Unknown.
READ MORE ABOUT:
Having chicken or vegetable stock on hand is a must in my kitchen. I make a lot of soup and with stock in my refrigerator, I can have a pot of something delicious ready in half an hour. There certainly are commercial brands of broth on the market but I find them extremely salty and they often taste more of chemicals than chicken or vegetables.
While making a good broth takes a few hours, the active time is more like 10 minutes and it really is so much better tasting, and better for you, than canned or bouillon cubes.Most cookbooks will tell you to use an entire chicken to make stock. Personally, I think that is the expensive way to go. I buy chicken backs from my grocery store and that works perfectly well. If you do use a whole chicken you can remove the breasts after about an hour of cooking and use them for another recipe.
Use the largest pot you have. I use about 12 chicken backs and end up with about 4 quarts (or litres) using my stock pot. If you have a large pot that you cook pasta in you could probably use 6 to 8 chicken backs and end up with about 2 quarts.
Put the chicken bones into the pot. Cut the ends off of an onion and remove only the outermost layer of skin and add to the pot. Take two carrots and cut off the ends and wash carefully. (There is no need to peel them.)
Wash three or four ribs of celery and add that to the pot. If there are leaves on the celery wash them toss and them in as they have a lot of flavour. You can make a bouquet garni by taking some cheese cloth and placing fresh sprigs of thyme, oregano or marjoram or a combination and then tie into a bundle with kitchen twine. Or you can be lazy like me and toss the herbs straight into the pot. (If you don't have fresh herbs, then go ahead and used dried, just remember that dried herbs are stronger so you don't need as much.)
Add enough cold water to cover the bones and put the stove on to a medium heat. Bring it to just the boiling point and then turn the heat down. You want the stock to be at a bare simmer, but you don't want it to boil because the fat will emulsify. Cover and check occasionally just to make sure it isn't boiling. After a while foam will appear on the surface of the water and you should skim that off and discard it. For a good, rich stock you should let it cook for about four hours.
Once the stock is finished, scoop out the bones and vegetables and discard them. Allow the stock to cool and then transfer it to some good sturdy plastic containers. I keep mine in large containers because I use it quickly, but some people freeze smaller portions that they can just take out and use as they need it. Make sure you refrigerate your stock promptly and if you aren't going to use it within the week, freeze it. When you put it into the containers you will see that all of the fat rises to the top right away. The easiest way to get rid of the fat is to refrigerate the stock and then just scoop the fat off the top when it has congealed.
Next I'll give you a simple soup recipe and you can use up some of that stock.
Difficulty level: Easy
-
- {}
