Basic Chicken Stock: From the Blooming Kitchen Garden

Basic stocks are the foundation of many a tasty soup (or stew, or pottage, or sauce, or...) - but some people feel threatened by the idea of making stock from scratch. It seems a complicated, messy, slightly scary task - best left to French chefs, crunchy mamas, and elderly ladies who lived thru the Depression.  Not so! Making stock is easy - easy and frugal - and here is how a basic chicken stock is made.

Basic Chicken Stock

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs chicken bones (this can be bones from your roasted chicken dinner, or bones from the shops
• 1 Tbs cider or white wine vinegar (to help render the gelatine from the bones)
• 1 medium onion, with skin on, roughly shopped (the skin lends its golden color - just remove any actual dirty bits)
• 1-2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• Herbs of your choice - I like a bit of rosemary and marjoram. Fresh is lovely - dried works well, too.
• A few peppercorns

TIP: Do NOT SALT the stock.  Trust me.

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot. Cover with water (about 4-5 quarts). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer several hours. Occasionally skim any "scum" (aka whitish foam) that rises to the top. It won't kill you if you forget to do this - but your stock wont be as fabulous as a French def's if you don't. Sometimes there is a lot of foam - other times none at all.  Just skim it off with a large spoon and dump it. Keep an eye on the water level - you may have to top it up now and then. How long should you simmer? Well...my standard answer is "until all the goodness is out of the chicken and into my stock." Some day 4 hours. I usually simmer more like 12 - but I really like all the wholesome minerals from those bones!

Once you decide to stop simmering, let the stock cool and then strain all the bones and veggies out. This can be a bit messy, but you really do want all the bones out. A colander over another stockpot or a VERY large bowl can be wonderful for this. I usually refrigerate overnight, an then decide whether to skim the fat. Some stocks are fattier than others, and this is really a personal choice, so do as you feel best. I usually leave some fat (it is good for you to have some - especially if you make soup!) but I do not like a "greasy" stock, so I usually skim some and freeze it for other cooking.


SOME NOTES:

- Many people confuse stock with broth. Stock is made with bones. Broth is made with meat. That's it! For the most part, they can be used interchangeably.

- If you can bring yourself to include a chicken foot (or two), you will be rewarded with a very rich stock  But feet are not for the queasy...supermarket check feet often need a bit of prep work first (removing the skin and clipping off the claws. Yes, its a bit of an "eeew" task, but well worth it!)

- My frugal way (and probably your great-grandmother's as well) is to save all the bones from our chicken roasts. I pop them into a freezer container - when the container is full, it is time to make stock!

- I save bits and pieces of onions, onion skins, and celery in a quart-sized freezer baggy specifically for stock.

- Supermarkets and meat markets often sell soup bones these days - but they are not always a good deal. Check your prices carefully! A package of "chicken soup bones" is often necks and backs - and if they are priced fairly they are a good buy - but sometimes they are priced as much per pound as legs!

- DO NOT SALT THE STOCK!  Why? Because stock is an ingredient in other dishes that you will season accordingly, so you don't want a salty stock to ruin another dish.  And stock reduces with simmering, concentrating that chickeney goodness...and concentrating the salt as well!