Chicken stock is the foundation for countless recipes, including soups, stews and sauces.
Good, properly made chicken stock is why the restaurant preparation tastes so special. There are usually big cauldrons of stock simmering for hours in the back of restaurants with scrap bones and vegetable trim.
You can save up chicken trim and bones from roasted or rotisserie chickens in the freezer. When you have enough for a potful, spend part of a day simmering it and you can stockpile your freezer with it. Trust me, it’s one of the best stock tips you will get!
Chicken stock
Course: Basic steps, Building blocks, Poultry, SoupDifficulty: Easy4
quarts15
minutes3
hours30
minutes3
hours45
minutesIngredients
2 lbs 2 Chicken bones
4 quarts 4 water
2/3 cup 2/3 onions
2/3 cup 2/3 carrots
2/3 cup 2/3 celery
1 clove 1 garlic
1/2 cup 1/2 leek
2 sprigs 2 parsley
1 tsp 1 thyme
3 whole 3 bay leaves
5 whole 5 black pepper corns
Directions
- Rinse chicken bones in cold water and put in a roomy stock pot.
- Wash, trim and peel your vegetables. Chop them in 1 inch pieces.
- Cover with the water and add the rest of the seasonings.
- Bring to a simmer – almost boil but do not boil.
- Simmer for 3 – 4 hours. Skim off and discard any foam or fat that collects on the surface. Top up with water to maintain waterlevel.
- Check the bone joints, and when the cartilage has melted off the ends, your stock is ready. Turn off the heat and let the stock sit so the sediment drops to the bottom.
- Ladle off the the stock and strain at least 2 times through a fine strainer or cheesecloth. Discard bones and bottom sediment.
- Skim off the fat from the surface or refrigerate the stock overnight and then scoop off the fat layer. The stock is now ready for use, storage or further reduction.
Equipment
- 8-12 quart soup or stock pot
- 6-8 quart bowl
- soup ladle
- fine mesh strainer
- solid stirring spoon
- cutting board
- peeler
- paring knife
- chefs knife
- 1 quart measuring cup
Notes
- A properly made stock is the foundation for countless recipes. It is the reason why copying a restaurant dish at home comes up short. Save scraps and bones from roasts in the freezer, then fill a pot and spend a day cooking it. Now you can stockpile your freezer with pint containers or ice cubes from the stock that can easily be pulled out and added to a recipe to give it an extra lift.
