Think beyond soups and chowders with these simple, flavor-packed uses for seafood stock.
Stocks and broths have many practical and predictable uses: soups, sauces, and stews, and these applications showcase stock in its purest form — as a vehicle that carries protein so none of it gets wasted. While it’s not all that labor-intensive or time-consuming to make seafood stock — especially if you’ve saved your shrimp, crab, and lobster shells from previous meals — it can feel like a rare commodity, one that merits a place of honor in your kitchen. Maybe it’s because, unlike chicken or beef bones, the shells are the byproducts of something that is precious and pricey, and often reserved for special occasions.
save your shells for stock!
But if you wait for the perfect moment to use the stock, you could be waiting a long time, which is precisely what happened in my own kitchen. I had so many containers of seafood stock piling up in the freezer that I was losing track of how much was in there. At one point, I counted five quarts. And unlike chicken or beef stock, seafood stock isn’t a forever kind of thing (neither are chicken and beef stock, but they do last a long time). It gets a bit murky and fishy after about four months, with two to three months the sweet spot, making it all the more important to use it quickly. So how do you use five quarts of stock without drowning in a sea of soups and chowders?
One way is not being so precious about it. In other words, use it liberally and in ways you wouldn’t expect. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Poach fish, seafood, or vegetables in stock, or steam shrimp, mussels, or clams in a mixture of stock and wine or beer.
poaching salmon in stock
- Boil pasta in equal parts seafood stock and water, which infuses the pasta with briny seafood flavor. When making spaghetti cacio e pepe, use much less liquid than you normally would for standard pasta preparations — the reduced liquid carries a higher proportion of starch, resulting in a silky, luscious sauce. Adding seafood stock in this particular preparation intensifies the flavor. Stirring in a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid at the end, adds the finishing touch. Or try this creamy one-pot crab pasta using stock from crab shells.
pasta is infused with seafood stock as it cooks
- Use equal parts stock and water to cook steamed white rice (any variety). Throw in a bay leaf or slice of ginger and taste the difference. Or use equal parts stock and milk to make creamy, briny polenta that you can top with seared scallops or shrimp.
Simmer dried beans (after soaking) or grains in water and stock, adding more of each as needed until the beans or grains are cooked.
Poach eggs in water and stock, then serve them on thick slabs of toasted bread with smoked salmon and mashed avocado.
Cook root vegetables (like carrots, turnips, or potatoes) in a shallow layer of stock and butter. As the stock evaporates, it leaves a glossy, delicious coating. Cover with a parchment paper cartouche during cooking to slow the evaporation.
Mash your boiled potatoes with warm stock and butter for a lighter, flavor-forward version of traditional mashed potatoes.
Chawanmushi using stock
- Chawanmushi is a Japanese steamed egg custard made with beaten eggs, dashi broth (kombu and shaved bonito flakes) soy sauce, and mirin. Traditional add-ins include shrimp, mushrooms, edamame, and Japanese fish cakes. Seafood stock in place of dashi adds a more pronounced crustacean flavor.
If you’ve got a secret stock hack that you’d like to share, I’d love to know about it! Email me at AskGrace@sitkaseafoodmarket.com
stock infuses flavor directly into the rice
Grace Parisi
Culinary Director Grace Parisi is a cook, writer and cookbook author. Formerly the Senior Test Kitchen Editor at Food & Wine Magazine and Executive Food Director at TimeInc Books, her work has appeared in Cooking Light, Health, O Magazine, Epicurious, Fitness, Today, Serious Eats, Martha Stewart, and many more. She’s the author of more than 6 books, among them The Portlandia Cookbook and Get Saucy, which was nominated for a James Beard award for Best Single Subject Cookbook.
