One of THE first fundamental skills any professional culinary student is taught is how to make a delicious stock. By making and using your own stock, your cooking is guaranteed to be elevated to an entirely new level. Not only is making stock extremely rewarding, it will most definitely taste better and be healthier than anything you can buy. Most store-bought stocks are high in sodium and lack the gelatin that homemade stocks contain.

Often dubbed as liquid gold, a well-made, gelatinous stock is what enables chefs to make those restaurant-quality sauces. In fact, great chefs begins the week by making and storing a variety of stocks, which is one of the reasons why their dishes taste so good. Basically, if you can simmer water or make tea you can make stock – the process is extremely simple. Many people wrongly assume that making stock takes far too much effort; however, the actual work takes only a matter of minutes.

In this lesson, you will learn the fundamentals of making stock. You will learn about the equipment required, the basic components, the importance of simmering and skimming and how to strain and cool, defat and store stock. While this lesson will walk you through the process of making a white chicken stock, it is important to note that the principles you learn here apply to all types of stock.

If you seriously want to learn how to cook well, you need to know how to make stock. By simply using stock rather than water in almost any area of your cooking, you can effortlessly add delicious flavor to the food you cook – even to everyday rice and grains. By having quality stock on hand, not only will you have the foundation of a great dish, you will also be excited and motivated to cook a variety of new dishes.