Taking Stock

Its the beginning of the year and I'm starting mine off with a winter cold....ugh!  So I decided since I was going to write about soups, I should tackle Chicken Noodle soup.  Which led me down the road to stock.

Well...the truth is I rarely make stock from scratch.  Yes it's true I usually buy Kitchen Basics or Swansons chicken broth.  So since this blog is supposed to help inspire me and push me to be a better cook, I guess starting with the basics of making chicken stock is a good idea.

Many moons ago I used to make my own stock but its been quite some time so I turned to the Cooks Illustrated experts to help guide me through this process.  And guess what, they really know what they are doing.

Lets get started.  Take a whole chicken and cut it up.  I took the chicken breast and thighs and roasted them in the oven, as I will use that for my Chicken Noodle soup and maybe even some chicken tacos (my daughter's favorite).  The rest of the chicken I chopped up (the back, wings legs, neck) so the bones are exposed and the bone marrow is free to escape into the broth.  At the same time boil 8cups of water. 

Then chop one onion, carrot, and celery.  Heat up a large pot and drizzle with olive oil.  Brown half of the chicken part and set aside on a plate, the brown the second half and set aside.

Sauté onions carrots and celery until onions are translucent.

Add chicken back to the pot lower the temperature cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.  

After 20 minutes the you should have wonderful chicken juices in your pot and now it's time to add you 8cups of boiling water, 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of rosemary, thyme,sage, salt.  Bring to a boil, lower the temperature, cover the pot and let simmer for another 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes you should have a beautiful chicken stock.  Run it through a fine mesh strainer and let cool in a container for about an hour and refrigerate over night.  At this point all the fat will come to the surface and make it easy to defat your stock.  

Save the fat, we are going to need it to make the chicken soup.  You can freeze some of the stock ( it should last 6months in the freezer).  I used to pour my stock into the ice molds and the keep them in baggies in the freezer and when I needed to add chicken broth to a stir fry or sauce it was easy to do.  I think I will use half in a chicken soup now and freeze the other half for later.

Next up Chicken noodle soup.

Recipe:

Basic Chicken Stock
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated "The Science of Good Cooking"

8 Cups of Boiling water
1 Whole chicken (Cut up) 
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery rib
1/2 tsp of salt
2 Bay leaves
2 sprigs of Rosemary
2 Sprigs of Thyme
2 Sprigs of Sage

Boil 8 Cups of water
Remove the chicken breast, and thighs and roast for Chicken Noodle Soup
Chop up the chicken so the bone is exposed and bone marrow is able to seep into the broth.
Chop 1 carrot and celery rib and onion

Brown 1/2 the chicken in a large pot for approx 7 minutes, set aside and brown the 2nd 1/2 of chicken for approximately 7 minutes and set aside.  Saute the onions and then add carrots and celery Saute for approx 5-7 minutes.
Add chicken back to the pot and lower the temperature cover the pot and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add boiling water and add salt, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and sage.
Bring to a boil then lower the temperature, cover the pot and let simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove chicken and herbs and run broth through a strainer.  Let cool and defat the broth.