Topic: Pre-cook stock?

[livo]

I was wondering what others do with the amazingly intense stock left over from a batch of pre-cooked lamb. I can skim the oil off for spiced oil but it seems such a waste to tip the remaining liquid down the sink.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Unless I am deliberately following someone else's recipe to the letter, I simply use it to augment the base.
** Phil.

[livo]

Yes, I did use some instead of water in thinning the base for the lamb curry. You wouldn't want it in the base for chicken dishes though, I wouldn't think, (not really sure). It is going to make a much richer base gravy than simply using water so I imagine care is needed.
Most cooking has some waste and it isn't worth much monetarily, but this byproduct just seems useful. I suppose it can be reused as the stock instead of water for more lamb but the full process begins without liquid.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Yes, I did use some instead of water in thinning the base for the lamb curry. You wouldn't want it in the base for chicken dishes though, I wouldn't think, (not really sure).

Agreed.  In "the good old days" (mid-70's), one could tell a good BIR from a mediocre by the flavour of the gravy in a lamb curry -- if it tasted of lamb, the restaurant was a good one; if it tasted generic, mediocre.  It's a long time now since I remember tasting lamb (or mutton, or goat, for that matter) in the gravy of a lamb curry in a restaurant ...

** Phil.

[Sverige]

I've used this kind of residue from precooking meat in three different ways before. A tablespoon or two added to a curry lifts the flavour a lot, but go easy because adding too much will cause the flavour to dominate the curry too much. 

Second use is to shortcut while precooking the next batch of meat. Just adding the stock residue from the first cook will introduce all those spicy flavours without needing to mess with frying new spices, onions, tomatoes, etc. It's a big time saver that way.

Final use is to freeze it into sticks in baby food mounds and add a couple of sticks to cooked pasta as a fast-food easy dinner for nights you get home late and want something quick and easy to cook.

Definitely worth keeping and not throwing away. I wouldn't however suggest adding to base, this is just going to make a strong flavoured base so all your curries taste the same.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Definitely worth keeping and not throwing away. I wouldn't however suggest adding to base, this is just going to make a strong flavoured base so all your curries taste the same.

Just to clarify, when I wrote "I [...] use it to augment the base", I was referring specifically to the base for the dish in question, not the bulk base stock.

** Phil.