You guyssss, thank you to so many of you who have signed up!
Thanksgiving is so close! I’ve worked in food for what feels like forever now, and holidays never felt like much. If you’ve ever worked in food, you know that you just end up working a ton and everything becomes a blur. I thought maybe when I had a kid, things would automatically become more magical feeling and I’d get some nostalgic feelings. I did, but we were in Florida and all my memories didn’t match the one season Florida has. So we moved to Indiana, and then the pandemic, and everything is all topsy turvy. I decided not to go to my parents house on Thanksgiving Day. Which means I get to focus heavily on making all the dishes I want to make exactly the way I want to make them. Anyone else an enneagram 5?
I wanted to give you a simple recipe, er not really a recipe, a tutorial, that you still have so much time to do! Make your own stock! It’s so easy. Maybe you already make your own, but just in case you don’t and you’re overwhelmed by anything in the kitchen, let me help you!
I have a bag in my freezer I just put all veggie scraps in. Once or twice a month, we’ll roast a chicken or have bone in chicken thighs, and I’ll use those bones with all my veggie scraps to make a stock. ONE TIME my husband smoked a whole chicken, and I used that carcass and geesh that broth was very flavorful.
So simple:
-throw chicken bones, all veggie scraps, peppercorns and any herbs into a stock pot
-cover with water
-bring to a boil and then turn to a simmer for 3 (or more) hours
-strain
-tada homemade stock
If you don’t have any bones, no worries! Just make a veggie stock. You could also do this the day before Thanksgiving or day of when you’re prepping all the things, and then throw in the turkey neck and giblets for a turkey broth.
I DO NOT put salt in stocks I make. I load up on pepper, but when making a stock you’re concentrating flavors and sometimes reducing liquid. You don’t want to run the risk of it being too salty. Plus when you use the stock for different applications, you want to control the salt amount for each dish.
Stock is always different for me since our meals are always different. If I was using this to sell, I’d make sure I had a recipe so I was consistent. Today’s stock is brought to you by chicken wing bones, onion, garlic (yes I leave the skin on), carrots, broccoli stems, shiitake mushroom stems, kale stems, field garlic from local forager Eric aka @eric.ofthewoods, and peppercorns.
I’ll use this for gravy and dressing this week!
Indy Dough
I just announced a giveaway I’m doing on Instagram. Check that out if you haven’t entered yet.
Newsletter only news- I’ve been working on a new shirt for the past two months and I can finally see the end in sight in releasing it!
Growth- you guys have been super sweet with your direct messages to me giving me advice! While I can’t say much, I can say that if I ever have a building of my own, I’m going to create a FREE checklist for anyone who wants to open a brick and mortar because there are so many little and big steps that have to happen. And if you’re like me who has never done this before, it is a tad overwhelming and frustrating. I keep saying to my husband that I feel like we’re doing so much internal work and research and I still feel like we have yet to make any moves forward. This is very difficult for a person like me who likes to act on an idea immediately. I have a few calls next week that may get me to my next step, but in case they don’t, I think my next step is finding someone who is great with numbers, projections, and spreadsheets!
Thanks so much for following along on this more in depth journey of Indy Dough! Until the next newsletter!
Amanda