Stock, of any variety, is a staple to anyone who actually uses their kitchen because it’s a part of many major recipes. It can be used for deglazing vegetables, a base for yummy soups, and of course, it heals anything that may be ailing you (re: Jewish penicillin.)

It takes all of ten minutes to prep, about four hours to cook, and eight to twelve hours to cool. You can freeze it for long periods of time, reheat it whenever you need, and it’s easily adaptable!

Okay, on to the important part.

To start your stock, you need the chicken.

Pro-Tip #1: NEVER use boneless breasts for stock. Bones are what give flavor to everything.

For my stock, I used two chicken thighs and one chunk of random bones that I prefer to not describe or look at. I happen to have access to an amazing butcher that is breaking down chickens all day so it was easy to get these extra parts. If you have a local grocer (not a chain store) or even a specialty butcher shop, you can go in, tell them you’re making stock, and that you need chicken bones, and they’ll probably hand them over for free. You can use all random bones or even a whole roasting chicken if you’re planning to use the meat after.

I am doing this in a slow cooker because I don’t have a large stockpot. Really, it doesn’t matter the vessel, you just want it to be a heavy-bottomed vessel that you can cook in over an extended period of time, and you want it to be at least eight quarts.

Now, for the vegetables. The base of almost any soup or stock on the planet is called mirepoix, otherwise known as onions, celery, and carrots. You can learn about the history of it here if you’d like.

Anyway, give these a quick rough chop, keeping them in fairly large chunks, and toss them in with the chicken, along with a couple whole, peeled garlic cloves. Next, come the spices. I go with salt, whole peppercorns, and a couple bay leaves because I like to keep it simple. There are no measurements for these because it’s up to you.

Remember that the more ingredients you’re putting into the pot, the less water goes in, so there won’t be as much actual stock that gets produced because it all reduces down.

Pro-Tip #2: Go easy on the salt. You can always add salt later but you can never remove it.

Be mindful that this is chicken STOCK, not soup, so you want to make it flavorful, but also mellow so you can use it for many things.

Everything goes into the pot with the chicken and now it’s time for the water. You want to fill up your pot or slow cooker almost to the top but leave room for it to boil. For me, this was 9 cups of water.

And that’s all she wrote, folks! Turn on your pot, put the lid on, bring everything to a boil for a couple minutes, and then let it simmer on low for about 4-5 hours. After it’s done and the chicken is cooked completely through, strain it out and let it cool for about eight to ten hours, or until there’s this nice layer of fat on top. You’ll scoop this off once it’s completely cool and be left with delicious, smooth chicken stock!

Pro-Tip #3: Don’t use your stock until you’ve scooped the fat off the top or it will be really greasy.

How to freeze: You can freeze it in ice cube trays so you can add it to soups or random recipes. I freeze it in plastic, air-tight quart containers, personally, but it’s up to you. When you’re ready to use, just boil it for a couple minutes and voila! I told you it was easy.

Basically, this is chicken soup pared down to its most basic form. Winter is coming and we all know that means the flu is on the way. Having stock handy is great for healing your icky sickness and all you have to do is boil up some chicken and toss it into your already made stock!

INGREDIENTS | Makes about 2 quarts

• 3-4 pieces of chicken, or chunks of bone
• 1 large onion
• 2-3 large carrots
• 3-4 stalks of celery
• 3-4 whole, peeled garlic cloves
• Salt
• Whole black peppercorns
• Bay leaves

RECIPE

1. Place chicken parts in large stockpot or slow cooker.
2. Rough chop onion, carrots and celery. Throw in pot with garlic.
3. Sprinkle in salt, a small pinch of peppercorns and two bay leaves.
4. Pour in water so everything is covered, leaving an inch of room at the top.
5. Bring everything to a boil for a couple minutes, then turn down to low for about 4-5 hours.
6. Strain out. Put meat to the side, if preferred.
7. Chill for 8-10 hours or until everything is cool and a layer of fat has formed at the top.
8. Scoop off fat layer and prepare for freezing or serving.

The post Making the Basics: Chicken Stock appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Does that stop you eating steak? Probably not. Does it dull your enjoyment just a little bit? If so, rejoice. We’re about to show exactly why and how grass fed beef comes to the rescue. It’s actually quite healthy in a lot of ways. It may even be on the same health plane as eating fish, so you can relax and enjoy it while you’re digging in.

First, why is red meat such as steak and hamburger “bad?” A lot of the hype comes down to processed meats. Most hot dogs, lunchmeat, bacon, and other processed treats contain a lot of nitrates and nitrites. Those are bad because when we cook them at high heat (read: grill or fry) they break down into compounds that cause cancer just as certainly as ripping butts.

What about non-processed meat? There are some studies that suggest it may cause bowel cancer, mostly because of its fat content. By contrast, lean red meat is thought to be an important source of iron and other minerals.

Here’s where the rubber meats the road: There’s growing evidence that fat is actually good for you. Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may actually prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and other ailments.

The key is, there’s a difference between healthy fat and bad-for-you fat, and that’s where grass fed beef comes charging in.

Why Grass Fed Beef is Healthy Beef

According to several studies, it’s not even so much that some fat is bad and some is good. It’s that our bodies evolved to eat fats in a certain balance. Without donning a lab coat and a pair of Buddy Holly specs, we’re supposed to eat a specific ratio of Omega-3’s, Omega-6’s and Omega-9’s. Most Americans get about 30 times more Omega-6 fats than they should, and a lot less Omega-3 fats.

Before we link this up to grass fed beef, here’s why fish is so good for you. The oily ones like herring, salmon, and mackerel are chock full of healthy Omega-3’s. That’s because they eat a lot of smaller fish that eat a lot of even smaller fish that live on phytoplankton, tiny sea animals rich in Omega-3’s.

Now enter grass fed beef. Our caveman ancestors ate it all the time. It’s true their life expectancy tailed off at about age 30, but then they had to work long days chasing bison without the benefit of workers comp. That grass fed meat they ate was lower in fat than ours. Better still, the fat in it contained a much higher proportion of Omega-3’s.

Fast forward to today. We’re eating grain fed steaks that deliver three times more of the bad Omega-6 fats and about 1/4 the healthy Omega-3 fats.

Now switch to grass fed and that bad equation does a somersault. With grass fed beef, you’re not only eating less overall fat, but the fat you do eat has about a third the bad fats and four times more good fats. Is it as healthy as eating salmon? Nope. But it’s about four times healthier than “normal” grain fed beef. Also, the World Health Organization can’t lean over your shoulder while you’re eating it and mutter that it “may” cause cancer. Quite the opposite, studies have shown it “may” prevent the dreaded C.

Grass Fed in a Nutshell

So there’s the rub. The grass fed option can make meat actually healthy again. It can give us the good fats we need to build a well-functioning brain and cardiovascular system. It provides protein, iron and B-vitamins as well. And it does it all while tasting downright delicious.

The post Why Your Steak Should Be Grass Fed or Hit the Road appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Let’s get one thing straight before the actual review.  “Chef” is over 2 hours of food porn.  I mean pure, unadulterated, delicious food porn.  I went into this movie after a big brunch and within 20 minutes was craving everything I saw on the screen.  I didn’t even know what half of it was, but damn did it look delicious.  In the end, I went home and cooked a mean skirt steak with a red pepper sauce and a side of potatoes and asparagus.  I gave up on the quick meals because of this movie.  Okay, now it’s said.

Very rarely do I get excited about a movie enough to see it in theaters, but the new Jon Favreau flick “Chef” caught my eye.  The trailer showed the all-star cast, including Dustin Hoffman and Scarlett Johansson, and the story felt unique enough for me to actually want to see it.  And I am glad I did.  This is a mid-life crisis story, one told from the perspective of acclaimed chef Carl Casper, played by Jon Favreau.  At one time, he was the chef that everyone wanted to be, the man with the creative vision, but has since lost the passion and encouragement to continue being innovative.  He was a lost chef in a food-focused world, unable to grow his passions.  His skill was definitely there the whole time, so this isn’t a journey in that, but it was his lacking of control over his kitchen, the food, and his personal life that put him down this road.

What starts with a bad review, quickly escalating to a flame war over the social media channel Twitter, the Chef’s spiral downward is wide spread and impacting, driving him out of the kitchen, out of a job, and looking to find something.  And this is where the journey begins.  It was not just a a rebuilding of his career, but a finding of his true self, a focus of his talents, and growth of the inner core of a man.  Yes, it is a coming of age movie with midlife crisis poured all over it, and it may feel as if I am ruining the point of it, but I am not.  It’s the story being told that is worth seeing, one that might feel familiar in a way. but is unique especially when compared to the others that tend to fall under this category.  There are no extra ordinary circumstances, nothing that makes this feel as if the Chef could not be any other person.  It feels real, true, and good.

So, while the story may not be the most unique and does fall in the by-the-numbers, storyline with a neatly rolled up plot and under-dramatic climax, it has a good spirit to the idea of rediscovery.  And one of the more appealing aspects is it is not a movie you walk away from asking “but what about this” in, where the plot holes are minimum and the flick feels complete.  It makes food trucks and cooking exciting, and really does fit in with this foodie culture we have all seemed to fallen into.  Like the food being served, it shows that a movie can be wonderful to see if simple and true.  It’s worth every penny seeing, and then heading off to the closest unique restaurant as you will be walking away hungry.

An all star cast, a solid story, and a great director/lead actor all adds up to a move you should see.  We promise you will enjoy it. Oh, and did I mention the food?  Oh yes, the food.

The post A Feast With ‘Chef’ appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.