Chicken Stock
Readers have been patient as we spent the last month finalizing the next stage in our move to California. In honor of the lessons of a home move -- relearning the basics while consolidating the past -- as well as of spring awakening, I am pleased to offer the first fresh instruction content for Urban Home Blog since Candlemas and one of the most important basic lessons of home cooking: how to make chicken stock.
Stocks are one of the first cooking lessons for culinary students from chefs to those being taught by their grandmother. This is because a stock is a basic kitchen necessity. Stock is easy to make, but so much learning about cooking can be built upon the fundamental lesson of making the stock just as surely as the recipes are built with the stock itself.
A stock is a solution of water and flavor agents, long-simmered to extract all of the flavors of the ingredients. In western kitchens, flavor agents for stocks include beef or veal, lamb, chicken or turkey, fish or shellfish, and vegetables. Asian kitchens have their own stocks; some long-simmering like master stock, and some quick, like dashi. Once made, the flavor agents are removed and the stock that remains is refrigerated or frozen for usage during everyday cooking.
It’s worth noting that broth is stock re-appointed with flavorings and served as a thin soup; the chicken stock in your matzoh ball soup became broth when it was ladled into the bowl. Bouillon and consommé are specific preparations of stocks served warm and lightly seasoned; the au jus on your roast beef may very well be a consommé. It’s also worth noting that the bouillon cubes and powders we all recognize from the supermarket shelves are not very good; they are most salt and chemicals. That said, for many recipes, store-bought canned stock is acceptable (be sure to get a low-sodium variety), but there are many dishes – especially soups and stews – for which there is no substitute for home-made stock.
Luckily, making stock is not difficult. It requires only a few ingredients, which you combine with water and simmer while you take care of other things in your home. Here is Urban Home Blog’s master recipe for chicken stock. This is a very flavorful stock, based on cooking time and good ingredients. Some add carrots or celery to their stock, but if you use good chicken pieces, that is really not necessary. The essence of stock is the distillation of the rich flavors of its ingredients, and whereas in a soup or stew you want to taste the vegetables, in a stock, you want to taste the chicken. This is a simple stock, and it is way richer for its simplicity.
Chicken Stock
Free-range organic chicken has become widely available in grocery stores; there is no substitute for it for both its flavor and for supporting humane husbandry. Be sure to get bone-in pieces, both white meat and dark.
1 pound bone-in chicken pieces, preferably organic/free-range
Stocks are one of the first cooking lessons for culinary students from chefs to those being taught by their grandmother. This is because a stock is a basic kitchen necessity. Stock is easy to make, but so much learning about cooking can be built upon the fundamental lesson of making the stock just as surely as the recipes are built with the stock itself.
A stock is a solution of water and flavor agents, long-simmered to extract all of the flavors of the ingredients. In western kitchens, flavor agents for stocks include beef or veal, lamb, chicken or turkey, fish or shellfish, and vegetables. Asian kitchens have their own stocks; some long-simmering like master stock, and some quick, like dashi. Once made, the flavor agents are removed and the stock that remains is refrigerated or frozen for usage during everyday cooking.
It’s worth noting that broth is stock re-appointed with flavorings and served as a thin soup; the chicken stock in your matzoh ball soup became broth when it was ladled into the bowl. Bouillon and consommé are specific preparations of stocks served warm and lightly seasoned; the au jus on your roast beef may very well be a consommé. It’s also worth noting that the bouillon cubes and powders we all recognize from the supermarket shelves are not very good; they are most salt and chemicals. That said, for many recipes, store-bought canned stock is acceptable (be sure to get a low-sodium variety), but there are many dishes – especially soups and stews – for which there is no substitute for home-made stock.
Luckily, making stock is not difficult. It requires only a few ingredients, which you combine with water and simmer while you take care of other things in your home. Here is Urban Home Blog’s master recipe for chicken stock. This is a very flavorful stock, based on cooking time and good ingredients. Some add carrots or celery to their stock, but if you use good chicken pieces, that is really not necessary. The essence of stock is the distillation of the rich flavors of its ingredients, and whereas in a soup or stew you want to taste the vegetables, in a stock, you want to taste the chicken. This is a simple stock, and it is way richer for its simplicity.
Chicken Stock
Free-range organic chicken has become widely available in grocery stores; there is no substitute for it for both its flavor and for supporting humane husbandry. Be sure to get bone-in pieces, both white meat and dark.
1 pound bone-in chicken pieces, preferably organic/free-range
1 medium yellow onion
2 medium cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- Place a large stock pot or Dutch oven on the stove top.
- Peel the onion. Roughly chop the peeled onion and place the pieces in the pot.
- Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center. Place the garlic halves in the pot.
- Place the bay leaves and peppercorns in the pot.
- Arrange the chicken pieces across the aromatics.
- Fill the pot ¾ to the top with cold filtered water.
- Place the lid on the pot.
- Turn the burner heat to low. Simmer the stock until it is very fragrant, approximately 1-1/2 hours.
- After three hours, remove the lid. You should have a gently simmering liquid that is very fragrant. If fat or other solids are accumulating along the boil line, use a wire mesh skimmer to remove and discard the solids.
- Return the lid to the pot and simmer 1 – 1-1/2 hours further.
- After 1-1-/2 hours, position a mesh strainer over a large bowl.
- Turn off the heat and remove the lid from the pot. If fat or other solids are accumulating along the boil line, use a wire mesh skimmer to remove and discard the solids.
- Working carefully to avoid burns, gently pour the stock through the strainer into the bowl. Let the chicken pieces and other flavorings tumble into the strainer. Once it is empty, safely set the pot aside.
- Gently shake the strainer to extract as much of the liquid into the stock as you can. Safely set the strainer aside.
- Lightly cover the stock and let it cool.
- Once cool, ladle the stock into shockproof plastic storage containers or storage jars. Fit the lids to the containers, and refrigerate the stock. Use the stock as needed.
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