CHICKEN STOCK

We have all used canned Chicken Broth and have had great successes in our cooking.  I use the boxes of Broth and can turn out delicious results, but when I use homemade Chicken Stock it elevates the flavors dramatically of whatever I am cooking.  Soups with homemade Stock are incredible when you make the effort.  Like my Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.  The truth is Chicken Stock is easy to make, but it is time consuming regardless of what the cookbooks say.  Prep time is not much, maybe 20 minutes, but you will be baby sitting the Chicken Stock for 5 hours as it simmers.  It's best to make it in the morning of a day you will be home all day.  It is all worth it in the end when you are Cooking The Amazing and make everything taste so much better.




Here is the recipe.





8 Quarts Cold Filtered Water
4 1/2 lbs.  Chicken Parts With Bones
2 Large Onions, Quartered
4 Medium Carrots, Peeled and Large Chopped
4 Stalks Celery, Large Chopped
3 Whole Cloves Garlic Peeled
1/2 t  Whole Black Pepper Corns
2 Bay Leaves
2 t Fine Grain Sea Salt
2 t  Dried Thyme
10 Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley Sprigs
2 Roma Tomatoes Quartered


1.  Prep all of your Vegetables before you touch the raw Chicken to keep from spreading bacteria.  Peel the Carrots, Onions and Garlic.  Rough chop the Carrots and Celery in 3 inch pieces.  Cut the Carrot pieces in half.  Quarter the peeled Onions and peel the Garlic leaving the Cloves whole.  Cut the Tomatoes in quarters leaving skin on.  Set aside with all the other ingredients except the Chicken.

2.  Use a very large Stock pot.  I use a 12 quart.  Fill it with 8 quarts of cold filtered Water.  Bad tasting Water gives you an odd tasting Stock.  Starting your Stock in cold Water is important to develop the collagen (the jelly stuff in good Stock) which provides body to the Stock.

3.  Wash your Raw Chicken well under cold Water in the sink.  I use chopped Chicken parts from the butcher or prepackaged cut up whole Chickens in the Meat section of the market.  Be sure you have bone in and skin on Chicken.  Legs, thighs, backs, and wings are the best parts to use.  Don't use giblets.  Once washed place the Chicken parts in the cold Water in the Stock pot.

4.  Add all the prepped Veg and Black Pepper Corns, Bay Leaves, Sea Salt, Thyme and Parsley to the Stock pot and make sure all is covered in Water.  Turn the burner to high and bring to a rolling simmer.  Do not boil.  Once at a rolling simmer reduce heat to low medium to a gentle slow simmer.  Do not cover and allow to simmer for 5 hours.  Every hour use a skimmer and remove any floating white-gray scum and discard it.  Do not stir the Stock as it simmers but keep all the ingredients submerged as much as possible.

5.  After 5 hours, turn off the heat.  Skim any scum off the top and discard.  Remove all the Meat and Veg as much as possible with tongs or a big slotted spoon and strain what is left through a fine mesh strainer or Cheese cloth for the clearest, purest Stock.  I use only a fine mesh strainer for my style of rustic home cooking.  Your Chicken Stock is now ready to use.  Or if you want to freeze it or use it tomorrow allow the Chicken Stock to sit for 1 hour at room temperature and then refrigerate.   Store in air tight freezer containers.  Freeze for up to 3 months in a sealed container or refrigerate and use over the next 2 days.  If I am making Chicken Noodle Soup or a Cream Soup like Cream of Potato I use it right after straining.  I don't remove the fat.  A lot of flavor is in that fat.  This Chicken Stock is purposefully under seasoned with Salt because when you use it in your final recipe you will adjust the Salt for that particular recipe.  This yields 6-7 quarts of prepared Chicken Stock.

*Try this delicious Chicken Stock in my recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.

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