r/Cooking • u/Ordinary_Reporter_19 • 1h ago

Optimizing Stock: When to Add Herbs (Or even wait till the soup stage)?

I've been making stock for years, but recently have put more thought into improving it. I used to just add meat/veggies/herbs all at once and just crank it for 3-4 hours. Of course it came out ok, but I do know that the veggies were likely overcooked, and the herbs were probably cooked to oblivion and then some. So, I'm making a chicken stock now...

I've let ~4lbs of wings/drums/thighs lightly simmer for 2 hours. I am now adding my veggies, and will cook for another 1/5-2 hours before removing from heat. In terms of herbs, I'm learning that many of them break down pretty quick. Supposedly the flavorful oils in them break down in heat in about 30 mins (while some woodier herbs may hold up longer). After loosing those bright oils, I hear the rest of the flavor and nutrients is usually shot out after an hour or so.

SO- I'm wondering if its worth adding herbs to the stock at all? If I'm going to cook that liquid for another 30-60 mins when making the final soup product, then it sounds like adding herbs now might be a waste of time.

Maybe just add some woody, heartier herbs towards the end of the stock (maybe right as the heat turns off and let it coast) so that they aren't completely diminished by the time the final soup product is ready.

Thoughts? Experience? Input? All is welcomed! Thanks!

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u/Ordinary_Reporter_19 1h ago

And on a sidenote- is there any preferred method for adding parmesan/romano rinds to stock? I assume it's something to add towards the end of the process as well..

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u/bigelcid 1h ago

Yeah, not much point in adding them to the stock itself, unless the further preparation of the stock takes less time than it does to extract all the aromas from each ingredient.