Master stock facts for kids

A master stock or master sauce is a special cooking liquid. It's like a broth that is used over and over again. This method comes from Chinese cooking. It's often found in Cantonese and Fujian styles. Foods cooked in a master stock are usually called lou mei.

What's in a Master Stock?

Master stocks usually start with meat and bones. These are simmered in water with important Chinese ingredients. These include soy sauce, rock sugar, and Shaoxing or rice wine.

Many different spices and flavors are also added. Common ones are scallions, shallots, star anise, and dried citrus peel. Other spices like cassia bark, sand ginger, Sichuan pepper, garlic, and ginger are often used. Dried mushrooms can also be part of the mix.

How Master Stock is Used

Once the basic stock is ready, it becomes a liquid for cooking meat. It's used for poaching or braising. Chicken is a very common meat cooked this way. Other meats like squab, duck, quail, and pork are also often used.

The main thing that makes a master stock special is that it's not thrown away. After you use it, you save the broth. You can then reuse it many times to cook more food.

Each time you use the stock, something cool happens. The meat you cook soaks up the stock's delicious flavor. At the same time, the meat adds its own flavors back into the stock. This means the stock gets richer and more complex with every use. It's like a flavor-building cycle! The more you use it, the better it gets.

Master Stock Around the World

Master stocks are mostly known in Chinese cooking. But other cultures also have similar ideas.

Japan's Oden Broths

In Japan, many restaurants that serve oden use their broths like master stocks. Oden is a type of Japanese stew. These restaurants strain their broths every night. This keeps the liquid clear and light. Even so, the flavors in the broth grow deeper and more complex over time.

Thailand's Long-Lasting Stew

In Thailand, there's a restaurant in Bangkok called Wattana Panich. They have used the same broth for their beef stew and beef noodle soup for over forty years! This shows how long a master stock can last.

United States' "Perpetual Stu"

A restaurant in New York, called Louro, tried using a master stock. This was between 2014 and 2015. The chef, David Santos, used it to create many dishes. The restaurant even gave the stock a fun name, "Perpetual Stu." It was a play on "perpetual stew." They even had a Twitter account for it! This account shared how the stock was changing with new ingredients.

Keeping Master Stock Safe

After you use a master stock, it's important to store it safely. If you're not going to use it right away, you should boil it. Then, you skim off any foam and strain it. After that, cool it down quickly. This helps kill any tiny living things (microorganisms) that could spoil the stock. It also stops them from making you sick.

Once cooled, the stock should be put in the fridge or freezer.

• In the fridge, master stocks can last for up to three days.
• In the freezer, they can be kept for up to a month.

If you want to keep the stock for even longer, you must boil it again before putting it back into storage.

If you take good care of a master stock, it could theoretically last forever. There's an oden restaurant in Japan called Otafuku. They say their broth has been simmering since 1945! (An older batch was lost during World War II.) Some people even claim that master stocks in China are hundreds of years old. They say these stocks have been passed down through many generations of cooks.

See also

In Spanish: Caldo maestro para niños