WEIGHT WATCHERS SLIMLINE NEWSLETTER

How does stock, the foundation of cooking popularized by noted French chef Escoffier,  fit into today's hectic lifestyle?  Well most people know there's nothing like a rich, homemade chicken stock to flavor a wide variety of dishes.
Stocks have been around for centuries, dating back to when man started to cook in pots.  It's an important ingredient in almost every culture--Africa, Asia,  the Middle East, Europe and the Americas in soups, rice, potatoes, pasta, etc.

Cookbook authors and chefs insist that you must  make your own, and their recipes call for it. They judge broths and bouillons--often with heavy salt and artificial  ingredients--to be unacceptable. But stocks take hours to make, making them  impractical in today's world.  What's a busy cook to do?

It's not hard to make your own stocks.  Just let the pot simmer while doing other things.  Freeze for later use.  Here's a classic version using leftovers from a boiled or roasted chicken...

SCRATCH STOCK RECIPE
Classic Chicken Stock
2 Lbs. Chicken Bones & Parts
    (i.e., leftovers from 1 large chicken)
2-3 Quarts cold water
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, peeled and cut in quarters
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 bay leaf
2 thyme sprigs
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1. In a soup pot, boil chicken bones in water.
2. Add all other ingredients.  Return to a boil,
    then turn down heat to a slow simmer.
    Simmer for 2 hours.
3. Skim fat and foam off the top.
4. Strain the liquid (ideally through a cheese-
    cloth, if available). Add salt to taste.
5. Store in refrigerator (2 weeks) or freezer
    (4 months) in ice cube trays.
    Copyright Kitchen Basics Inc. 1997

Fortunately, there is a new line of real stocks available to the user in just seconds, and they can be purchased in supermarkets & natural food stores, Kitchen Basis Real Cooking Stocks.

"My European grandmother made her own delicious stocks.  We thought we could come close to what she made," says Founder Paul Hamerly.  Indeed, Kitchen Basics were formulated with  the help of Chef & Partner Ed Marlier.

Cooked for hours from chicken (or beef), carrots, onions, celery, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorn, these are authentic stocks with no fat, no MSG and only half the sodium of the leading canned broth.  Now available in convenient, pantry-stable cartons in the soup/broth section of leading supermarkets and natural food stores.