Parmesan Broth Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Make Ahead

by:

October18,2013

5

1 Ratings

  • Makes 10 cups

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Author Notes

You can make a delicious, full-flavored stock from the leftover bits of hard cheese and pieces of natural rinds found in the cheese corner of your refrigerator. Mushroom and the cheeses give this stock a deep, earthy flavor. We make this often, as it’s a wonderful starting point for soups and sauces.

You can add leftover cheese bits to any other stock also, but if you try this recipe, you might be surprised how well this stock compares with chicken or beef stock. Save your cheese rinds and bits in the fridge until you have about 1 cup's worth. Before starting the stock, clean the cheeses by slicing off any unknown molds. Parmesan and cheddar rinds taste wonderful in this stock, but any natural rind that is not too crumbly can work well. —

  • Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients
  • 12 cupscool water
  • 1 tablespoonunsalted butter
  • 2 cupsmedium-diced onions
  • 1 cupcoarsely chopped carrots
  • 1 cupcoarsely chopped celery
  • 1/4 ouncedried mushroom, such as porcini or shiitake
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 sprigsfresh thyme
  • 3 sprigsfresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 cup(or so) leftover bits of hard cheese and natural rind
Directions
  1. In a large pot, bring the water to a simmer over medium-high heat.
  2. While the water heats, in another large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. When it’s melted, add the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley. Cook until the onions are translucent and the carrots, celery, and mushrooms are soft, about 8 minutes. With a wooden spoon, stir in the cheese bits. Let the cheese and vegetables sit on the bottom of the pot for short periods of time, no longer than 10 seconds; this will allow the vegetables and the cheese to brown the bottom of the pot a little. (You don’t want all the vegetables browned, but just the bottom surface needs a little color.) Stir often.
  3. When the vegetables and cheese at the very bottom of the pot show some brown and the cheese is beginning to melt, slowly introduce the simmering water to the pot, stirring in just 1 cup/240 ml to start. Stirring constantly, deglaze the pan’s bottom with the hot water to loosen any browned bits. When the pot bottom is clean of any brown, pour in the remainder of the water. Decrease the heat to medium-low and monitor the heat, adjusting the flame so the broth stays at a gentle simmer.
  4. Simmer for 40 to 50 minutes, stirring every 3 to 5 minutes, so the broth doesn’t pick up a scorched flavor. Strain the broth into a very large container or another clean pot and allow it to cool. Once it’s cool, you can easily skim the top of any fats. Store this in your refrigerator for up to 3 days or in your freezer for up to 3 months.

Tags:

  • Stew
  • Soup
  • American
  • Celery
  • Parmesan
  • Parsley
  • Thyme
  • Cheese
  • Vegetable
  • Carrot
  • Make Ahead
  • Vegetarian

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Selina

  • aargersi

  • Toba Zaritsky

Cowgirl Creamery launched in 1997, but our story began well before then. We met freshman year at the University of Tennessee where, little did we know, a lifelong friendship and infatuation with food would ensue. In 1976 our journey westward began. Once arriving in the Bay Area, we became involved in the burgeoning food movement at Chez Panisse and Bette's Oceanview Diner, both in Berkeley, CA. By the early 1990s, we were ready for a new challenge when we decided to launch Tomales Bay Foods, a marketing vehicle to help West Marin's farms and dairies get their delicious products into the hands of the Bay Area's finest chefs. From there, we decided to make our own cheese using the milk from neighboring Straus Family Creamery. Two decades, two creameries, four retail stores, and two thousand tons of cheese later, we still love what we do and have decided to bring our stories and recipes (dishes that use cheese not how to make cheese) to you in our first cookbook, Cowgirl Creamery Cooks.

Popular on Food52

3 Reviews

Selina November 28, 2017

I had a mouth full of canker sores and was feeling generally crappy till I made this and blended it with sautéed potatoes, caramelized onions, celery, and some kale. All was better after that.

aargersi February 6, 2016

This is simmering - boy does it smell good!!!

Toba Z. October 23, 2013

I add leeks to my stock. BTW, I have been a huge fan of Cowgirl Creamery for many years. I have my ripped up CC logo shirt on from @ 15years ago!

Parmesan Broth Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What do you do with Parmesan stock? ›

Parmesan broth boosts the flavor of everything it touches. More robust than meat- or vegetable-based stocks, this kitchen staple summons the complex essence of aged cheese to serve as a liquid foundation for simmered beans, brothy soups and braised vegetables.

What does adding a Parmesan rind to soup do? ›

Parmesan rind is a protective layer that forms on the cheese as it ages. While it's safe to eat, its commonly discarded because it's hard and difficult to chew. That doesn't mean it isn't full of flavor though! The rinds can be simmered in sauces, soups, and broths, imparting its flavor as it slowly breaks down.

What is a substitute for Parmesan rind in soup? ›

Substitutions. Use a mix of different cheese rinds: you can of course swap in some other cheese rinds if you'd like. Cheese rinds from manchego, pecorino romano or cheddar will all work.

Will Parmesan rind melt in sauce? ›

The rind will become malleable in the heat, but won't completely disintegrate, so be sure to remove it from the pot before serving. For an added bonus, cut the softened cheesy bits into smaller morsels and stir them back into the pot to enjoy as tiny Parmesan rind dumplings.

What not to put with Parmesan? ›

You see, in Italy, Parmesan cheese is reserved for pasta dishes with tomato-based sauces, cream sauces, and meat-based dishes. Adding Parmesan cheese to a seafood-based dish, like spaghetti with clams, is a big no-no. It's like adding ketchup to a steak or pineapple on a pizza – it just doesn't belong!

How long does Parmesan stock last? ›

Parmesan stock can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days and frozen for up to 3 months.

Why do you avoid simmering your soup after adding the cheese? ›

Boiling it after you add dairy can cause grittiness or clumping. How do you prevent cheese from clumping in soups? MDP: The key is to add cheese at the very end, with just residual heat -- either after turning off the heat or at the very end.

Can you eat boiled Parmesan rind? ›

While it is edible, it can become too hard and tough to chew (think of it as the crust on a loaf bread). Still, Parmigiano Reggiano rinds are packed full of flavor and can be used to enrich sauces, soups, stews and more.

What to do if you don't have Parmesan rind? ›

While an Asiago rind made the soup taste unappealingly gamey, tasters agreed that rinds from both Pecorino Romano and Gruyère added a savory flavor comparable to that of the Parmesan rind. If you don't have a rind, any one of these cheeses is also an acceptable substitute.

How to get a Parmesan rind? ›

If you don't have any leftover rinds handy, you can often find them sold at the deli or cheese counter of your local grocery store or cheese shop. Anywhere they are cutting smaller pieces of Parmesan from a large wheel, rinds may be for sale. That said, you can build your own back stock by saving yours at home.

Are you supposed to grate the rind of Parmesan? ›

Some people use a micro planer and grate the rind itself and use it like grated parmesan, but I save the rinds for other dishes. If you've been throwing away your rinds, you've been missing out on putting them to a delicious second use. Here are 10 ways to use the rinds: Throw them into tomato sauce when cooking.

When to add Parmesan rind to stock? ›

How to use parmesan rinds:
  1. Stock: Throw it in with your veggies and let it simmer! ...
  2. Risotto: Add a rind halfway through cooking the rice and let it melt into the rice as you ladle in the liquid.
Nov 9, 2022

Can you boil pasta with Parmesan rind? ›

Boosting Pasta-Cooking Water: Pasta Perfection

Add a few cheese rinds to a pot of boiling water, then toss in your pasta and salt. Cook until it's perfectly al dente, remove the rinds (we've got plans for them), and scoop out the pasta with a spider or slotted spoon.

Why isn't my Parmesan melting into sauce? ›

Why won't my cheese melt? There are many reasons, but the biggest is the moisture content. The moisture content of the cheese has a great effect on the melting process. Cheese that contains higher amounts of fat will melt better than one that doesn't.

What do people do with parmesan rinds? ›

Have you ever made a soup or pasta sauce and wished it just had a little something-something extra? That's where parmesan rinds come in. Throw them in with a sauce, a soup, a stew, or stock and they'll melt (not disintegrate!) releasing just a little extra cheesy, salty flavor into your dish.

What is Parmesan mostly used for? ›

Parmesan cheese made outside of the European Union is a family of hard grating cheeses made from cow's milk and inspired by the original Italian cheese. They are generally pale yellow in color and usually used grated on dishes such as pasta, Caesar salad, and pizza.

What do you use Parmesan containers for? ›

Use a Parmesan cheese container in the garage to hold nails, screws, and bolts. Don't store your kids' Cheerios or Goldfish crackers in plastic bags, put them in a Parmesan cheese container. The container's pour spout and secure lid reduce the amount of spilling, so it's great for long-distance car rides.

Can I reuse Parmesan rind? ›

The most classic way to reuse parmesan rinds is to cut them into cubes and add them to soups, broths, and soups. With the heat, the cheese will start to soften and release its flavor, making the taste even more intense than if simply grated.

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