Easy Chicken Stock

When hubby came down with a cold, I woman’d up and made chicken soup from scratch! Literally, from scratch. I deboned whole chickens, and made a chicken stock. Here’s the chicken stock recipe I used, from a class I took at the Whole Foods Cooking School in Lincoln Park. I’ll post the recipe to my chicken noodle soup, which uses this stock, next week.

I used filtered water for my stock, because well, if you’re going to all this trouble to make stock from scratch, why would you skimp on the water?

Ingredients

• 4 lbs chicken carcasses, including necks and backs (I used the bones from 2 chickens)
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 4 carrots, chopped largely
• 4 stalks celery, chopped largely
• 2 leeks, white parts only
• 8-12 sprigs fresh parsley
• 8-10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 8-12 black peppercorns
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 gallons (32 quarts) cold water 

 

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into a large stock pot, adding the water last.
2. Cook on high and bring to a boil.
3. When the water boils, turn heat to Low and create a simmer.
4. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep ingredients submerged.
5. When needed, skim the fat from the broth with the edge of a spoon.
6. Strain the stock with a fine mesh strainer into another pot.
7. Cool completely and place in refrigerator overnight.
8. Remove solidified fat from surface of stock and dispose.

The stock is good in the fridge for 5 – 7 days. You can portion out the stock for freezing – it will keep for 3 months in the freezer.