Everyday Brodo

A good broth is absolutely central to life in Bologna. Tortellini, Bologna’s glorified stuffed pasta, is always served swimming in a good homemade broth. If you serve tortellini with anything else, you’re doing it wrong. I hesitated putting this recipe in here, I thought it wasn’t important, until I realized that all the stock recipes I had been making from my fancy cookbooks and glossy mags, with roasted bones and bay leaves, didn’t taste like mom’s. “The flavors are too strong, they are fighting the tortellini” explained Silvia. So I put aside everything I knew, and made my mom’s brodo.

Here are a few more things I learned:

• A mixed broth is my family's favorite. Often found bubbling on the stove, was the classic, everyday version my grandmother made.
• The oldest bird makes the best broth. My grandmother used to ask her farmer friends for the chicken that had stopped laying eggs.
• On special occasions, like high-holidays, you use a guinea fowl or a capon.

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SERVING DETAILS

Approx. 10 cups of broth

INGREDIENTS

• Whole chicken or chicken carcass plus a pack of wings*
• 2 medium beef bones, with a little meat on them
• 1 large carrot, or 2 small carrots, peeled
• 1 medium onion, peeled
• 1 rib of celery, washed
• A few sprigs of parsley
• ½ a tablespoon of whole peppercorns
• Water, salt & pepper

*Mom uses a whole chicken here, as her grandmother did, and then serves the chicken meat after with a variety of sauces. To save money though, you can ask your butcher for a leftover chicken carcass (with plenty of meat and skin attached) chicken necks and a few extra wings. I do this each time I go to the butcher, and he gives them to me for a hearty discount.

METHOD

1. Put everything in a large stock pot and cover with water until the stock pot is filled, approximately 12 cups of water. Add a tablespoon of salt.
2. Bring to a simmer, cover, and allow to simmer gently until the meat is falling off the bones cleanly and the bones are breaking apart from one another easily. This should take about 3 hours. Season along the way with salt to make sure it’s staying flavorful, but not too salty.
3. Using a mesh strainer, strain into a large bowl or second stock pot, pressing the solids to extract as much liquid as you can. Discard (or save) the solids. I like to pick out the good chicken meat and veg and add a little olive oil and salt and eat as a snack.
4. Using cheesecloth or a clean dish towel, strain again to make sure you have a nice clear broth.
5. Set in the fridge and let it cool completely.
6. Once cooled, the fat should rise to the top and solidify, which you can skim off easily and discard for a finished broth.