Homemade Chicken Stock For Cooking

Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 whole broiler-fryer chicken (cut up is optional)
• herbs or spices, of your choice
• assorted fresh vegetable, unpeeled (celery, carrots, etc)
• water

Recipe

• 1 place a whole chicken in a large pot of water with a large amount of water with washed (no need to peel) large carrots cut into managable pieces, a large onion, quartered (also not peeled -- the peels seem to add more color and taste to the stock), 6 or 8 stalks of celery with their tops, also cut into managable pieces, a bunch of parsley, (you can leave it whole too) a head of seperated, unpeeled garlic cloves, a few bay leaves, 10 or 12 whole peppercorns and whatever else stikes my fancy at the time that seems as tho it might work with a chicken stock.
• 2 also could add a turnip, shallots or anything else that will work that is in your fridge, and needs to be used up.
• 3 bring to a boil, cover and simmer to get all the flavor out of your herbs and vegetables. it could take a couple of hours to get every little bit of flavor. drain into a colander (make sure you have something under it to catch the stock. missing this step can be frustrating; to smell it cooking for so long, look forward to a delicious stock and then dump it down the drain because you forgot to place a container under the colander).
• 4 return the stock to the pan and simmer to reduce the stock and enrich the flavor.
• 5 you can add salt if you like, but i don't usually because i will probably salt whatever i will make with the broth. i don't think you will miss it.
• 6 the vegetables and herbs season the stock up nicely.
• 7 never toss a turkey carcass without treating it as a stock option.
• 8 break it up to fit if you have to, but never throw it away without making a delicious stock out of it first.
• 9 turkey stock makes a delicious soup or stuffing seasoning as a side dish to chicken or base for a gravy.
• 10 making stock isn't hard, but it is a little time consuming because of the long cook time.
• 11 the working part is easy because you don't have to peel anything.
• 12 the peels are good for the stock and leave lots of good things behind like vitamins.
• 13 what you throw away has all the good stuff simmered out of and into your broth. (this is the reason i cringe when someone is going to boil their meat before grilling. what a waste of wonderful flavor to be poured down the drain).
• 14 try it sometime on a day off when you have a few hours to make the stock.
• 15 i have heard of making it in a crockpot, but i can't imagine doing so because of all the stuff you add to the pot.
• 16 my crockpot just would not be big enough, but my stock pan is great and makes a decent amount of stock.
• 17 i can get 2 - 1 gallon size freezer bags out of one chicken.
• 18 it makes the best chicken soup, but use fresh chicken and vegetables because those make the best tasting stock.