Saturday, March 26, 2011

Day 18 - chicken stock


It's been a pretty boring, rainy day so far, but rainy days are good for making chicken stock. Jamie once taste tested mine against canned chicken broth when he was on a clear liquid diet and said he would never go back to he canned stuff. Here's how I do it.

raw or cooked chicken bones from one or two chickens. (I used some of both. I just freeze them until I'm ready to make stock.)
one onion, quartered (leaving the skins on is supposed to give it a richer color)
a few carrots, whole or broken in half
a few celery stalks
parsley

Combine everything in a stock pot and fill it up with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 4 hours. You can also add salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, dried herbs, or even a bouquet garni, if you want to get fancy. Cool in the fridge overnight (or 2 days at the most), strain with a mesh colander lined with cheese cloth and then freeze in one cup portions. I use plastic cups, yogurt containers, glass storage containers, etc. Once it's frozen, you can store the portions in a freezer bag. You can also do it in a crock pot, but I haven't tried that method yet.

4 comments:

Meredith said...

Mmm. It looks yummy!

Bob Linder said...

Looks great!

Val said...

That's the yummiest it ever looks! Once it gets going it's not very pretty.

Monica Wood said...

TFS! Someday I want a taste test!