As a cook, I've been rather reluctant to prepare homemade stock. I give the usual litany of excuses: too much hassle, not enough time, not cost-effective. I keep a little jar of Better than Bouillon in my fridge door (one chicken, one beef, one vegetable) and I've always got instant stock whenever I need it, in small quantities or large. I don't have to worry about it going off, because the jar lasts, like, a year, and true to its name, it's better than having crumbly dry cubes in the pantry.
If it wasn't already apparent, we roast a lot of chickens. Not only is it highly economical, it's a strangely satisfying way to spend one's time: the process is elegantly simple yet elusive to perfect; it's a dish that can be prepared hundreds of times and the results are never quite the same. There seem to be as many recipes as their are cookbooks, recommending low heat, high heat, trussing the bird, letting it sprawl out untied, flipping it once, twice, three times, brining it beforehand, salting it beforehand, beginning with a 2 1/2 pound bird, beginning with a 6 pound bird, adding butter, adding oil, adding nothing at all to let the chicken's own skin do the moistening. Yet almost all of them result in delicious outcomes. There's something wholesome and complete about roasting an entire chicken and using all the parts. Any bird cooked whole, with all the joints and bones and parts, is going to be twice as delicious.
But I'm not here to argue that roasting a chicken is worth a lifetime of experimentation. I'm here to tell you what to do with it after you're done.
I've roasted so many chickens and thrown the carcasses away. Right into the trash. Sure, I pick the meat off carefully and put together a great chicken salad for lunch, but otherwise, I'm finished. The bird has given me its all, and I'm respectful. But I was missing a crucial last step.
Only recently did I have the revelation that the stock problem could be remedied without changing my habits at all. Now, the minute I'm done roasting a chicken and letting it rest, I'm filling a small pot with cold water. During the roasting, I will have already sliced up some onions, carrots, celery, and whatever else might be around: parsnips,maybe ginger, some sprigs of parsley. I'll have some peppercorns in a little dish with a bay leaf. After carving the chicken breasts, removing the legs and thighs, and picking the carcass of any meat, the rest goes into the water. And after we've eaten the chicken, I'll put the leftover bones in there, too--and if that seems impolite, I'd say that it's more impolite to the chicken to not take advantage of all its parts.
It's also important to add a little raw chicken meat as well. I keep a package of raw wings in the freezer for this purpose, which gives the chicken some important flavor. If your chicken came with a neck, use that. Also, trim off the wing tips before roasting the chicken so they can be added into the stock. The
roasted carcass will provide lots of body and a wonderful gelatinous quality, but may lack in the essential "chickeny" profile you're looking for without some fresh meat. Also, if you can find some chicken feet (try Asian markets), they do wonders for the stock, apparently. I've yet to try it.
Now, this is not going to be the most delicate, perfected chicken stock, and it probably wouldn't pass restaurant muster. Most chicken stock recipes I know of require using a large amount of chicken meat and equally large amounts of time. I've yet to be convinced that it's worth it, and more importantly, it seems uneconomical. What you'll end up with here will probably be somewhat muddy and unrefined. But it can make a fantastic chicken soup with a handful of rice and frozen peas, or a second dinner the following night, garnished with a bit of parsley and a poached egg. My favorite recent use was for La Stracciatella, or Roman Egg Drop Soup. It will certainly boost your next risotto into the next level. Most importantly, it will get you started on stock-making. It's worked for me.
Roast Chicken Stock
Adapted from Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall's Meat book
- 1 roast chicken carcass, picked clean of meat
- any accompanying chicken giblets, except the liver
- 1 chicken wing or the neck
- 1 large onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 bay leaf
- 3-4 whole peppercorns
- 1 small parsnip, peeled (optional)
- half a leek (optional)
- sprig of thyme or parsley (optional)
- piece of ginger (optional - if using, replace the parsley with cilantro)
Break the chicken into smallish pieces and place in a snug, small pot with the remaining ingredients, all chopped into small chunks. It should pack tightly so that no more than 6 cups of water are needed to cover everything. It's best if the stock doesn't need to reduce once finished, so avoid using extra water.
Bring the water to a simmer over low heat so that it's bubbling very gently and only sporadically. Skim any foam that comes to the surface, but leave any fat, as it's flavorful. Add a little salt to the broth, but not much, to help bring out the flavor. Simmer for at least 2 hours, preferably 4-5, or as late as you can stay up. Strain through a strainer or colander lined with cheesecloth, allow to cool (or lower the pot into a sink of ice-cold water), then refrigerate for a day, which allows the flavors to develop. Use within a day or two, or freeze for future use.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Put the chicken stock in the oven, at 200 F overnight.
Chicken backs, if you can find them, are ideal raw chicken for stock.
You do want to remove the fat, once it has been rendered and is floating on the top it has given up most of its flavor. The simplest way however, it to chill the stock, and just pick the large pieces of solidified fat off. By the way the chicken fat, schmalz, makes a great sop for bread.
Frankly, water is better than the cubes, processed products and even canned stocks. You have control over the salt and 'other' stuff when you make your own.
We do light chicken, light veal, dark beef, vegetable, both frozen and pressure canned. We also usually have fish and shrimp stock and currently have lobster stock. Pork and lamb stock have their uses as well.
Stock recipes are all fine and dandy, but the idea of BUYING material to make stock is just preposterous to me. It makes no sense whatsoever.
I keep a gallon freezer zip bag in my freezer. Whenever I make food, the carrot bits and peelings, celery trimmings, wilted parsley leaves, turnip stubs, onion ends, etc. all go into the bag and then back into the freezer.
I also have a baggie of chicken bits- pieces that get trimmed off when preparing a chicken for a meal (wings, sinewy bits, etc.).
Then, when I've got a carcass after a meal, the bags get pulled out again to be used to make the stock. Why pay for pretty veggies and new chicken just to macerate them in stock, when I can use perfectly good bits and bobs?
I can my stock, as I have a pressure canner and can do such things as this. I currently have chicken and turkey stock in my pantry. Beef stock is so rarely used in my household that I don't often make it, but I do on occasion.
We buy veal and beef bones for stock, because we use far more stock than we can generate from left overs. The same is true for chicken and turkey. We certainly use left over carcass and bones but it isn't enough.
And no way would we have enough scrap carrots, celery or onion. A couple of gallons of stock requires several pounds of vegetables.
However we don't use a whole chicken, but can get a bag of backs for 49-79 cents a pound. Beef back ribs were 99 cents a pound the last time we made stock.
Heh this is exactly what I do.
Besides that first few minutes of simmering where I need to skim skim skim, it's a pretty passive process that has become second nature to me every time I roast a chicken.
I've never made a stock before (or actually roasted a chicken, I'm new to this cooking thing). But maybe I'll try that this weekend. Thanks for the recipe.
I currently have a chicken roasting in the oven, and will of course be making stock with it! I've been roasting for a few years but stock is new in my kitchen – what a coincidence that here you are!
I usually make my stock with whatever leftover vegs I have, but not a lot because I like to keep it pretty neutral. If I roasted the chicken with a specific flavor (lemon & garlic, various herbs) I'll add them in sometimes.
Making stock is such a satisfying way to make something exceptional out of what most people throw away. You may want to take it to the next step however, and clarify your stock. This will turn your stock from an opaque liquid with bits of herbs and spices, to an elegant clear broth worthy of first course soup for company.
For a large batch of finished stock that's been cooled completely, mix with a fork a dozen raw egg whites in a bowl and dump into the stock (easier to do with room temperature eggs). Whisk well into cooled stock so they don't sink the bottom of the pot where they will burn. Reheat stock until it comes to a boil, whisking periodically to make sure egg whites aren't on bottom of pot. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Skim off large "sponge" that's collected on top. Strain remaining stock through a paper towel lined strainer. You'll be amazed at the results.
The chicken feet that you add to the stock DO do wonders for the stock, only not so much in terms of flavour but because there's tonnes of collagen in the feet which help to give the stock that gel-like quality when you refrigerate it. I love using the leftover carcasses from roast chicken to make stock too – it's such an easy way to extract the last drops of flavour from the bird without wasting anything at all.
The only thing is that like charcuterie I would advise removing the fat as well – which solidifies into a layer at the top when you've refrigerated the stock, so you don't need to do any extra steps to get rid if it.
I do the same, but i brown the bones in a bit of olive oil as was recommended in the Soup Bible. I also leave a bit of meat and skin on the wing tips, and add in the skin that I have pulled off the chicken before eating. Then I add the onion, then the vegetables and simmer it all down. I tend to come up with a very gelatinous stock that adds a lot of flavor when used to make risotto. I am going to try clarifying it though as suggested above.
For years people have laughed at me for doing this.. I am the one who makes stock from all the turkey bones! So good.
Waste not, want not! LOL