In a jam, pickled, frozen, well preserved and other culinary triumphs

OMG @Former-Member @Bunniekins you may just have inspired me to do another cook book!

I actually do have one in the wild!

I can't say what it's subject is 'cos that would lead to potential identification.

Oh, you've made my day!

OH, @Former-Member - awesome you have an Elderflower Tree!

Tip - gather the flower umbrels - pick the flowers from the stalks and freeze - keep gathering the flowers and freezing 'til you have enough to work with. Discard the stems because of the toxicity of them.

You may already do that - they flower often but not many at a time until they're a bit more established.

I miss my Elderflower and Mulberry trees now.

Minestrone style soup sounds simply wonderful!

I'm a bit lazy with the stock for Chinese style soups and tend to use a particular brand of Asian Stock the name of which I cannot put here - how to say - Lee 'second word prohibited' Kee Chicken Stock when I'm in a hurry. It's far superior to Continental. (tested and if you type Lee Kee Asian chicken stock in to search engine, it will work)

@Bunniekins You are very sweet. I expect you and others often do a great deal more than I do, hon, I just talk about it here is all. It's nice to have somewhere to share that's for sure.

edited for spelling mistake.

@Former-Member, wow. I wish you could tell us what the cookbook is, but agree it could compromise your secret identity.

I've got a few quinces sitting in our pantry at the moment. I'm hoping to bottle them using my Fowlers' kit.

The Master Stock recipe I use is based on this one, but over time I've tweaked it in various ways. Sometimes I'll add extra pepper and chilli, sometimes I'll make it sweeter, sometimes more lemony, sometimes more herbal. I've even added a canful of apricot nectar once to do apricot chicken. That was nice. 🙂

It's a perpetual stock, so I keep it in the fridge and re-use it every 3-4 days, or if I'm not going to use it for a while it goes in the freezer. You have to make sure that you bring it properly to the boil when it's re-used, to prevent any bacteria from breeding up. The boiling plus the preservative properties of the spices/salt/sugar/alcohol stop it from going off, and instead it just gets richer and yummier all the time. As I commented earlier, it's a poaching stock rather than a soup base, but sometimes I'll add a tablespoonful or two to a soup, stirfy or casserole to give it extra flavour.

https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/master-stock--chinese-20111018-29uz5

Thank you so much for that link @Smc! I have bookmarked it and will get things sorted to make one as soon as I can.

It's many years since I have had a perpetual stock 'on the boil' as it were. The idea conjures up many new thoughts about food creation for me, which is a good thing.

Quince jam sounds lovely! I've not every made that one.

@Former-Member wondering how your minestrone is going ... there was no cooking done here today at all, but tomorrow is another day and who knows what might happen!

(Just adding cos I'm liable to forget) I'll see if I can find some of the Elderflower recipe links I used for information on how to be sure to avoid the toxicity of every thing other than the berries and the flowers themselves.

The pollen is where most of the flavour is apparently, so shaking htem to remove the resident ants and spiders is a bit counter productive. I used to rest the umbrells on trays and let the crawlies run away.

I always had to use some lemon juice and some Jamsetta to get it to set though. Not too much lemon or you end up with stronger lemon flavour than elderflower.

🙂 @Former-Member, I haven't come across anyone else, apart from food bloggers and chefs, who use or have used a perpetual stock. That pegs you as being someone seriously keen. Glad to have given you some motivation.

I used mine tonight to poach some hoki fillets and potatoes. Not very Chinese, I know, but very tasty. I used a bunch of Chinese style spices last time, so this time I added a couple of celery stems with leaves, two medium sized fennel bulbs with fronds, some bay leaves, a whole mandarin, and some lemon herbs (lemon balm and lemon verbena). The celery does quite a good job of adding a bit of saltiness to the stock.

I didn't know about the elderflower pollen being the primary source of the flavour, but it makes sense. Thanks for that heads up.

@Former-Member I've got that book too. 🙂 She's got some great ideas, and some good stories to go with them.

I also have a couple of books that have older style English recipies in them. One is specifically a preserving book, the other is about using old hedgerow and forage plants. It's a good source of recipes for plants that are "weeds" here, like hawthorn, wild roses and elderberry.

That's a very nice stash of ready-made meals or snacks @Former-Member. So satisfying to know there are easy fix food options when things get too tiring or hectic to do much.

I checked out that Sally Wise book, was able to 'look inside' and I'm going to get it next time I have specials option for my book place. I am impressed with all of the measures and reasons and such in the one place. '

Thank you for sharing.

Both you @Smc and @Former-Member have helped me remember some pleasant times from the past, and I thank each of you for that. (I'd been having trouble remembering any good times)

It was good to recall the times when I had the giant stockpot on the back of the permanently fired up combustion stove, or more accurately, stoves as I lived in a few places where that was the type of stove fitted.

Mostly, the perpetual stock was more western-ish flavoured, but whatever was available pretty much, went in there to make the most flavoursome dishes out of ordinary items. I'd forgotten about it, and forgotten about doing it too.

I learned how to make the stock, and most of my other cooking strategies, while living in the central desert area of the country. One of the station cooks took me under her wing teaching me on my infrequent visits, her tricks of the trade.

I will be forever thankful for her guidance, because I think it was from her, and the subsequent CWA ladies in the outback, that I learned so many self sufficiency type skills.

I miss my combustion stoves, but not the heat that had to be endured during the summer months, or the cutting of wood to keep them going.

Usually I have lots of stock produce in the freezer, but had to reduce supplies for the recent move, and have not yet restocked. I'm going to plan a restock for a Chinese style stock!