How to Make Pork Stock; and Why You Should!

Where I live, if you go out for soup, you’re more than likely getting a soup made from pork stock – and that’s all right with me because it invariably tastes great!

But in many places in the world, pork stocks seems like a real afterthought and in American and Canada, it’s something that truly few people ever make.

Well, that’s a shame. Pork stock tastes good, and it can be used in many recipes just as you’d use chicken stock. It makes for great soups and when making any kind of stock based sauce for pork roast or chops, pork stock is obviously a good match.

Pork stock also features highly in many Asian and Mexican dishes.

So next time you find yourself with some leftover pork bones from a bone-in roast or bone-in chops or whatever – think about making up a batch of easy to make pork stock.

• I find it’s best to just keep a bag going in the freezer and add pork trimmings and bones to it as I use them, then when the bag is full enough, to turn that bag of otherwise useless scraps into a great tasting stock!

• Since most people prefer boneless cuts, butcher shops are often left with an abundance of pork bones that they can’t really sell, and so they’ll give em’ to you for a steal, if you ask them, especially if you’re a good customer.

How to Make Pork Stock

This is very easy – so don’t get stressed out about quantities at all

• Pork bones, any amount
• Pork scraps, any amount
• A couple of onions
• A carrot or two
• A celery stalk or three
• A bay leaf or two
• A pinch of dried thyme
• A few whole black peppercorns

The first thing you want to do is to give the pork bones a quick roasting. This browning brings a lot more flavor to the eventual stock. Preheat your oven to 425 and once it’s hot, toss the bones in a roasting pan and let them brown up for about 15 minutes, or until they are just starting to color.

Transfer the roasted bones to a stock pot and add in any pork scraps that you may have lying around. Cut the onions into thick wedges and the carrots and celery into 1 inch segments

Add enough cold water to the pot to just barely cover the bones and veggies.

Bring this to a simmer over medium heat, and skim off any foam and scum that rises to the top. After the foam has stopped…er, foaming, toss in the bay leaf, the thyme and the peppercorn and let the soup percolate ever so gently for a couple of hours on the stove, skimming any additional foam that rises to the surface every once in a while. (The key here is to avoid letting it boil, keep it at a very mellow, very gentle simmer and you’ll be golden).

Once the soup is finished, let it cool down briefly, strain all the solids out and then transfer to the fridge to chill. Once it has chilled completely the fat will have risen to the top and solidified, and it can be easily removed at that point – giving you a very lean, no-fat stock.

That’s it, that’s all – it’s very easy and well worth making!