Chicken Stock
Description
One of the most comforting smells that can come out of a kitchen is the smell of chicken stock simmering on the stove. I try to make chicken stock from every chicken I roast, which means that I'm making chicken stock 2-3 times a month. I try to use it up right away, but it also freezes beautifully, so I can pull it out on a weeknight for a quick, nutritious meal of soup and salad or bread.
Making stock is not hard, it just takes a long time--you really do have to simmer it for 6-8 hours to extract the good, rich flavors from the chicken bones. But it's worth it. Just remember to schedule it for a day when you're going to be home. I like to cook stock on a day when I know I'm going to be busy doing other things--yard work, laundry or work. It's very comforting to know that dinner is already taken care of while I'm toiling away at something else and I don't have to think about what I'm going to make for dinner :)
Ingredients
Instructions
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Add the chicken carcass plus any accompanying juice and fat (it adds a lot of flavor and will be skimmed off before consuming), celery, onion, carrot, rosemary, salt, garlic, pepper and preserved lemon paste to a large, heavy Dutch oven. I like to get very small chickens--3-4 lbs and I can usually get away with using a 4-quart Dutch oven when I make stock. If your chicken was larger than about 4.5 lbs, go ahead and use a 5-6 quart Dutch oven to make sure you don't overflow the pot.
A note about the chicken carcass--I remove most of the meat, but leave a little for flavor. I usually leave the leg meat.
Optional: add a beef short rib bone-- my mother-in-law taught me this trick. It adds richness to this broth, and I frequently add one, but it also changes the flavor a little, so you want to decide how you want to use the broth before adding one.
Pour enough water over the ingredients to cover and mix so the dry ingredients get a chance to dissolve. Heat the ingredients over medium-high heat until it reaches a rolling boil. Let it boil for a couple of minutes and then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. Cover and let it simmer for at least 6 hours and I've even let it go for up to 10 hours--and a not here--make sure that if you want chicken soup for dinner that you start this process first thing in the morning, or make it and put it in the fridge the day before.
Check every once in a while to make sure it's simmering gently--if it gets too vigorous, you may need to add more water due to evaporation.
Once you reach about 4 or 5 hours of simmering, give it a taste to check for seasonings. Add accordingly.
After 8-10 hours, strain out the stock and discard the spent carcass and vegetables. At this point, you can put the stock in the fridge and let it congeal. This will make removing the fat easy, because it will float to the top and solidify, so you can just scrape it off at that point. Leave a little of the fat (1-2 tablespoons) because it will give the soup some body and flavor. Don't leave too much, as the soup will be greasy.
At this point, you can either eat the soup as is as a broth, or add vegetables, chicken--whatever you have on hand. This is a great way to clean out the fridge at the end of the week!
If you don't want to use the stock for a while, it freezes beautifully in an airtight container. Don't forget that stock can be used for more than just soup or stew--it's great as a liquid for rice or risotto or anywhere you need a little flavor boost!
