Then settle down in your favorite easy chair, comfy couch or gather around the dining room table and savor your bowl food meal. Every good soup and sauce maker understands that broth that serves as a flavorsome base, in many cases, a rich stock, along can make or break a dish. I suggest customizing your stock or broth to the meal you're preparing. For instance, starting off with either a good quality low-sodium chicken stock or even better a homemade one, you can transform it into an Asian enhanced broth appropriate for any Asian inspired dish. Just simply add a bit of chopped cilantro, a few Kaffir lime leaves or freshly grated lime zest, a dash of soy sauce, a little garlic, some scallions, coriander seeds, a few star anise pods, and perhaps some rinsed, fermented black beans which can be had at any Asian grocery store.
Quantities can vary according to taste, of course.
To cook, simmer altogether for about 15 minutes, strain and use as desired. To make a Mediterranean tinged broth you could add a sundry of ingredients such as bay leaves, thyme, a few black peppercorns, fresh Italian parsley, perhaps some sliced fennel bulb, dried oregano, fresh basil, and a handful of drained, seeded and chopped canned tomatoes. Again, simmer for 15 minutes or so then strain and use as you see fit. The main ingredients are almost always garlic, citrus juice, olive oil, and some kind of herb, and they remain so here. Although traditionally used as a sauce, it can also be put into service as a vinaigrette.