Cooking Stock

These are the two jars of cooking stock I ended up with after I processed that pork shoulder and helped along a left-over meal.  This stock is the product of a couple of previous efforts.  First, we had beef ribs for Easter, and the bones were used for stock.  That stock got another round of simmering with a bit of bone from a chuck steak.  Next, I made Jambalaya.  That started out with some chicken stock in a crockpot, in which I cooked a breast and a link of Andoullie sausage.  Two thirds of a jar of stock remained from that meal, and that was part of what got tossed in with the batch of stock made from the pork shoulder.  Once you are using all sorts of different meats/poultry in the mix, you have a hearty all-purpose stock you can re-incarnate for many different dishes.

This was Sunday dinner.  We had a healthy portion of the Jambalaya that needed to be loosened up.  The stock did the job just fine.  Also, there was a bit of dough remaining from making a pizza the night before.  This is part white and part white whole wheat flour.

It was a truly delicious dinner!  Best of all, there is still that extra stock, as well has half a chicken breast and half a sausage, which can be used for another batch of andoullie in the near future.

Part of the appeal of not relying on a recipe, and cooking with whatever you've got, is that one delicious meal often leads to another.  It doesn't hurt that this is cheap too.  I think relying solely on a specific recipe to make a solitary meal is a waste. You'll never see us signing up for a meal delivery service.  Not only does it make no sense financially, IMO, you miss out on a lot of flavor by making each effort a stand-alone affair.

My message is not to be afraid to throw together a pot of junk -- something delicious can certainly come from it!