Does your Caterer make the extra effort?

  Benefits of hand-made Stock

These days it's all about SPEED. It's who can get you what you want in the shortest time possible. We all have a million things to do and so rapidity is requisite.  However, quality gets slashed into bits when speed is the prerequisite. Are cheap plastic toys made in China coming to your mind?

For you party, especially for your wedding, you don't want second-rate food; Savory hand makes 95% of all our food, ensuring that you get the freshest food for the best taste. One way we ensure the quality of our food is through home-made chicken stock.

Hand making your chicken stock is one of the untold culinary secrets- untold for those who've never been to cooking school. Our Chef is happy to tell you all the in's and out's of making a good chicken stock. 

"All meat stock, whether it be chicken or beef, is the basis to all good cooking. It helps coax the maximum flavor out of your food and give it that 'WOW' factor. You just can't get the same richness of flavor out of a can.

Our simmering chicken stock. Wish you could smell it now!

"There are essentially two types of ingredients for a chicken stock: the aromatics and the meat. The aromatics are the flavorful vegetables: celery, carrots, and onions. The meat is usually chicken or beef. Don't get confused when I say 'meat' because I really mean the bones instead of the flesh; all the flavor comes from the bones. You can buy the bones from a local butcher, but if your grocery store doesn't have a butcher you can use the wings and back (for chicken) or ribs (for beef) in a pinch.

Celery is an important aromatic in both beef and chicken stock. Here, we are weighing our ingredients.

"After measuring and chopping the vegetables, put all your ingredients in a big stock pot- the bigger the better- and let simmer on low heat for 6-12 hrs. This coaxes the most flavor out of the ingredients and ensures a really flavorful stock. In my chicken stock I like to add celery, carrots, onions, leeks, Italian parsley, peppercorn, thyme, basil, bay leaves and mushrooms. Then for beef stock I usually add tomatoes in the mix.

At Savory we have a 100qt stock pot for our chicken and beef stock. We let ours simmer for 12 hrs

"Once the stock is all cooked, strain and pour into containers and freeze. You can scrape off the excess fat easier after it's frozen. Use like normal in your recipes and you will notice a HUGE difference in the flavor of your dishes. Home made chicken stock is too good to pass up!" -Executive Chef Lou Crandall

You'll notice a difference in taste in our food in comparison to other companies. Even restaurants cut corners! We promise to deliver the freshest ingredients and the best tasting food because we believe life is too short for ordinary food.

Try making your own chicken stock!

Basic Chicken Stock
Lou Crandall, Savory Catering
This recipe fits a 15qt stock pot. Adjust recipe as needed for your purposes.

Ingredients
10 lbs chicken bones
3 lbs yellow onions
2 lbs leeks, cut in 1" pieces
2 lbs carrots
3 pounds celery, leaves included
8 dried bay leaves
80 black peppercorns
8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley
8 oz mushrooms
enough water to cover ingredients by 2"

Directions
Rinse bones under cold, running water. Remove any large parts of fat or skin.
Fill pot with very cold water, about 2" higher than the bones.
Turn stove and heat through until almost boiling. Turn heat down to a gentle simmer. Do not stir
Skim off the scum that forms on the top. Repeat until no more scum appears.
Add rest of ingredients and simmer mixture gently for 6-12 hours.
Strain mixture and cool immediately. Freeze extra for later use.

Parsley is not just a Denny's decoration

When I say the word "Parsley", what comes to mind? Do you picture the curly dark green leaf that is featured on sub-par restaurant's fruit buffets? When you were younger, do you remember your mother telling you not to eat the curly leaf and that it was only "decoration for the food"?

If you do indeed recall these childhood memories about a dark green, curly, "non-edible" leaf then you do know what parsley is. Or rather, you know ONE TYPE of parsley.

The curly, bitter tasting offender

There is, however, another type of parsley- Italian Parsley. The Italian variety is a much better herb and we use a lot of it at Savory. It might just be one of our favorites. We use it with other herbs for an herb mixture, we chop it up and use it for garnishes, and we will flavor our food with it.

The superior form of parsley

Now, when picking up parsley at your local grocery store, it's easy to get it confused with Cilantro. Both have a similar leaf shape but cilantro has undertones of lime. Plus, it'll be labeled at the store. To mince, cut about halfway up the bundle and continue chopping until very small bits. You don't need to tear off each of the individual leaves, but don't include all of the stems, either. 

Use fresh Italian parsley in your cooking! It goes well with chicken, herbed bread, noodle soup, and many other dishes. Using fresh herbs will give off more flavor than dried herbs, and it will make your run-of-the-mill chicken dinner morph into a superb meal.

Fresh Herbs: Adding Flavor to your Dish

We believe in fresh herbs

Our goal at Savory is to have a depth of flavor to each dish; that's why we hand make 98% of all our food in addition to using fresh herbs.

To use an analogy...using dry herbs is like having only one sparkler lit during a 4th of July celebration whereas using fresh herbs is like having the best fireworks display in the world. It really makes a difference!

Here are some of our favorite herbs:

 

Thyme. We all joke that we can never get enough "time" but at Savory, we really can't ever get enough Thyme! It's our favorite herb because it's very universal and quite mild. When using, remember to get rid of most of the woody stalk, using only the leaves and pliable stems.

 

Italian parsley. This kind of parsley is much milder than the curly parsley you're probably more familiar with. It goes well in most dishes. Cut off most of the stem at the bottom and chop up the rest to use.

 

Oregano. Its most modern use is in Italian cooking but it is used in all kinds of ethnic dishes. Tear the leaves off the stem and use to add flavor to any dish.

 

Sage. Its leaves are very soft and it is great in chicken dishes. Pull the leaves off the stem and chop from there.

 

 Basil. This is a spice you might be familiar with. It has a wonderful distinct smell. Tear the leaves off the stem and chop till your heart's content!

  

Cilantro. One of my favorite herbs to use for Hispanic dishes. It has some citrus overtones which makes it go well with salsa and guacamole. Its aroma is one of my favorite smells. Cut off most of the stem and chop up the rest.

Taste the difference from ordinary to extraordinary by using Savory for your next party!