From Kitchen Scraps to Broth

During my many years of cooking, I've always used store-bought broth. But recently, I've learned that I can make one myself with all my kitchen scraps. This broth is so much better because I know exactly what I put in it. It takes some time but it is worth it. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!
Of course, you can make your own version by adding herbs, spices, meat, vegetables to fit your taste. Possibilities are endless.

• A pot
• A sieve
• Oil
• Coarse salt
• Pepper corns
• Kitchen scraps (stems, peels, leaves, fat...)
• Fresh herbs, spices...

Note that all your kitchen scraps need to be edible!

Except if you're cooking a huge meal, you'll need to gather your ingredients gradually over the course of your daily cooking sessions. The best way to achieve that is to put them in a plastic bag in your freezer until you're ready to cook your broth.

Anything that is edible can be use. Be creative!

In that batch, I've used:

• tomato stems
• turnip stems (I've used the leaves in a soup)
• onion peels (yes, that outside layer too)
• carrot ends
• zucchini ends
• dried duck fat
• ham fat
• leek greens
• radish stems (I've used the leaves in a soup)

Pour a bit of oil (I used olive oil) in a big pot and heat it.
When it's hot, add all your fatty ingredients, coarse salt, and pepper corns.
Cook them until they are sizzling.

Add all the veggies in the pot and brown them lightly.

Cover your veggies with water. To add some flavor to your broth, you can add spices and herbs (here I used fresh thyme).

Put a lid on your pot and bring your broth to a boil. Then lower the temperature to let it simmer for at least 90 minutes.

Use a sieve to remove all the veggies, herbs, meat, and spices you've added in your broth.

If you are the lucky owner of a compost, you can feed it your kitchen scraps. If not, you can discard them. Note that all other ingredients can be retrieved to be eaten.

If you're not using the broth right away, you can store it for a few days in the fridge or you can freeze it.