Martha Stewart's Tip To Avoid 'Stinky' Homemade Stock

An aromatic, homemade stock is the secret to elevating a basic soup, enriching a meaty stew, or lending body to gravies and sauces. No matter whether it's prepped with roasted beef bones, the remains of a chicken carcass leftover from Sunday lunch, or an assortment of root veggies, a quality stock is a game-changer when it comes to lending your meals a complex layer of flavor. While a sassy, strong-smelling stock is awesome for punchy recipes, a subtle broth is the most versatile of all as it can be used flexibly in a variety of dishes to complement, rather than mask, their unique qualities. To guarantee that your next batch of stock is an all-rounder, consider Martha Stewart's tip to avoid stinky homemade stock: Nix the bold veggies and select ones with a gentle flavor profile.

"Use mild-tasting vegetables if you want a nice, mild-tasting rich broth," such as onions, celery, mushrooms and leeks, Stewart advised on an episode of "Martha Stewart's Cooking School," via YouTube, on how to make stock from scratch. She added, "Avoid strong-tasting vegetables, like artichokes, spinach, cruciferous vegetables, like cabbage or broccoli or cauliflower. Those strong flavors will really overpower a stock, and it'll make what I call a stinky stock, which you don't want."

While stocks made with bolder vegetables have their positives, they give off a distinctive pungent smell. This is due to the presence of sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates, which are released when their cell walls are broken down via chopping or cooking.

A simple way to make an umami vegetable stock that still has some savory gusto (minus the unwanted stinky smell) is to use dried porcini mushrooms, which are packed full of glutamate, the clever amino acid that lends foods like Parmesan and soy sauce their rich and robust flavor. Veggie stocks that are made with cruciferous vegetables have a depth of character, however they can imbue a simmered broth with a bitter note, unlike mushrooms, which boast an umami intensity that's free from that biting quality or gassy smell (this is best exemplified in the Japanese stock called dashi that's often made with shiitake mushrooms and seaweed). The result is a deeply flavorful stock that's rich in color and perfect for ladling into bisques and chowders or using as a cooking liquor for rice dishes, such as risotto, pilaf, and saffron-scented paella.

Other pro tips for making a vegetable stock from scratch include caramelizing your veggies for a nuttier flavor, skipping the heavy seasonings to make it more versatile, and using a pressure cooker to speed up the process. Stewart often uses a pressure cooker to make her chicken stock because the steam inside the pressurized pot causes the food to cook at a very high temperature, thereby reducing cook time.