Take (chicken) stock

Hello, and welcome back. I hope you’re all doing well and having a great time. I have been making the most of my final summer here in Canada and have started to wrap up my affairs before I head home. As I am currently all about wrapping things up and finishing as much as possible before I leave, I thought I would finish the last kitchen post I had prepared. Of course, there will be more recipes, preserving guides and kitchen posts in the future. But for now, this is all until I get established back home and complete some of the larger outdoor projects I have planned.

So today, I plan to share an easy recipe for chicken stock. In a previous post, I demonstrated how to break down a whole chicken into its various cuts. And at the end of that process, I was left with a chicken carcass or frame, which I froze. If you missed it, that post can be found here.

Since then, I have added a couple of extra carcasses to my freezer, collecting enough to make a big batch of chicken stock. If you like, you can make a stock with just one chicken, but I prefer to make it in a larger batch and freeze most of it down for later.

Chicken stock

Having your own stock is a great way to add flavour to your soups or sauces. And having homemade stock is always a better option than store-bought stocks. Most packet stocks are little more than salt, flavourings and preservatives. In my opinion, the real depth and richness of flavour you get from a homemade stock is unbeatable, and as a bonus, it’s a great way to use up some kitchen scraps that would normally go to waste.  

Ingredients

• 2-3 chicken frames
• 1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
• 2 medium-sized carrots
• 2 small bay leaves
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 large onions

Directions

1. Peel and dice the carrots, celery and onions. You don’t have to be too fussy with how you cut these. A rough dice is good enough as long as everything is similar enough in size.
2. Using a large boning knife or cleaver, cut your chicken frames into smaller pieces and then brown them off in a large pot.
3. Once the chicken pieces get a bit of colour on them, add the diced vegetables and parsley and sweat them off, stirring occasionally.
4. Once the vegetables colour, fill the pot with water until it covers everything and add the bay leaves.
5. Bring the pot to a boil and then turn it down to simmer.
6. Leave it to simmer for 4-6 hours. The longer it simmers, the stronger the flavour, so I recommend leaving it for six hours.
7. Once the stock has finished and you’re happy with how far it has reduced, strain everything with a fine colander or, if you have any, some cheesecloth. Once cooled, the final liquid can be stored in the fridge or freezer until needed. I remember seeing someone pouring stock into an ice cube tray and then freezing it so that it could be added like a regular stock cube when needed.

Depending on how much meat was left on the bones, you may end up with small greyish lumps of foam floating on the surface while the stock simmers. This is called scum, and as disgusting as it sounds, it’s not that bad. All it is is just the proteins from the meat coagulating. If you like, you can skim it from the surface whenever you see it form. Doing so will help give you a clearer stock.

And there it is, a great little recipe for chicken stock. The stock is full of flavour and is a great way to take your cooking to the next level. All it takes is a few simple ingredients and time. I am a big fan of making an extra large batch, freezing half, and then turning the rest into a big pot of chicken soup. I made a batch just the other day and turned it into a fantastic chicken, corn and miso soup.

Next week’s post will be coming at you from Tasmania, my home state, back in Australia. So, until then, I had better get back to packing. Until next time, have yourself a good one, and I will catch you later.