Foodmomiac's Guide to Chicken Stock

I got this email yesterday from my old friend Kate:

Hi Danielle,

I've got a chicken carcass in my freezer waiting to be made into stock.  And I want to use some of that stock to make chicken soup.  Trouble is I've never done either.  I figure you can do this in your sleep - got any great resources to guide me through the process?  I figure I will get a rotisserie chicken for the dinner tomorrow and use the left over meat for the soup, giving me a second carcass for the stock so I can make a good amount of it and stash some away in the freezer.  If you have any words of advice I'd appreciate it!

-kate

So... I don't really have a set recipe I follow. I kind of just do my thing and it usually works out. I take the carcass(es) and put them in a giant soup pot. Then, I cover them with filtered water. I add a couple of onions cut in quarters, some carrots, some celery (including leaves is GREAT), and some parsnips (this is optional, but makes the resulting stock taste like soup from a Jewish deli). I put the heat on medium, bring it up to a low simmer, turn down the heat to low, and let it all cook for a while. If the water gets low, you can add more. If there is scum on the surface, you can skim it.

When the stock seems "stock-y," I strain it, reserving all of the chunks in a colander. I then start sorting. I discard the onion and celery as they are tapped out, but I slice the carrots and parsnips into coins to be used in my soup. I also take on the ultra messy job of sorting through the carcasses. I pull off all of the good meat and shred it up into bite size pieces. This is also for the soup.

We actually prefer more of a stew with our stock, so I add back in the carrots, parsnips and chicken and then make spaetzle dumplings right into the pot. If this is too fancy for you, you can just dump in some egg noodles (or better yet, get the Hungarian dumplings from a gourmet market). The more noodles you add, the stew-ier the soup with be. You can also not add ANYTHING back into the stock and just use it for cooking.

Hope this helps!

Comments

[leena!]

Good post, especially for this time of year. It is freezing in Chicago!

When I make stock, I like to roast the bones in the oven (or better yet, use the carcass of a roasted chicken!)for a richer stock, and I've found that including onion peels also does magic.

Curious how you store your stock? Always looking for better methods, but I currently freeze mine in 2 cup increments laying down in the freezer, so I can stack them on top of each other.

[foodmomiac]

I usually store mine in those disposable tupperware containers in the freezer, jumbled in wherever I can find space, LOL. Oh, and I should have mentioned that I do always use pre-roasted chicken - much better flavor!!
Onion peels is also very smart. Terrific color.

[Lauren]

Good timing... I have a roasted chicken in the fridge that I intended to attack last night but had dinner at a friend's instead. I'll carve it up this weekend.

[mommyknows]

I love the onion peel tip! I hate that my stock always looks kind of pale and gray.

Have a great weekend.

[kakaty]

Thanks!! Both my chickens are of the roasted variety so I've got that going for me. I'll let you know how it goes this weekend!

[Mir]

I'm with leena! -- I used to use your method, Danielle, until I discovered roasting in the oven all day, and now I'll never go back. Particularly as I now do a fair bit of veggie stock for the vegetarian, and I find roasting vs. boiling is no contest when there's no meat involved. ;)

[ToKissTheCook]

When the stock seems "stock-y." Signature DW. I mean true enough but how can you tell the difference between stocky and just fat at the point? Are you making politically correct soup or stock-y what you have once you've skimmed the fat off the top? And then broth. Broth is watered down stock?

[Tracy Reinhardt]

You know, I sort of just happened up on you - so hi, first. Second - I pretty much do the same thing but I was reading it and thinking...wow, I've said the same thing to people who asked and boy would that sound complicated to someone who's never done it.

Funny thing, it's really not. It's more steps than opening a can - but definitely worth the trouble. And really not 'hard' ...as in hard like complex. And it's kind of meditative and soothing, in the doing. And in the eating, too!

Does that make sense?

Tracy (who is definitely a parsnips gal)

[kyooty]

barley is another tasty think to put in your soup vs the noodles.

[Randi]

Kosher chicken makes the best stock!! I always use a parsnip too( and parsley and dill).

[kakaty]

Here is my result! Thanks for the tips
http://www.kakakakaty.com/2009/10/20/just-like-ma-ingalls/

[Rebecca_C]

You inspired me yesterday. I'd actually never made stock before...mainly because of time, space and laziness issues. But the last time we made chicken I had the forethought to freese the leftovers and yesterday I had a day off and finally the time to make stock. Hooray for stock! Following your instructions, I dumped in the carcass and added celery, one onion and some parsley. Salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. Lots of water and time. Awesomeness.

Also, I wanted to freeze some of it, so I ladled into muffin tins and froze them. This morning, dumped the stock "muffins" into a freezer bag. Individual soup anyone?