Everyone loves a delicious, warming
casserole or homemade gravy but what else can you use your stockpots for?
Here we look at some alternative uses to
make the most of your stockpots and revolutionise your cooking.
1. Broths,
stocks and soups
Stockpots are fantastic for making large
batches of broth, stock and soups. Broth is predicted to be huge in 2015 so be
one step ahead and master making your own. Individually frozen down soup
portions make a great healthy lunch for work and homemade stock outshines store
bought in any recipe.
Chicken broth, cooked chicken pieces and
sweetcorn make a great warming meal that takes 2 minutes if you already have
stock prepared.
2.
Blanch vegetables
This is great for those green-fingered
cooks out there. If you have a large quantity of vegetables and no have time to
use them all before they turn bad, simply blanch in a stockpot and freeze. Frozen vegetables make a great quick side dish
to most meals.
Avoid freezing vegetables with high water
content such as courgettes, bean sprouts and radishes as these will go mushy.
3.
Cook for a crowd
Invited friends for dinner but have no idea
how you are going to cook for 10 with one oven and no prep space? Make anything
from chilli to chicken chasseur in your stockpot. It will require one hob and a
chopping board. Simple.
4.
Use it as a water bath
A great use for your stockpot is for making
small batches of jams, jellies and other preservatives. With slight
modification turn your stockpot in to a water bath. Please note that this will
only work for small quantities.
5.
Pasta sauce
Is pasta your go to weeknight dinner? I so
make sure to use homemade pasta sauce wherever possible. Make a large quantity
in your stockpot, preserve the sauce in jars using the water bath technique and
away you go.
6.
Mulled wine & mulled cider
This tip might only come in to play at
Christmas but that is still once a year!
Make your mulled wine or mulled cider in a
stockpot and make sure there is plenty to go round.
7.
Brining
This may not be the healthiest use for your
stockpot but is certainly tasty. For those that are not sure what brining is
here is a quick definition:
Brine is a salt and water solution used to preserve
foods. In the case of meats, the solution can help increase the amount of
liquid inside the meat cells; basically a way to make meat moister.
8.
Soak beans and pulses
Soak dried beans and lentils in a stockpot
overnight. The following day simply rinse and then simmer until cooked. These
can then be frozen for later use.
9. Baking
If you are an avid home baker and tend to
make large cakes such as wedding cakes you can use your stockpot to make up
large batches of mixture. The tall sides will also prevent spillages and mess.
