Healthy Easy Pork Stock Recipe

Pork stock is widely used in Mexican and Southeast Asian cooking. You can take advantage of the natural gelatin in the bones to make thick and flavorful pork stock. Hearty and inexpensive, this is a staple for many homemade dishes, sauces, gravies, bean soups, pork stews and for deglazing.

How to Make Delicious and Nutritious Pork Stock?

• To make pork stock from scratch, store neck bones, back bones, pork hocks, spare ribs, leg bones, pork shoulder, or any bones removed from the leftover roasts (or steaks) in a Ziploc bag in the freezer until you have accumulated enough to make pork stock. It is great to have a comparable combination of skin, cartilage, meat and bone to yield a flavorful pork stock.

• Always add a dash of vinegar to the bone stock to release the collagen in the bones into the soup which in turn forming gelatin when simmering in water (through hydrolysis process). Gelatin is touted as a good source of protein and can be dispersed in an acidic medium. Thus, adding white or raw apple cider vinegar serves as a catalyst for a rich and gelatinous stock.

• To develop rich flavors, start with browning the meaty pork bones with olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot. Alternatively, you can roast pork bones in oven, turn it over until they developed a handsome brown crust on both sides. Add the water to either pot or roasting pan, then scrape at the bottom of the pot (or roasting pan) with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits. Now the water should start to take on a rich brown color. Bring to a boil. If you are using an oven for roasting, then transfer the loosen brown bits, water and roasted pork bones into a stockpot and bring to a boil.

• Skim off foamy, opaque scum and impurities that rise to the surface of the stock with a shallow slotted spoon.

• Mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery), some aromatic vegetables, root vegetables, herbs and spices add some depth to the flavors. You can add bay leaves, garlic and parsley stems and et cetera into the stock.

• To strain hot stock, dampen the cheesecloth with cold water, wring it out and line a colander. The purpose of doing so is to catch any fat or impurities that are left behind. When hot stock poured through the cold cheesecloth, the fat will solidify and trap in the cheesecloth, leaving only clear stock strain through it.

• Another way is to let the stockpot cools down instantly under cold water bath. To do this, you can fill your kitchen sink with cold tap water and add some ice cubes. When hot stockpot meets with cold water bath, fat will coagulate on top, which allow you to lift off this top layer with a shallow spoon. You can then transfer the strained pork stock into ice cubes tray and put into freezer. This way you can lengthen the shelf life and keep them up to three months.

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