Chicken Stock from Scratch?

[jjhunter]

'elp! 'elp! Some assistance much appreciated

I'm setting aside some time today to batch prepare most of my household's meals for the week, and would love to actual use the leftover chicken bones to make stock instead of tossing them out. Does anyone have any experience making stock from such bones? and/or a reliable recipe they might point me to?

ETA: success! Details here: Adventures in homemade chicken stock (FOR SCIENCE)

Comments

[qem_chibati]

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/easy-chicken-stock

This one is supposed to be quite good!

[yarngeek]

Technically, the only things that goes into a stock are 1) water 2) bones. Apply heat and time, remove bones, boom. Skim the fat if there is any once it's cooled.

If you want to get fancy and make a stock, you can't go very wrong with an onion, a carrot, and some celery. Don't salt the stock unless you're planning to use it right now as is.

I think the usual ratio is 4 quarts water:one chicken carcass:one onion:two carrots:two stalks celery, but broth is forgiving.

[leanne]

Take bones. Add a halved onion, two carrots in large chunks, a couple stalks of celery in large chunks, two to three whole cloves of garlic, about 20 peppercorns, a couple of whole cloves, and some thyme, if desired. Put them all in a big crockpot, and cover with water. Let cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove from the crock, strain, cool, and freeze.

[katarik]

Like everyone else, I just take the bones and generously cover them with water. I also add a few things -- onion, carrot, etc. I don't do a whole lot of seasoning, since it's meant to be a base for other flavors, but hyssop is hugely antibacterial and antiviral and it goes in *everything* I make.

And then you just walk away and let it simmer for a while. When everything starts smelling chickeny and delicious, it is not done. You want your water to have reduced by at least a couple of inches, you want it to have some color.

To strain it, it depends on what all you have in there. If it's just big stuff like bones and celery and chunks of vegetables, a colander will work just fine. If you added herbs, take a wire-mesh colander or line a regular colander with cheesecloth. Strain it into a new pot, let it cool, skim off the fat if you can, and freeze it in whatever serving size you think you'll want. Some people freeze stock in ice cube trays and then freeze the ice cubes in gallon bags, and then they have plenty of little stock for if they just want it to add some more flavor to, like, ramen or something.

[weaverbird]

Yay for using the bones! Thrifty and tasty - a win/win.

This is my everyday chicken stock:

Bones
Giblets and neck, if available
Large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1-2 stalks of celery, chopped (leaves a plus)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
A thumb of ginger root, peeled and chopped
6-8 black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
2-4 whole allspice
A sprinkle of hot red pepper flakes (optional)
A bay leaf or two
Water to barely cover everything

Note: the finer the vegetables are chopped, the more surface area is exposed and more flavour is extracted in the cooking.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for an hour or two.
Strain, squeezing hard to get all the broth. Discard solids.
Return broth to rinsed stockpot
Bring to boil, reduce heat
Simmer until reduced by half or so. This intensifies the flavour beautifully.
Cool, skim and discard fat.
Refrigerate for use within 2-3 days, or freeze for longer storage.

[jenett]

You already have great answers, but my usual method is:

- Take chicken bones, leaving some meat scraps on them.

- Put in slow cooker. Add enough water to cover. Add a splash of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. (This helps pull the awesome minerals out of the bones.)

- Add some combination of cut up carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic (all roughly chopped: the goal is 'fit in pot with other items' not 'bite size'). Dried herbs are not a bad thing either (Rosemary and tarragon are staples. A tiny pinch of salt doesn't hurt either.)

- Put slow cooker on for 18-24 hours (and 36 is not too many) on low. When done, strain and put into containers.

The only thing I have to check while it's going is making sure to give it more minutes before I go to bed/go out to work/etc.