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Chicken Stock
I've heard that you can make chicken stock, or any kind of stock, by simmering bones and leftovers with various vegetables, and then straining it to remove the solids so that you end up with awesome stock.
So today, I decided to give it a try.
I had one rotisserie chicken from which most (but not all) of the meat had been removed and devoured. So with what was left, I decided I could make chicken stock.
I started by putting the leftover chicken carcass in a really really deep pot with cold water. I've read that starting with cold water is key. Then I turned on the heat. While things were starting to warm up, I roughly chopped an onion, three carrots, and a bunch of celery. Added that all into the water covering the chicken carcass, and started to think about what else I could add. I decided that a little bit of dried thyme would be good, but only a little bit. And about ten minutes later, I added a little bit of kosher salt and some crushed garlic.
Ten minutes later, my whole apartment is starting to smell very yummy, like the best kind of chicken soup in the world.
I turned down the heat, so that things would be at a low-simmer. And I gave up trying to spoon off the bits of foam that formed. All the recipes I've read instruct you to spoon off the foam. But every time I tried to spoon off the foam, I would get all kinds of onion and celery pieces in my spoon, and I didn't want to waste those vegetables, so I gave up. I figure all will turn out well in the end, when I strain all the solids and reserve the stock.
I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm planning to make tamales tomorrow, and that recipe calls for some chicken stock. If I can use home-made chicken stock for the tamales, so much the better.
So today, I decided to give it a try.
I had one rotisserie chicken from which most (but not all) of the meat had been removed and devoured. So with what was left, I decided I could make chicken stock.
I started by putting the leftover chicken carcass in a really really deep pot with cold water. I've read that starting with cold water is key. Then I turned on the heat. While things were starting to warm up, I roughly chopped an onion, three carrots, and a bunch of celery. Added that all into the water covering the chicken carcass, and started to think about what else I could add. I decided that a little bit of dried thyme would be good, but only a little bit. And about ten minutes later, I added a little bit of kosher salt and some crushed garlic.
Ten minutes later, my whole apartment is starting to smell very yummy, like the best kind of chicken soup in the world.
I turned down the heat, so that things would be at a low-simmer. And I gave up trying to spoon off the bits of foam that formed. All the recipes I've read instruct you to spoon off the foam. But every time I tried to spoon off the foam, I would get all kinds of onion and celery pieces in my spoon, and I didn't want to waste those vegetables, so I gave up. I figure all will turn out well in the end, when I strain all the solids and reserve the stock.
I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm planning to make tamales tomorrow, and that recipe calls for some chicken stock. If I can use home-made chicken stock for the tamales, so much the better.
1. Don't bother chopping the veggies. Just split the onion, and maybe halve the celery and carrot lengthwise so they'll fit neatly. Other than that, leave 'em alone.
2. Break your carcass (the chicken, I mean) into a few chunks. They tend to float, and you don't want most of the chicken hanging out above the water.
3. Don't cover the material with more than an inch of water, if that, or you'll get weak stock.
4. Don't add salt. This is important, and I don't care who swears up and down you must add salt. Don't add salt. You can always add salt when you use the stock, but if you salt it now you can't reduce it.
5. Bring up to the boil very, very slowly -- the pot should take about 45 minutes to come up. If you go very slow like this, you will get less scum and foam.
6. Simmer so slowly that you have to look with some care to see any bubbles.
7. Skimming is most important at the beginning, as it comes up to temp, because the gray scum is bitter. After that, it doesn't matter all that much. Just do it every half hour or so, gently, to remove excess fat.
8. Cooling is extremely important. Strain coarse and then fine, and then leave the stock UNCOVERED to cool to room temp, then refrigerate covered. If your kitchen is hot and/or you made a gallon or more of stock, put the bowl or pot in which it's cooling into a bigger bowl or pot full of ice. Faster yet, add a double ziploc bag that you previously filled with water and froze solid.
When the stock is all done, strained, clear, and everything, taste it: take a small sip into a glass, sprinkle with salt, swirl to dissolve, and taste. Tasting without the salt, it will always seem oddly thin and lacking.
Good for you, experimenting in the kitchen!