Perpetual stew-like stock using the fridge: is it a good idea?
I work in the science behind nutrition and one of the first things you learn is that a huge amount of nutrients from your food goes down the drain when you throw out the cooking water. In the water you use to cook broccoli, chickpeas, tomato, basically any vegetable, you will find a significant fraction of the vitamins as well as some carbohydrates and fats.
I once read something about a "perpetual stew", a stew that people in the Middle Ages were keeping all year long on the fire. Whenever you needed to cook something in water, you threw it in the stew: not only it added the flavor of the stew to your meal, it also changed the taste of the stew.
I like this concept, and I was thinking that each time I cook something in boiling water, I could save that water to prevent wasting all the nutrients it contains (and likely pesticids, too, but that's another story). Keeping something on the gas at all times is a crazy ideas in this day and age, and unrealizable in my apartment. But I was thinking of buying a big jar and keeping it in the fridge at all times, filled with the broth from whatever I cook (mostly vegetables and starchy foods, the idea of putting meat in a perpetual stew grosses me out a little bit). I would fill up the jar with the water while it's still hot, and immediately close it.
Do you think it's a good idea? Would it improve the taste of my food in addition to increase its nutritional value? And would keeping it in the fridge be enough to prevent contamination and bacterial/fungi growth?
Edit: my question does not concern soup per se. I'm not planning on leaving any chunk in there, no solid food, only slightly-flavored water. This limit the amount of carbohydrates contaminants could use as food, and render it pretty low. Besides, I have specifically mentioned not wanting to elt the soup on the fire at all time.
In the comments of the first answer, I have concluded that I will probably be cleaning the jar every time I use the broth, and boil it before placing it in the jar again. This makes my question really different from the soup one.
Best Answer
I like this idea, a lot actually, it would be an interesting experiment, but you would have to keep it on the gas.
Ignoring the safety concern of accumulating pesticides, which you mention, this would be like any stew which a quick Google search tells me should last about 3 to 4 days in the fridge. At least you don't want to cook meat in it. Bringing it to a boil over and over again might help but you're also adding a new risk of contamination every time. Definitely not a long term solution.
In terms of flavors, you're basically making a stew out of anything; it could turn out great or horrible depending on what you cook but over time it would surely develop some strange off-flavors.
If you want to reuse your cooking water, I would do so in the same dish; for example, in the sauce. Or maybe you could keep it for a soup you want to make in the next day few days.
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Quick Answer about "Perpetual stew-like stock using the fridge: is it a good idea?"
Definitely not a long term solution. In terms of flavors, you're basically making a stew out of anything; it could turn out great or horrible depending on what you cook but over time it would surely develop some strange off-flavors.How long can perpetual stew last?
With a perpetual stew, you've always got it simmering, meaning it can last for literal years. While in the medieval tradition, the cauldron would be drained and cleaned every year around Lent (to observe 40 days without meat), there are some places where a single pot of stew can be constantly replenished for years.Can you get sick from perpetual stew?
\u201cSome bacteria, like botulism, can live in conditions under 185 degrees, so that stew would have to be kept at a boil if you really wanted to be safe.\u201d Mumford explains that some restaurants use the same stock base for decades, so you could follow their germ-killing practice and and boil it twice a day.How do you keep perpetual stew?
\u201cPerpetual stew,\u201d also called \u201chunter's pot,\u201d refers to the practice of keeping a pot of soup slowly simmering at all times, wherein ingredients, such as meats, vegetables and liquids are replenished \u2014 but never tossed \u2014 as the pot gets low.Can you keep a stew going forever?
A perpetual stew, also known as forever soup, hunter's pot or hunter's stew, is a pot into which whatever one can find is placed and cooked. The pot is never or rarely emptied all the way, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary. The concept is often a common element in descriptions of medieval inns.Dollar Meal - Ready Every Minute of The Day - Hunter’s Pot- Forever Stew - Establish Food Security
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