How to cook meat broth: tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Homemade Russian cuisine is unthinkable without fragrant, delicious meat broth. It is used as an independent dish, as a basis for soups, in the preparation of sauces, vegetable stews, cereals, gravy, jelly. With the help of a strong broth, they restore strength after an illness, they treat coughs and colds, they warm a frozen person.

The recipe for meat broth is simple and accessible even for a novice cook. However, sometimes ignorance of some of the nuances does not allow you to cook a good broth. It turns out either cloudy, or watery, or not spicy and rich enough. To avoid failure, it is enough to follow a few simple rules, the observance of which guarantees a quality result.

Dishes

Meat broth is cooked slowly, it should warm up evenly, so thick-walled pots or cauldrons are ideal dishes. They should be large enough to fit a large piece of meat and several liters of water. Moreover, the liquid should not be poured to the very top, otherwise, when boiling, it will overflow and splatter the stove or flood the fire.

Meat

Bouillon is made from a variety of meats:lamb and pork, veal and chicken, rabbit and turkey meat. From pulp and bones. Moreover, the richness of the broth is given by gelling substances that are contained in bones, cartilage and films, so they do not need to be removed. It is best to take meat from the chest or back, ribs, rump, rump, shoulder or shank.

The quality of the meat determines the taste of the broth. The most delicious is obtained from fresh meat. If there is only frozen, then it must be defrosted according to the rules: gradually bringing it to room temperature, without using hot water or a microwave oven for this. Before cooking, the meat is pre-washed in cold water to remove excess blood from its surface. Some housewives soak meat in water for several hours.

Water

The quality of the water is just as important for the taste of the broth as the quality of the meat. The best choice: well or key. However, in the city it is problematic to find one. Therefore, you can buy clean bottled water or use filtered water. Water is taken at the rate of two to three liters per kilogram of meat product. Although this figure is not fixed. It all depends on what kind of output you want. The more water, the thinner and fresher the meat broth.

Roots, spices and fragrant herbs

Roots give the broth a rich vegetable smell and make it taste richer. The classic set of roots are celery, onions and carrots. They can be lightly baked in the oven or sautéed in a pan, then the broth will acquire smoky notes. In addition to these three vegetables, useparsnips, leeks, turnips, garlic.

Spices and fragrant herbs are added to the broth a few minutes before the end of cooking. So they are not completely digested, but they have time to fully give up their flavor. Almost no broth is complete without black and allspice peas and bay leaves. Other spices are added purely to taste. Each family has its own preferences, which determine the choice of spices. Use fresh and dry fragrant herbs: dill, thyme, parsley and others. Herbs can be tied into bundles and placed in water to make them easier to catch.

How to cook meat broth: general principles

• Wash fresh or properly defrosted meat and place it in a pot of clean water. Approximately two to three liters of water per kilogram of meat. But the liquid should not reach the very edge of the dish, otherwise it will splash out when boiling. The water must be cold. There is a culinary axiom: you need a broth - the meat is placed in cold water; you need boiled meat - it is put in boiling water.
• Put the dishes on the fire. When the water begins to boil, foam will appear, it must be immediately removed with a slotted spoon or spoon. If the foam is not caught in time, it will sink to the bottom and impair the appearance and taste of the broth. Excess grease and foam on the walls can be easily removed with a paper towel or towel. Below in the photo - meat broth in the boiling stage.

• Reduce the heat to a minimum, the water should barely boil, in this mode the meat will give out more fully contained in itextractives and useful vitamins. And leave the lid ajar so that moisture does not condense on it, which, getting back into the broth, spoils its taste.
• About half an hour before the end of cooking, put the roots in a saucepan and s alt to your taste or at the rate of one teaspoon of s alt per liter of liquid.
• Five minutes before turning off the fire, add bay leaf and other spices.
• Catch vegetables after cooking and discard. Strain the meat broth if desired. Then it will definitely not contain fragments of bones, spices and leftover vegetables, such as onions. In addition, it will become more transparent.

How long to cook?

The cooking time depends on the selected meat and the desired richness of the broth. The fastest way - one and a half hours - is boiled rabbit, tender veal, poultry meat. Broth from bones, smoked meats and beef is cooked the longest - about three hours; from pork - two and a half hours; from lamb - two hours. It is advisable not to digest the broth, otherwise its taste deteriorates. Readiness can be determined by the condition of the meat: the fibers are easily separated from each other and from the bones.

Strong meat broth with drawback

Ingredients:

• meat - 500 grams;
• onions, carrots - one each;
• greens - to taste;
• s alt - 1.5 tsp or to taste;
• minced meat - 300 grams;
• egg - 1 piece;
• water - 1.5-2 liters.

Wash the meat or leave for a few hours in cold water. Then put it in a pot withcold water. Bring to a boil and carefully scoop out any foam that forms. Half an hour before the end of cooking, add s alt and roots. Immediately after the roots, a guy is poured into the pan. It is made from a mixture of egg white, minced meat and a few tablespoons of water or broth. The guy quickly curls up in the boiling broth, brightening it and sinking to the bottom.

A few minutes before the end of cooking, add spices and herbs. Then turn off the heat, fish out the meat and carefully strain the broth. Throw the vegetables away, and the quickdraw can be fed to a pet or used in a casserole or meat gravy.

Diet or secondary broth

Ingredients:

• chicken - 1.5 kg;
• onions, carrots - one each;
• celery or parsley to taste;
• s alt - 1.5 tsp or to taste;
• water - 3 liters.

This broth is best suited for children, people with digestive problems and anyone who cares about their he alth. Modern meat, especially poultry, can be laced with antibiotics, hormones, steroids and other substances fed to animals to speed up their growth and increase their resistance to disease.

Harmful substances get into the broth, threatening the eater with he alth problems. Therefore, to reduce the risks, it is better to boil the secondary broth. It is prepared in the same way as usual, but with one significant addition. After the water boils, the meat is allowed to boil for several minutes, and then the water must be poured out, the dishes and meat washed,and then fill with cold water. Next, the broth is cooked according to the classic recipe, but at the same time it turns out to be lighter and more transparent, and most importantly, he althier.

Subtleties

• If you put a little onion peel into the meat broth while boiling, then a pleasant golden hue will appear in its color.
• Thawed meat broth has a darkish tint, to lighten it, you need to put the shell of a chicken egg in the pan.
• High boiling does not speed up cooking, but worsens the taste.
• If the foam has sunk to the bottom, it can be raised to the surface again by pouring cold water into the broth. But the taste suffers from this, so it is better to be careful when removing the foam in time.
• Today there are many meat broth recipes with photo and video instructions that will be a useful addition to theoretical knowledge.
• The broth is easy to freeze, so that you can then have several servings on hand for a quick soup or cooking other dishes. To do this, the container of the required volume must be lined with cling film so that it is hung over the edges with a margin. Pour the cooled broth into it. Send the container to the freezer, and when the liquid in it freezes, take out and wrap the frozen broth in a film. Such rectangular briquettes are compact and easy to use.