Always in the Fridge, Always in our Minds

by Anna Monaco, Seafood Buyer

There are a few things I always have in my pantry and fridge. These are not things I buy when I need some, I tend to panic buy these in large quantities and always have some on hand, no matter what! Below are some thoughts on these ingredients as well as some fun facts about them and, of course, my favorite uses!

Ode to Sour Cream

There once was some fermented horse milk

Resembling the color of corn silk

Mongolian diets

Insisted you try it

To turn into one of their ilk

Okay, not really but sort of. Some of the first domesticated horses can trace back to current day Kazakhstan. Horse milk has a much higher lactose content than cow or yak milk for example, and can be not so gentle on the human digestive system if consumed raw. Fermentation, however, allowed the natural bacteria to convert the lactose into lactic acid, making it both thicker and more tolerable to the human body. This fermented liquid was called Koumiss. The fermentation process, however, did transform some of the sugars into alcohol so this thick milk was a little boozy. As domesticated horses became the "it" trend throughout Eurasia, the nomadic Mongolian diet incorporated Koumiss as a staple. Years later, Russians substituted horse milk with cow milk and adjusted the fermentation process to prevent alcohol from developing et voila! Sour cream, as we are more familiar with it today, was born!

I put sour cream on lots of things from nachos and tacos to all sorts of bean dishes, but one of my favorite uses is in a hot soup - and it is soup weather! I put a dollop in the center and let the heat from the liquid melt it just a touch so when I take a bite from the center of said dollop, it's still a little cold and gives a nice contrast to the hot soup. How do you use sour cream?

O Chicken broth, my chicken broth

Two birds diverged in the wood and I put them both in a stock pot

With veggies veggies everywhere and not a piece to eat

Shall I compare thee to a summer stock

Thou art more flavorful and drinkable

To stir or not to stir, that is the recipe direction

What is broth and what is stock? Are they different? What about bone broth? Here we go folks, let's iron this out once and for all. Traditionally, stock is made from bones and aromatics and broth is made from bones with a little more meat on them and aromatics. For aromatics, both typically use celery, carrot, and onion (or mirepoix (meer-pwah) as it's often referred to). But what about vegetable stock? Vegetables don't have bones. How does that work? And bone broth is broth made with a higher proportion of bones. So you're telling me it's just stock, right? These days, the terms are pretty interchangeable, though most people tend to think of broth as more flavorful (which, if we go off of the traditional definition mentioned above, it technically is).

So for the purposes of the rest of this article, I will be referring to them both as STOTH (STOck + brOTH).

Is it easy to make your own STOTH? The answer is a resounding YES! Every time you cut any item from the mirepoix, take the scraps and throw them in a freezer bag/container. Keep adding to it until you have enough to fill a small saucepan. If you want to add meat to the STOTH, you can either use the remains of a roast chicken or pork chop or throw in some bone-in cuts of that meat as well. So you have your frozen bag of onion skins, celery ends, and carrot peels, and you have 3 chicken wings you forgot to cook and the body of a roast chicken pretty picked clean. Throw all of that in a pot and cover with water and add a tablespoon or so of salt. Bring it to a boil and then simmer it until you are satisfied with the flavor (at least a few hours, but up to 18 if you so dare). You can add fresh or dried herbs and additional vegetables like mushrooms or garlic too. Strain the STOTH through cheesecloth and you suddenly have a super concentrated homemade STOTH with very little actual work.

So what's the big deal about STOTH anyway? You can use it in a number of applications. Use it to make a delicious sauce for your seared chicken thighs. Throw some in a blender with steamed sweet potatoes for soup. Thin out refried beans so they are spreadable on your tostadas and tacos. Heat it up and drink it! STOTH is so versatile and nourishing and making your own is easy and one of those things in which you can really taste the difference.

Happy STOTH season all!