Brodo

Brodo is the Italian version of stock and can take many forms, this is my basic brodo technique.

Brodo can be made from whatever meat and bones you have lying around your house. At home I would usually make brodo the night I cook chicken, duck, or other bird. You can roast poultry bones and freeze them if you want to make brodo in the future. You should also use some meat. At the restaurant I put short ribs, chicken thighs, and pheasant drumsticks in mine, but they are nor necessary to make brodo. At home, frequently the chicken wings, neck, and carcass have enough meat on the bones to make it work. Brodo freezes well. you can put it into plastic containers and thaw it when you want to make pasta, risotto, or anything else delicious.

Ingredients

Roasted carcass of one chicken, duck, or other game bird 

Beef  short ribs or scrap meat (approximately 8 oz)

Chicken Leg

1 onion cut in half

1 carrot

1 celery

1 tomato (fresh, peeled, dry, or in paste form)

Parsley stems

Bay Leaf

Black peppercorns

3 T salt

Blacken the onion in your heaviest pan with a little oil over high heat. make sure the flesh is completely charred and black.

Combine all ingredients in a large (8 quart) stockpot. Fill with water, bring to a boil over high heat. Skim the foam that rises to the top, turn down to a low simmer, and cook until delicious, at least 6 hours. The brodo should be delicious enough to stand alone, and can be enjoyed straight from the pot.

This brodo can be used for anything. It is interchangeable with chicken stock. When replacing chicken stock with brodo, be sure to adjust the salt levels, as stock usually contains no salt.