with a house that smells like soup and a pot full of savoury broth. Whether you make your stock from fresh ingredients or saved-up scraps, one secret ingredient will help make your chicken stock extra rich and delicious.
Garlic skins have always been my least favourite part of peeling garlic. They either stick to my fingers, or float about the kitchen, carried by slight breezes before making their home on random appliances. But I resent them no more, my dears, because it turns out they make a kick-arse broth.
Marmite is a somewhat polarising spread. (Their slogan is "Love it. Hate it.") Made from brewer's yeast, the salty paste is the British answer to Vegemite. Like Vegemite, it has an umami-packed, almost condensed-soy-sauce-like flavour that can be overwhelming in large amounts. Add just a smidge, though, and you'll boost the savoury-factor of whatever you're eating many times over.
There's something uniquely satisfying about a flavorful soup that's filled to the brim with noodles and topped with meat, vegetables, and spices. A classic chicken noodle soup always hits the spot, but today let's branch out to a few delicious noodle soups that are the perfect belly-warming meal.
When you finish off a 12-pack of your favourite canned soft drink, don't toss the box out just yet. You can use it to organise your pantry.
Making soup without a pot may seem like an impossible task, but Helen Rennie has devised a way to make rich, roasted vegetable soups using only a sheet pan and a blender.
If you've got more turkey or roast chicken leftovers than you know what to do with, you can transform some into a tasty Vietnamese noodle soup that's perfect for slurping in autumn.
I love berries as much as the next person, but tomatoes are the real reason for the sunny season. These jewels of the vine have so much to give, and sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the potential deliciousness. To help get the most out of the season, here are some of the best ways to eat this delicious, sweet, and tangy fruit.
If you want that store-bought broth to taste more like it was homemade, all you need is a little miso.
Some broccoli cheddar soups are just a sad bowl of nacho cheese with a few chunks of broccoli floating in it. For a more flavorful soup, the broccoli needs to be added in layers.
Tomato soup isn't the most exciting thing on its own, but tomato soup in a can? Double yawn. It might be boring, but it's convenient. And it's easy to upgrade. A handful of toasted nuts will do the trick.
Store-bought broths and stocks are certainly convenient, but they lack the silky texture and mouthfeel that you get from simmering bones for hours on end, extracting all of that wonderful collagen. To make the box stuff taste and feel more homemade, just add a little gelatin.
