girl in a food frenzy

There are some old tales from down Chinatown way, where Chef’s argue about the most expensive price ever paid for a pot of this liquid gold. Arguments about stocks passed down through generations of restaurants ranging anywhere from the hundreds, to $35,000 for a pot filled with the flavours and aromas of a century.

It’s a smell you might recall if ever you wander by an Asian soup kitchen and see pots filled with simmering broths or indeed hawker market stalls with folks queuing for a bowl of this restorative broth.

Schezuan peppercorns, Jasmine Tea, garlic, five spice powder, brown sugar, chillies, shitake mushrooms, garlic & more…

Sometimes when I was little, mum used to make a slow braised chicken with medicinal ginseng, I’m certain that had some amazing healthful qualities to it but boy oh boy, did it taste good!

This is the sort of Asian Master Stock which keeps on giving.

Fact: Century old practices dictate that the broth is reused time and time again, imparting a depth to the overall flavour and appearance. I’m not one to keep gallons of stock on a low simmer for the next five years, but I can add that freezing a good portion of this in easy use ice cubes or zip lock freezer bags for occasional use is more fitting in the modern day.

However, if you would like to follow the old masters methods in reusing the stock, see here on the wikki

Like this, you might want to see:
Hainanese Chicken with coriander broth & rice
Penang Laksa
Soba Noodles, with buttered mushrooms, pickled radish and oozey egg