There is nothing like home made stock! Apart from the rich, succulent flavor it adds to soups and sauces, store-bought stocks don’t even come close to the nutritional content of home made soup stock. Following is a traditional fish stock recipe, cooked first, and then used in the Hearty Fish Soup recipe. Ask your fishmonger for some fish carcasses including heads (lets not be too squeamish about this), which you should not need to pay for as this would be thrown away anyway, and you will be rewarded with a stock brimming with rich minerals, including all-important thyroid-nourishing iodine.
BASIC FISH STOCK
Author: Eat Holistic LLC
Recipe type: Soup Stock
Ingredients
- (As the vegetables are used with skin, organic produce is recommended)
- 2-4 whole carcasses of non-oily fish (heads incl.) – the saturated fats in oil fish can become rancid during cooking
- 2 onions, scrubbed but with skin, cubed
- 4-5 garlic cloves, scrubbed but with skin, slightly crushed
- 2-3 carrots, scrubbed, unpeeled, sliced in ½ inch rounds
- 3-4 large stalks of celery, leaves included
- bunch of parsley, whole
- 2 yams or sweet potatoes, scrubbed but with skin, cubed
- 3-4 red potatoes, scrubbed but with skin, cubed
- 2” piece of fresh ginger, cut into thick slices
- 2” piece of Kombu (also known as Kelp) seaweed
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 6-9 whole peppercorns
- 4-6 juniper berries
- ¼ cup vinegar
Instructions
- In a large stock pot melt either butter or ghee, add vegetables (except parsley) and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.
- Add fish carcasses, vinegar, whole spices, kombu and water until all ingredients are covered. Bring to a boil and skim off any scum that rises to the top.
- Add parsley, and simmer on low heat for a minimum of 3-4 hours.
- Add water in between if the levels drops and the contents start peeking out. When done, remove all contents with a slotted spoon, strain liquid into a bowl and refrigerate.
- When chilled, remove congealed fat, then transfer to freezer for long term storage (filling glass mason jars ¾ full), or use as a base for a soup immediately.
