Fish Stock Recipe

Hey do you have lots of fish heads and carcasses, or maybe you want to make fish stock for some other reason? Here's the deal. You need a big stock pot or casserole, and a big sieve, also not to mind your kitchen smelling of fish.

A bunch of fish heads and carcasses, maybe a crab shell. You probably don't have that much fish at once unless you're a fishmonger or chef or something, so keep them in a freezer until you have enough/want fish stock.

Vegetables, a couple of carrots, a leek, a few celery stalks, an onion. Peel, wash and cut up as you see fit.

Put the fish parts into the stockpot. You may need to break them up a bit, you want them to fill the space as much as possible. Just cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for twenty minutes, or a bit longer.

Then drain the liquid into a big bowl. If you want a nice clear stock then strain through cloth, but that's not needed. Throw away the fishbones as soon as possible, they smell. Rinse out your stock pot. Put in the vegetables, then pour over the liquid. Bring to the boil and simmer cook for at least forty five minutes; boil a bit harder if you want to concentrate the flavour. Skim off anything that comes to the top and looks nasty.

Let it cool, then freeze in suitable amounts, unless you're going to make a big fish stew or soup or something that night.

By cooking bones then vegetables, we avoid cramming all the ingredients in at once, and then having to reduce the amount of water so you get a suitable amount of flavour. Most vegetables are good for this; once I used a quarter of a red cabbage I had left over and it gave the stock a rich green colour. Later, using it to make a sauce, I put in lemon juice and the acid turned the cabbage colour from blue to red, creating a delicate pink tinge.