Chicken Stock

The Making of Chicken Stock

Even though we’re not quite in Winter yet, it certainly feels like it. This is one of my favourite times of the year for food – hearty dishes of stews, pies, roasts, and of course, soups. So finding myself with an afternoon to spare, I decided it was time to ditch the powdered version and make my own stock.

Stock is, at it’s simplest, flavoured liquid. It’s used as a base for soups and sauces and comes in several self-explanatory varieties – chicken, beef, fish, vegetable. The hardest thing about making stock is finding the time – the actual cooking part is very simple.

In addition to water, you’ll need three basic ingredients for stock:

1. Bones: in this case, chicken. To make white chicken stock, use raw bones and to make dark chicken stock, the bones can be roasted for an hour first. Unless you have a particular joy of skimming, make sure you cut off any fat first.
2. Mirepoix: classically 2 parts onions, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery (aka the aromatics). But you can go crazy and include other vegetables, such as leeks, parsnips (if you want to make a very clear, white stock), garlic, etc.
3. Herbs and spices: classically a bouquet garni of thyme, bay leaf and parsley. You can also throw in black peppercorns and other spices. If using a bay leaf, pull the stalk out or tear the leaves a little to release the flavour.

The first step is to cook the bones. Place them in a stockpot, cover with approximately double the amount of cold water and bring it to the boil. And yes, ‘cold’ water was intentional, as it will draw out impurities. The scum or fat will rise to the top and you can skim it off, replacing any lost liquid with cold water.

The next step is to add the mirepoix, herbs and spices. Wash, peel and chop the vegetables – you can throw in carrot ends and the other parts of vegetables you usually fling on the compost. And then, it’s just a waiting game. We’re talking 4-6 hours of simmering the stock uncovered – don’t let it boil, as I’m prone to do, or you’ll get a cloudy stock. And make sure you pop back now and then to skim and refill the water.

After that, skim (one more time!), strain and reduce the stock to the strength required. You can even get it down to a handy ice cube size – much more freezer-friendly!

Before I go off to make my soup, just one more comment… don’t add salt to the stock or it may become too salty. This is not just me being super-sensitive to salt (although I admit I am) – you’ll usually be reducing it to make a sauce or soup, so play it safe now and and add as much salt as you want later.