total classic imo. homemade stock is 100x better than cubes or commercial stock. plus you can tailor it for a given soup. i don't make them very summer soups but in the fall, winter, and early spring they make pretty much any soup taste much better. i'm vegetarian too so it's a good way to get much more depth to a soup or stew without meat.
something i learned from deborah madison is to have a "quick stock" going while you are preparing the main soup/stew. so if i'm making a stew that features a few specific vegetables, i'll quickly chop an onion, celery, carrots, some garlic & herbs and get the quick stock started, and as i'm preparing the rest of the main soup i'll add trimmings from the featured vegetables (e.g. asparagus ends, squash peels and seeds, etc)
― marcos, Monday, 21 July 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link