Sunday, March 8, 2009

Chicken Stock


So my weekends are usually crazy, but when I get the chance I make a long simmering, rich and flavorful chicken stock! I cut up an onion, garlic head, and a shallot. Then I cut up a cup of carrots, celery and leeks, throw them in my beautiful huge stock pot. To that I add my chicken bones. Now here is the the thing, I hate waste, so during the week, I may roast some chickens or use store bought rotisserie chicken. When I do that I always save the bones, throw them in a storage bag and throw it in the freezer for stock day! Even the day I made Hoisin Wings, I threw the end pieces of the wings into a bag and added them to my pot. It is a great way to use a chicken completely. I will have roasted chicken one night, use the leftovers for chicken salad the next and then use the bones for stock that weekend.

SO once you have your veggies and chicken bones in the pot, add a couple of bay leaves, parsely stems, fresh thyme a tbsp of peppercorns and top with cold water. Bring it to just a boil, not a hard boil just a good, steady simmer and be ready to occasionally skim any gray foamy stuff off the top. Other then that thow, I just let it go! I turn it to low and let it simmer for a few hours, no stirring just skimming every once in a while.
At the end of a few hours, I taste it to make sure it has that herbal, chickeny rich flavor and I usually salt it at this point, just to taste- a bit on the weak side to leave you some room for further seasoning at the point of the end use. I ladle it into another stockpot thru my chinois to fully strain off the broth and then put it into the fridge overnight. The next day I skim the fat off, so now it is is virtually fat free! I put it into either storage bags or storage containers and put into the freezer for when I need it! It is too simple - just try it!

4 comments:

diane said...

Sounds great. How long is the stock good for in the freezer?

Debbie said...

As long as it is stored well, it won't spoil, however, I recommend using within 3 months to assure that you have full flavored stock!

Anonymous said...

What do you do with all the veggies that were in the pot?

Debbie said...

I do dispose of the veggies, they are pretty much mush. While I am straining, I push the veggies and chicken to extract every last bit of flavor out of it!