Chicken Stock

There is absolutely nothing more rewarding than making something from, well.....basically trash. And thats exactly what making chicken stock is like. But it is the most amazing thing ever!! And most people shy away from making their own stock. And I want you to know that it is a set it and leave it alone kind of project. So what "trash" do you need for this endeavor? Well if you make roasted whole chickens, buy a rotisserie chicken, or ever use chicken with bones in it, save your bones. Put them in a freezer bag and if you are not going to use them the next day, freeze them. You will also need celery. But why cut up perfectly good and useful celery? The pieces you cut off and discard when chopping celery for other purposes, save it and put in a seperate freezer bag. Save your carrot peels, garlic ends, and onion ends. Put all of these things in a freezer bag and freeze until you have enough or are ready to cook. You can suplement your vegetables with full ones, like half an onion or garlic cloves or even a carrot or two.

Once you have enough bones and vegetables, throw it all into a very large stock pot and cover it all with water. Then you can add some salt, peppercorns, and any other herb flavors you like in your food. I have stopped adding too many spices and herbs. I like a nice generic stock base so that I can flavor it the way I want to later in my cooking. So salt and peppercorns is usually enough for me. And I do not add a whole lot of salt. I like to control my own salt content and I do not want to get too bogged down in salt in other dishes that are already salty.

So get it all in your pot and bring it up to a boil. Reduce to simmer and let cook for 5-6 hours on the stove. When you are done cooking, turn off the heat and let it sit on the stove for at least half an hour to cool off slightly. It does not look all that pleasant, but it should taste so much better than the awful clear looking stock you buy in the store.

Now you need a very large bowl and a colander. Put the colander in the large bowl and pour your stock into the colander. It will catch all the large pieces of vegetable or bones or chicken bits. Pull the colander up and let the stock drain out. Throw away the stuff in the colander. It will still look like it has little bits of stuff floating in it. It is okay....we are about to strain it some more.

At this point most recipes will tell you to use cheesecloth to do this strain.....but I will save you some money and frustration. Use the really cheap pantyhose from Wal-Mart. It is the ones that come in the little plastic balls. They cost you 33cents. And they are far superior than cheesecloth.

I like to cut the very top of the pantyhose off because it makes it more difficult to place on my tupperware. It also gets a little too long if you do not trim it up some. Then take your pantyhose and stretch over the top of your selected tupperware. Measure out your chicken stock (so when its frozen you know how much you have) and pour into your tupperware through the pantyhose. This should strain off your herbs, chicken fat, and pepper.

Carefully peel off your pantyhose and let the rest of the stock strain through before placing on another tupperware dish. If the inside of the pantyhose become too clogge with strained off debris, turn inside out and rinse out. Squeeze completely dry before finishing the rest of your chicken stock into tupperwares.

Now you should have quite a few cups of still warm chicken stock lying around your kitchen. I ended up with 26 cups of chicken stock in this picture. One of my tupperwares is about the equivilant of one large box in the stores. You want to let your chicken stock cool completely before either placing in the fridge or labeling and placing in the freezer.

You will not believe the difference homemade chicken stock makes when making soups or rice or anything else that requires chicken stock. And it really is just this simple. And you can adjust it to make vegetable stock or even beef stock. If making vegetable stock, just add a couple of other veggies into the pot, I like zucchini and bell pepper. No potato though, your stock will become too starchy and not a good thing for a stock!

So do not be afraid of homemade chicken stock anymore......it is completely doable!! And you will thank me for it once you do!