Chicken Stock

There just hasn't been a lot of time to write everything I've been doing since we decided to homeschool Aidan. The one thing I certainly didn't think of was having his curricula in order first. So I've been spending most of my time researching everything I want him to learn for first grade. Buying boxed curricula was definitely not for me.

Anyway, last week I made a big pot of chicken stock! I've tried this a few times and it never really stuck. I made a big batch and let the thing sit out spoil, or I added way too much parsley and the broth came out nuclear green, but in hindsight, I probably couldn't made another batch and mixed them together and had even amounts and a lot of stock. Oh well, live and learn.

Chicken Stock is one of the most basic, easiest staples you can make yourself, there is hardly anything you can do to mess it up, except going heavy on the seasoning that it :-). One of the most common tips I've learned is save your veg extras! Carrots, celery, onion, parsley are the most popular and you can make pretty good stock on those alone. Other good additives are parsnips, parsnips, whole peppercorns, rosemary, and well, most anything you want! I like to keep mine basic though, so I add the first four and some ground pepper, maybe some Italian seasoning and we're good to go.

First, clean your chicken! A good cold water bath and I always rub it down with a paper towel to get that weird filmy stuff off and maybe extra feather bits. Chicken in the pot, and fill with enough cold water to cover the chicken. Watch the top though cause if it's really full its boil out. Then add your veggies and spices, bring to a boil and you'll want to boil it for about 40-50 minutes. I have never had luck bringing to a boil them simmering for the remaining time, I always end up cooking way longer and the meat will be really dry. So this works for me. Sometimes I put the lid on for the last 20 minutes. If the water is getting low quickly, turn the temp down to medium-med.high, it'll still boil but not as rapidly. After your chicken is cooked, pull it out and turn the temp to low. Let your chicken cool, then pull the meat off the bones, and toss the bones back in the pot. Its ok if there is still some meat on them though, it'll help add flavor. Depending on the water level, you might want to add some more water at this point, enough to cover everything in the pot. Being to a full boil, cover and simmer for about 4-6 hrs. After it has simmered, take all the solids out. This part is a personal preference, to help boost the extra flavor, I like to reduce the liquid a bit by boiling for at least 20 minutes. It helps intensify the flavor, but it's not necessary to have delicious chicken stock. Using a fine mesh strainer, make sure you've gotten all chucks out, that shouldn't been before reducing, sorry! Ill have to come back and edit this... Pour into a container that you can cover and let it cool on the counter for bit, then refrigerate overnight. In the morning there will be a layer of fat on top of the broth, skim that off and put your stock into any kind of storage you like and it'll freeze well for about six months. It'll refrigerate for about 5 days. I like to put about 2-3 cups in quart size baggies so I can lay them flat to freeze, it helps with freezer space.