(white-fleshed) fish. Ingredients for a vegetable
stock are many and usually whatever is on hand
in a vegetable lover’s refrigerator will work nice-
ly. Aromatic vegetables are required for a good
blend of flavors in a sturdy stock. Combine them
to create a nice balance of sweet and sour fla-
vors, with carrots, celery, leeks and onions being
standards in most recipes. Vegetables to use
sparingly for an all-purpose stock, due to their
strong and sometimes bitter flavors, are mem-
bers of the cabbage family (cabbage, cauli-
flower, broccoli, collards, kohlrabi, Brussels
sprouts and turnips). Also avoid adding egg-
plants, potatoes, tomatoes and beets to stocks.
Herbs and spices are a subtle, yet key ingre-
dient to a well defined stock. Whole spices
should be used. Peppercorns, allspice, cinna-
mon sticks, coriander, celery seed, cloves and
bay leaves are examples of whole spices to
employ when creating your stock. If using pow-
dered herbs and spices do so sparingly, and
remember the flavors will become enhanced as
the stock ages. Salt is also important to help
extract all the flavor out of the meat and vegeta-
bles. Even if you don’t add enough salt to be
detected by the palate, a small amount will help
extract flavors from the other ingredients.
■Start any type of stock with cold, clean water
and the ingredients at the same time. Do not
add ingredients after the water has become hot
– it will hinder the extraction of flavor.
■The pressure cooker should not be filled more
than half full when cooking soup – especially
when cooking split peas, beans, barley, oats or
any other food which expands or foams.
■Do not allow pressure indicator to rise above
first red ring. Keep in this position during cooking
process.
■When cooking soups with vegetables that
require different lengths of cooking time, take the
vegetables with the longest cooking time as a
basic guide. Or, chop them into smaller pieces
than those which require less time.
Guidelines to
help you produce
excellent results
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