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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 7915871" data-attributes="member: 19675">I use both store bought and homemade stocks.  Ain‘t no shame in my game!The stock that changed my kitchen was turkey/poultry stock.  Because we’re usually the hosts for the big holidays, I usually had 1-4 bird carcasses* to work with.  I’d put them in my 20qt stock pot, covered with water, and bring to a simmer while I’m cleaning up.  Between the cooking of the stock, reducing it, and cooling, though, that added several hours to the end of my long day in the kitchen.Then, in a fit of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS), I bought a 30qt stock pot, and it revolutionized my holidays.  As is probably evident to you as a physicist, water takes a lot of energy- and time- to heat.  When I was making stock in the 20qt pot with all those carcasses, I needed a lot of water to cover them, because they went all the way to the top.  But in the 30qt pot, they don’t even go halfway up, so I need less water to properly cover the bones.  Less water = less heat = less time.  That one change shaved HOURS off my holiday stock making.As for ATK and the rest, I started off watching a couple of episodes on PBS, and my Mom coincidentally got a subscription to CI for my Dad’s medical practice waiting room. I was hooked: I asked for- and got- the website subscription for a Christmas gift.So far, one of the best recipes I’ve gotten from them was their duck-fat oven roasted potatoes.  I had been trying for YEARS to perfect a roasted potato recip, and theirs showed me where my efforts were going wrong.  I even made a discovery of my own: while the recipe called for duck fat, they also point out bacon fat worked almost as well.  Great for me, because I can’t find duck fat, but bacon fat is easy to come by.  But I have tried other fats besides.I often have rendered beef fat from cooking ground meat for my dogs (longish story) and I tried THAT one day.  It, too, worked quite well.  Vegetable oils. OTOH, just...didn’t.  I have no idea why, but the potatoes never came out anywhere near as good as when I used animal fats.  I mean, they were still decent enough to serve, so you COULD do a vegetarian/vegan version of the recipe, but it just wouldn’t be the same.I also used the fats left over from cooking the potatoes to do a quick oven roast- or pan fry- of San Marzano tomatoes, and it was so good that my tomato-hating cousin was asking me what I did to the tomatoes while he was popping them in his mouth like grapes.* the big one is always from my steamed turkey but we also usually have a fried one as well.  And occasionally we get chicken, duck or goose to work with from the other attendees.</blockquote>

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