I gave up trying to achieve clear broth soups a long time ago and concetrated on cream based soups and heavy stews since. I’m ready to give it another try and I wanted to hear from you folks what secrets and techniques you use to achieve a clear broth. My broths always go cloudy.
Take a chicken, roast it.
Eat as much of it as possible. Saving every scrap of bone and cartilage. (you kept the leg bones wings and neck right?)
Break the carcass into small chunks so that it takes up the least amount of room in a pan.
Cover in the least amount of water as possible (pieces may stick a bit out).
Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to skim the top (I guess this removes bitterness I rarely do it)
Simmer (Do not boil) for 4-12 hours. 170F-200F should be fine.
Place a piece of muslin into a colander or sieve . (Some use cheese cloth, but you cannot wash it and reuse it) and strain out bones, morsels of meat, and some remaining fat.
If when you refrigerate it (the night before you want soup) it turns into jello (great time to skim the remaining hard fat for biscuits) You have managed the water to carcass level nicely.
Cow and pig are done about the same. You are trying to break down the cartilage and other uneatable things while extracting every last bit of the animal. It is the most respectful thing to do to something you eat.
I hope you weren’t looking for a recipe for dashi.
As a side note, my relatives live in different areas and their water makes many things different. Coffee, poached eggs, even the simplest of foods are different. I have never been given the opportunity to make stock in there homes even on the best day of the year for this, the day after Thanksgiving.
Better yet, why not tell us how you have made it in the past? If you are looking for some troubleshooting others could make what you are trying work.
Hmmm. I never thought about the water being a factor. Our families always tell us that we have the softest water.
I’m doing the things that you describe except that I never brought the soup to a boil first. Mom said to slowly simmer the soup. She said boiling is what makes the soup cloudy. I skim the soup although I have to admit that I’m not the best of skimmers. I skim the foam and I skim the floating particles that are easy to skim but I’m not inclined to stand by a pot of simmering soup for hours skimming and skimming.
I’ve even avoided the whole skimming thing by removing the carcass and meat once the scum thing happens, rinsing the last of the scum off the carcass or meat and starting with fresh water in a completely different pot.
I don’t break up the carcass either. I find it easier to remove the meat if it stays in as large as possible pieces.
I’ve also used fresh, frozen, and canned veggies with equal success of cloudiness.
Ice Filtration
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Pour your stock into a large, shallow freezer safe container, or ice cube tray with a good lid. Aim to keep the stock particles in the pan, however it is not a problem if they go into the container. Freeze until solid.
The purpose of the lid is to ensure flavour stays inside the frozen stock, but also that it does not take or taint flavours from other foods nearby (such as ice cream). -
Line a perforated tray, flat based colander, drum sieve, or other drainage utensil that has a flat base with cheesecloth or a clean fine weave tea-towel / dishcloth. Ideally, the container that you freeze the stock in should fit into the sieve or perforated tray lying flat. Then place this perforated tray onto another catchment container underneath.
The container underneath the sieve or tray should be wide and deep enough to gather the fluid without spillage. -
Remove your stock ice block from its original container and place into the lined drainage tray or sieve. Remove your stock ice block from its original container and place into the lined drainage tray or sieve. Cover with cling film and put aside, preferably in the fridge overnight if you have time.
Allow the block to melt and the stock will filter out, leaving ice and the fine particles that would make it cloudy in the cloth. For a richer stock, leave a higher portion of white ice (the coarse ice crystals that take the longest to melt), rather than let them dilute the stock. The white ice has little flavour.
This method is fairly modern but gives an excellent clear fluid. You may have actually experienced this scientific trick if you have ever eaten a frozen icy-pole / ice-lolly and when it has started to soften, sucked out the sweet syrup leaving the tasteless ice behind.
You may also repeat this process to gain an increasingly concentrated syrup. You can freeze these in cubes as long term storage to add to a cup of hot water for a quick savoury pick-me-up, or for a person who is ill and cannot eat solid foods. You can also set this syrup using gelatine to dissolve in your guests bowl with hot water.
- Reheat stock gently to serve. Reheat stock gently to serve. While this method is actually very low labour intensive - merely put it aside to melt, traditional purists feel the richer traditional consommé is a better product.
I will let you know how that goes. Thanks.
I use transparent chickens. Problem solved! 
Cayden
I must admit that bring the whole thing to a boil is what I do that probably isn’t needed/ shouldn’t be done.
Calcium carbonate and heat does some strange things you might be stuck buying 12 bottles of Fiji water. People will think you have the fanciest stock in the county. Wait, you said softest water?
I did cheat once for a lunch buffet for 20 and just bought chicken stock and canned chicken and bumped it up. I felt dirty.
I’d go to the store and buy a gallon of that fancy reverse osmosis water for 69c gust to experiment. Of course after that I’d just make it with tap water. My end soups usually end up with drop biscuits on top anyways, so the flour makes any effort to keep it clear mute. I plan on making soup in 2 weeks, so I’ll take notes
From reading, it seems fat getting dispersed by boiling is the main culprit, but straining through muslin really seems to boil most of the fat out. I usually make the stock a day ahead and refrigerate it. Fat does solidify on the top, but only a teaspoon or two and Some sediment usually ends up at the bottom of the “jello”.
Dumplings
1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C of sour cream/milk/etc.
Mix the dry ingredients and gently mix in the liquid.
Drop spoon fulls of batter into the simmering broth.
Cook for 8 minutes, flip and cook covered for 8 more.
My wife is sick and I didn’t have time today, so I’m being all dirty and making chicken and mushroom soup out of store bought broth and canned chicken. I didn’t have time for the straining, what with taking care of her and all. She doesn’t like soup (it’s a plot to make her eat vegetables) but does like mushrooms, so this may work.
Our family’s recipe for drops dumplings is:
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon oil
1 something of water
some spices
We don’t measure anything. These are way heavier than the ones you describe. I may try that sour cream thing. Once this is all mixed, this gets flattened on a plate and the side of fork scrapes a bit of the dough into the water. If you’re skilled, they’re smaller than gnocci. If you’re not, they can be the size of apple wedges.
When it comes to quick breads, like biscuits and the like I try to keep a flour to “liquid” ratio of 2:1. So for 1 C of mixed flour I take out a measuring cup, add what ever kind of cultured milk that needs to get used up like sour cream, cottage cheese, yoghurt, etc, and top it off with milk to the 1/2 C line. Depending on the flour and the other components, it might need an additional splash to bind it all. with cottage cheese ti can be up to 2/3 a cup.
My wife wonders why I maliciously type out all my recipes when I never follow them…
Well, I never knew how cloudy my stuff was. A carrot can only be lowered below the surface 3/4 of an inch before fully disappears. My soup is usually served in a shallow bowl with dumplings, and never thought about clarity levels.
Sorry about the bad photo, wish I could have used sunlight, but it usually disappears before dinner time.