6 replies to this topic

[hansjoakim]

Hi all,

I usually make homemade stock three or four times a year (usually veal, chicken and vegetable stocks). To store them, I usually reduce them by somewhere between 50% and 75%, and freeze them in small plastic containers.

The other day, I started wondering about food safety issues with homemade, frozen stock.

Whenever I need stock, I thaw the amount that I expect I'll be needing. Sometimes I end up with leftover, thawed stock. Is it safe to this thawed, leftover stock to a boil, chill quickly and re-freeze?

Other times I might poach meat or fish in stock. Is it safe to re-use this poaching liquid? Could I for instance simply strain it, chill and re-freeze it?

[tim]

Hi,

I usually partially thaw stock, remove what I need and refreeze. If it is fully thawed, bringing is to a boil would be appropriate.

The act of poaching your stock makes it safe. Straining and freezing is safe.

[vice]

Is partially thawing stock a good practice? What thaws will be relatively concentrated and what remains frozen diluted.

[Darienne]

I freeze stock in ice cube trays...I have extra and use them just for that. Then it's easy to get as much or little as I want (or DH who is the resident soup maker).

[slkinsey]

Recently I purchased a 5 gallon All-American pressure cooker/canner, primarily to make large volumes of stock. Not only does pressure cooking result in greater extraction and a crystal clear stock, but it also takes a fraction of the time. As a generality, I find that pressure-cooked stocks do not have to be reduced or clarified.

Why do I mention this in a thread about storing homemade stock? Because after you finish making the stock, you can decant it into canning jars and use the same piece of equipment to can the stock -- which is exactly what I have done. Once the stock is canned, you can put it wherever you want. Keep it under the bed, if you want! If you want to have stock that you only use by the tablespoonful every so often, just can some of it in one cup jars and once you open a jar you can store it in the freezer until you use it up. In the meantime, the other jars from the same batch can just sit on a shelf somewhere until you're ready to use them.

[hansjoakim]

Thanks for all the replies!

The reason I started wondering about this in the first place, was the "Stock clarifications" post on M. Ruhlman's blog: Direct link to post.

[tim]

Is partially thawing stock a good practice? What thaws will be relatively concentrated and what remains frozen diluted.

Hi,

I only that the stock enough to cut out a portion. At that point the liquid does not separate from the ice crystals.

Tim