Chicken Stock

Making homemade stock is what separates good from great cooking in my opinion.  Once you've had a taste of the real thing, you'll never go back to that boxed stuff.  Truly, it's not that hard to do and you can make enough to last for a couple of weeks of cooking.

Beef and lamb stock are very good and have their uses, but I find myself making chicken stock more often because I use it frequently to cook quinoa, beans, lentils and rice.

As usual, try to find chicken that comes from a pasture environment as the taste will be more dimensional than a caged, grain fed bird.

So, yesterday I made a recipe using chicken breasts.  I carved those breasts from a whole chicken and saved the rest of the chicken specifically to make this batch of stock.  I also had purchased a pound of chicken backs from the butcher in order to have around 3 pounds of chicken bones and meat for the stock.

Here's what you'll need:

3 lbs of uncooked chicken meat and bones (one small chicken would work.)
10 cups of water

2 carrots (chopped)
1 red onion (chopped)
2 celery stalks (chopped)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of peppercorns (crush them before adding)
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme

1.  Chop the chicken into fist sized chunks to expose more surface area to the water.  Place into stock pot and cover with the water.  On the stovetop, bring it to a simmer.

2.  As the stock gets to a simmer, use a spoon to skim off the fat and gelatin that has risen to the surface.  Discard.

3.  Place the covered stock pot into a 190 degree oven and let it sit in there for 4 hours.  Stock never comes to an actual boil, just simmers at 180-190 for a long time.  The oven is more controllable than the stovetop in that sense.

4. After 4 hours, add the remaining ingredients and return to the oven for another hour.

5.  Pull out the stock and use the lid to pour off most of the liquid into another large pan or bowl.

6.  The final step involves straining away the debris and getting a relatively clear golden broth.  I use a fine mesh strainer (a chinois) lined with a bit of cheesecloth.  I place that over a quart jar and pour the stock directly into it.  Repeat until done.  This recipe makes around 2+ quarts of stock depending on how careful you are with the straining steps.

I let my lidded jars of stock cool on the counter to room temperature and then place one in the fridge for immediate use and the rest into the freezer for use in the coming weeks.

Have fun!