The foundation of every soup is a good stock

I love to cook and when I first started to cook I was 11 yrs old helping my mom, learning from her. I started out in the kitchen by making chicken in a pot but moved on to more serious things pretty quickly. She has thought me a lot about cooking and the fundamentals of cooking don't change. Take for instance the simple stock, its simple for what it is but at the same time adds a very complex flavor to your food; add it to risotto, stews and of course as a basis for most soups. 

In all polish homes, stock is called rosół (pron: ro souw) Rosół is a traditional Polish meat broth, that is usually made from beef/veal or chicken and sometimes turkey. The more bones that are in the stock the better the stock. Also we add a good amount of vegetables to the stock. Celery, carrots, leek, parsley and some people add garlic and onions too. There is also an element that Polish people add which is vegeta - and can be bought in most ethnic grocery stores, although not necessary. 

Adding vegeta to your rosol adds lots of flavor but I have cooked without it and it was fine except it needed more salt, lots more salt. If your on a low salt diet than leave it out. 

I wanted to post this since whenever I talk about making soup I will most likely start as a base of rosol and add to it, like when making mushroom soup, or chicken tortilla soup, or filipino arroz caldo or my favorite sinigang.  I mean sometimes its ok to have a box or can or stock in your pantry but why when you can make a pot of this and store small containers of it in your freezer for a day when you need stock. 

Ingredients:

Chicken or beef with bones or turkey necks(makes a less fattier but still flavorful version)

pot filled with water

2 stalks of celery

3 carrots peeled

half of a medium sized leek 

small bunch of parsley

vegeta

or salt if not using vegeta

You can't see too well since its a dark pot.

photo credit of Mojegotowanie.com

Directions:

Place meat (chicken, beef, veal or turkey) into pot cover with water. bring to a boil until you see the scum accumulating on top, skim off the scum it makes a cleaner stock. After skimming the scum add the vegetables and a couple of teaspoons of vegeta to the pot. You can always add more so go easy the first time. Then you let the rosol simmer on a med flame for a couple of hours. The trick to getting a clear not cloudy broth is the low simmer. After a couple of hours the rosol will be done and you can serve in a traditional way with fine noodles or potatoes. I sometimes like to shred the chicken, esp. for my daughter and add the carrots from the rosol and sprinkle a bit of parsley on top for flavor and color. 

If you made a large pot strain the vegetable and bits of vegeta that is most likely sunk to the bottom and place in smaller containers into the freezer which you can use next time you need stock.

Next up is my chicken tortilla soup.