Better Broth and Cocktail Rings

This post originally appeared in my newsletter, The Sophisticate.

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Something to Try

Every seasoned cook knows that your food will taste better and richer if you replace water with broth. This goes for rice, pasta, soups, stews, braised meats, and more. Store-bought broth can work, but it tends to contain preservatives and high levels of sodium, and the good stuff will cost you. 

The homemade version tastes better, costs next to nothing, and won’t contain additives you want to avoid. It packs a ton of collagen plus essential vitamins and minerals, so it’s sort of an ancient beauty secret as well. The best part is it’s impossibly easy! If you can boil water, you can make your own broth. 

To make the process cheaper and easier, keep a gallon bag in the freezer to collect chicken bones or whole chicken carcasses that you would otherwise discard after cooking. (If you don’t already buy bone-in thighs or whole chickens, I highly recommend it! It tends to be cheaper and more flavorful than boneless meat.) You can also collect vegetable scraps – I add my clean garlic and onion skins, pepper tops, carrot tops, herb stems, really anything that would otherwise be thrown out. When the bag is full, I know it’s time for a new batch of broth. 

Note: I’m using broth as a catchall term here, but technically if it’s made with bones it’s a stock, and if stock is simmered for 24-48 hours, it might be referred to as bone broth. 

The Basics

• Use a stock pot, crock pot, or large dutch oven.
• Include 2 onions, 2 celery stalks, and 2 large carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks. This is called a mirepoix. 
• Add your chicken bones, vegetables scraps, herbs of your choice, mirepoix, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of peppercorns, and 1 bay leaf to your pot, then add water to cover. 
• The exact amount of water may vary depending on how many bones and other ingredients you’re working with. Aim to keep everything fully submerged, but not much more than that. 
• You can add a few teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to help extract nutrients and break down collagen. 
• Cover the pot and simmer on low for roughly 3-4 hours, adding water to keep everything covered as necessary.
• Strain the broth to remove all solids. Store in glass jars in the fridge for 3-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Swap it into your recipes that call for water or broth at a 1:1 ratio.

Variations

Vegetable Broth:

• Replace the chicken bones with sautéed or gently roasted vegetables of your choice (try bell peppers, mushrooms, leeks, or fennel). Avoid starchy vegetables like potatoes or corn.
• Cut the simmering time down to 1-2 hours.

Beef Stock:

• Replace the chicken bones with beef bones. For deeper flavor, roast the bones in the oven before adding them to the pot.
• Increase the simmering time to up to 24 hours. 

Experiment with ingredients to suit your taste or to tailor the broth to fit a particular cuisine. Try to avoid adding vegetables that are too bitter or earthy like broccoli, cabbage, kale, or beets, but other than that, there are really no wrong answers!

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Something to Know

When I was little, my mom was in the middle of a costume jewelry phase. She and her friends wore big, bauble-y necklaces, bracelets, and rings when they went out in the evenings, so I grew up associating flashy, fun jewelry with glamour and celebration. In recent years, most women I know have been gravitating towards simple, understated jewelry. This can be a gorgeous look for daily wear, but I’m starting to feel like we’re overdue for the return of the maximalist, statement jewelry of the past. 

No piece epitomizes this look quite like the cocktail ring. They call to mind Old Hollywood glamour, mysterious women in giant fur coats, and style icons like Princess Diana (whose 49.5 carat aquamarine is pictured above). The style has a fascinating history dating back to the 1920s.

After the prohibition of alcohol sales in 1919, hidden bars known as speakeasies flourished in secret. At the same time, young women were bucking traditional norms and styles, wearing shorter dresses and shorter haircuts, and participating more fully in nightlife. The cocktail ring emerged during this era as a symbol of the glamour and flamboyance that defined it.

Often featuring large clustered designs or giant, colorful center stones, cocktail rings represented women’s newfound independence and deviation from tradition. They were designed to grab your attention and women showed them off while sipping cocktails in secret, hence the name. At the time, they were worn on the right hand so they could sparkle alongside the drink you were holding. They quickly became associated with celebration, rebellion, and wealth before eventually falling out of style after the 1950s. 

I’m all for bringing back the tradition of the right-hand cocktail ring while enjoying a beverage in the evening as a nod to the 1920s. I think they’re especially perfect for the holiday season, the time of year when sparkly accessories really shine. I’ll be perusing vintage and auction sites to start my collection, and taking inspiration from the looks below.

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Three Good Things

First and foremost, The Sophisticate is not in the business of trying to sell you things you don’t want or need. This section is meant to share three things that have improved my life, and a little bit about why you might like them too. 

These will occasionally contain affiliate links. If you click one and ultimately decide to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission of roughly 5-10%. If you want to shop using my links, great! Easy for you, teeny tiny paycheck for me. 

However, it’s very important to me that you trust that I’m not just pushing links to make money, so if you’d rather purchase outside of my affiliate link, I completely get it! To do so, just be sure to shop from an incognito browser and type the product name into search rather than copy and paste my link. 

That said, I hope you’ll find that some of these recommendations may be the solution to a problem you’ve been having, or are simply a fun little luxury to add to your daily life.

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Recipe of the Day

Apple season is my favorite part of early fall. While it’s still too warm outside for pumpkins and most soups, apples feel distinctly autumnal but appropriate for higher temps. Apple crisp is one of the easiest desserts you can make to celebrate this seasonal transition. I love this recipe from Sally’s Baking Recipes. Try grating whole nutmegs if you can find them for an especially delightful baking experience. This recipe is fantastic drizzled with a little salted caramel!

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Tasteful Living, As Told by You

One of the things that inspired me to create The Sophisticate was reading what other women online had to say about taste, style, and living well. This section is dedicated to tips and advice submitted by you, The Sophisticate subscribers! 

Send us a message on Instagram @sophisticate.newsletter to share your favorite little luxuries, healthy habits, or other tasteful tips with us and we may include you in a future newsletter.

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