Flavor is Everything!

How to Make Seafood Stock for Soups

Taking time to make seafood broth from leftover seafood scraps is worthwhile. The flavor is fresh. You control the ingredients, and you never have to buy already prepared broth again. Usually having too much sodium or preservatives, store bought broth out of a can or box is simply not as good as homemade stock. Plus, you will feel better about not letting any food go to waste.

The first step in making the broth is to save discarded shells from shrimp, lobsters and other crustaceans. I use a freezer bag. Every time I have shells, I put them in the freezer bag as part of the dinner cleanup. Once you do this a few times, it becomes habit.

Making the Seafood Broth:

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• First, preheat the oven to 400o F, and get a large pot of water simmering on the stove.
• Second, take out your saved shells from the freezer. Lay the bag flat and use a rolling pin to crush and breakup the shells. A couple of rolls back and forth are enough. You are only increasing the shell surface area to maximize flavor extraction.
• Next, place the shells evenly onto a baking sheet and pop them in the preheated oven. Let them back for about 10 minutes. Baking the shells ahead of time also extracts more flavor from the shells. (Set a timer so you don’t forget about them!)
• Then, take out the shells and add them to the simmering water. This next part is important, and while making broth is easy, this is where most people make a mistake. Only let the broth simmer. Don’t let it boil. I’ve seen pots of broth being prepared in roaring boiling bubbles. With this, the temperature can get too hot, and the broth may have an overall burned taste. The idea is to gently coax the flavor out of the shells with the least amount of heat needed.
• Next, add any other vegetable scraps you have saved in the freezer. If you don’t have any, simply cut up some of the vegetables that you do have, such as carrots, leafy greens, onions, etc. Use tongs to dunk the pieces down into the water. You don’t want to stir them in. Stirring the broth can make for an unwanted cloudy broth.
• Last, let the broth gently simmer at no more than 180o F for about an hour. If any foam appears at the top, skim it off. Strain the broth into another large pot over a colander. Add salt and pepper to taste. You now have a flavorful, homemade seafood broth.

image credit – photo by Shaina Olmanson tit with pseudo-five , which is five led “Pouring Broth”