So, as I mentioned earlier this week, there is a trend in the food blogger network of making your own stock. These trends happen. There was ricotta a couple of months ago, baguette before that, and I am sure a million others.
These trends are fun because you get so many different takes on a recipe, it is easy to form your own ideas and give it a shot! So onward to stock making I went! There are a couple of awesome things about making your own stock. Firstly, it is CHEAP!! You use a whole chicken carcass that you hopefully made for another dinner. The other ingredients are staples in most pantries.
My recipe made about 14 cups of stock, which is about 8 cans of store-bought stock. PLUS, I know where the ingredients came from, PLUS, it tastes really, really good. After completing this project, I would say that I will NEVER go back to store-bought stock again. I would like to say that, however, convenience is a very nice thing. And I might not always have all day to skim and simmer, so I will never say never!
Chicken Stock Recipe
NOTE: This recipe is based on using the chicken carcass and drippings from my Simple Roasted Chicken Recipe. If you are starting without the roasted chicken, you may instead use a whole chicken. You may just need to adjust the salt.
Ingredients:
- 1 4-5 lb chicken carcass
- Drippings from the Simple Roasted Chicken Recipe (optional)
- 1 large parsnip (peeled and quartered)
- 3 medium carrots (peeled and quartered)
- 2 stalks of celery (quartered, including any leaves)
- 2 large garlic cloves (peeled)
- 12 sprigs of thyme
- 12 stems of parsley
- 25 peppercorns
- 2 Turkish bay leaves
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- Water
Directions
- Place all ingredients, except for water in a large stock pot.
- Cover with water so all ingredients are covered
- Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to a VERY slow simmer
- Allow to simmer for 4 hours
- Every 15 – 30 minutes, skim the top of the broth for fat and schmutz
- After 4 hours, place a strainer over a large bowl, pour the pot into the strainer, VERY slowly!
- Discard everything left in the strainer.
- Re-strain broth if needed
- Refrigerate broth overnight and skim off the fat that solidifies at the top.
- Put stock into storage container.
- Stock is good in the fridge for about 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months!
Filed under: Recipes | Tagged: cheap recipe, chicken broth, pantry recipe, recipe, soup, staple | 10 Comments »
