Soup season is in full swing, and in my and many other chef’s opinions, what makes a great soup is a great stock. While homemade chicken, vegetable, and beef stock are great, I want to introduce you to a stock you may not be familiar with: Parmesan stock.
Parmesan stock is made from, you guessed it, Parmesan cheese. But for our stock, we specifically want the rinds. The rinds are packed with tons of flavor and are firm and robust enough to hold up to simmering in water without completely disintegrating while the cheese itself would, and there are much better uses for the cheese anyway.
Making a purely Parmesan stock requires a considerable amount of rinds if you want to get a decent yield. If you buy a wedge of rind-on parmesan and don’t want to throw it out, then simmering it in a soup or with a pot of beans with the intention of removing it like you would a bay leaf is a great option. But, if you do find yourself with an abundance of rinds, say 8 oz. to a pound, please consider making some Parmesan stock. Making this stock follows some basic stock-making guidelines.
For this application, we are treating the rinds as if they were chicken bones in making chicken stock. By that, I mean this will be the largest portion of the ingredients. I think if asked, most chefs will tell you they generally don't follow a recipe when making stock. While I will provide the recipe for this stock, I am essentially just taking what I have available, putting it in a stockpot and covering it with water.
I am starting out with around 1 pound of parmesan rinds, in large chunks and placed directly into my stockpot.
Next I'm going to add 1 medium diced carrot and 1 medium diced onion. The vegetable mix added to stocks is usually carrots, celery and onions, also known as mirepoix. While I could have added celery here, I sometimes omit it simply because I don’t use celery for too many other things and I only would have needed a couple stalks, and I find omitting it doesn't make a huge difference in my opinion. The general ratio for mirepoix should be 2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. The amount of mirepoix should roughly be 1/4 of the bones, or in this case the rinds. You can certainly stray from these ratios if you have vegetables or scraps you are trying to get rid of, but be mindful when doing this. Too much of certain components can throw off your stock, especially carrots can make the stock too sweet. Mirepoix is often roasted to enhance flavor, but I am skipping that here since the rinds aren’t and can’t really be roasted, I want to make their flavors match more.
Next, we're going to move on to our aromatics. I am keeping it really classic and going with some bay leaves, parsley stems, peppercorns and fresh thyme. One trick I love to do is put all of this in a mesh tea ball to keep it contained. While not as important here since this will be strained anyways, I wanted to share this trick as it's great for soups or braises where you want to add aromatics that need to be removed later. This is like a sachet but reuseable!
All of this goes in the pot and is covered with cold water. It is all brought up to a boil then dropped to a simmer as stocks always are. Boiling them excessively makes them cloudy and overcooks any vegetables.
I let this simmer for about 90 minutes. After that point, the rinds became very soft and were starting to break down so I knew it was time to strain. I'm not planning on using my stock this week so I put it in the freezer where it should be good for a few months at least. When I do decide to use it, it will be perfect for a soup such as Pasta e Fagoli, or also works amazingly in risotto, and so much more.
Parmesan Stock
Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe
Yield: 3.5 quarts
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1.75 hours
Total time: 2 hours
Parmesan rinds, 1 lb in large chunks
1 large Spanish onion, medium dice
1 medium carrot, medium dice
4 quarts cold water
10 parsley stems
4 thyme sprigs
1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1. Add all ingredients to a stockpot and bring to a boil.
2. Drop to a simmer and simmer for 90 minutes.
3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
Next time you have some Parmesan rinds on hand, please give this stock a go! If you want to fully embrace soup season, join us for Global Soups and Stews coming up on Sunday, December 1 at 11am.
Parmesan Stock
Ingredients
- Parmesan rinds, 1 lb in large chunks
- 1 large Spanish onion, medium dice
- 1 medium carrot, medium dice
- 4 quarts cold water
- 10 parsley stems
- 4 thyme sprigs
- 1 Tablespoon black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a stockpot and bring to a boil.
- Drop to a simmer and simmer for 90 minutes.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
