11.10.2008

Chicken stock

I am proud to report S and I made our first homemade batch of chicken stock tonight. OK, so I have to admit S did most of the work. It was totally unplanned, but the results were wonderful. It all started when I went to our organic food store to pick up some groceries for the week. They had a mega-sale on a whole natural chicken for $1.99/lb (usually $4.99/lb). I couldn't resist that deal, so I bought 2 chickens. I brought them home, and S skinned and chopped them up for me, leaving us with 2 carcasses and the giblets. He decided to throw them in a pot of water and attempt to make the stock. I quickly found a few recipe ideas on the internet, and we added a few ingredients. The results were beautiful!

Here is the recipe we concocted:

  • 1 Chicken carcass per 4 quarts water
  • Giblets, if desired (they will make the broth much stronger!)
  • Desired amounts of vegetables such as carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, etc.
  • Desired amounts of herbs such as parsley, bay leaves, etc.
  • 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper per 4 quarts
Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer soup for about 4 hours. Pour soup through a strainer, seperating broth from solids. I didn't have a wire strainer, so in order to get the smallest solids and herbs strained, we then re-strained the broth through a linen cloth. We were left with the bowl of broth you see above. We then put all the vegetables into a seperate container, picked the carcass clean, and added the meat to the veggies for a soup tomorrow. Store the excess accordingly, and enjoy!


This picture shows our yield of about 8 quarts of broth (divided into needed portions to either freeze or use tomorrow), and a bowl of chicken and veggies for soup. YUM!! As a side note, S quickly tired of munching on the cooked giblets, so I gave them to Will. Mind you, this is a dog who NEVER gets people food, and rarely gets any hand-fed treats. That dog was in absolute HEAVEN!!!

2 comments:

Kristen said...

Way to go! What a great deal on the chicken! Brandon and I ordered Sally Falon's book Nourishing Traditions last night. We can't wait to get it. I have found a local farm that gets dairy delivered every other week. I am still investigating some other options...hopefully something even closer. Currently, I'm baffled over what I'm learning about cornfed vs. grass fed beef! Agh.

Melonie said...

How cool is that? I've heard of people making chicken stock before, but never tried it. Looks good!