Chris had roasted a chicken a few days ago and I asked him not to throw away the carcass when he was done carving it. I had noticed that the crisper drawer had claimed yet another bunch of celery and we had carrots that were not at all for fresh snacking (imagine sawdust with a vague hint of carrot flavor).
All I needed was an onion and I had the base recipe for chicken broth. I cut the veggies into large pieces, added them to the chicken in a large pot and filled it almost to the rim with cold water. Some fresh ground pepper was added for a little spice but I wanted to keep it pretty basic so it could be used for everything.
I turned the burner on high and waited for all the cold ingredients to come to a boil. Once it reached a boil I turned it down to low/medium to cook at a low simmer with the lid tilted enough to let out steam.
Every so often for the first hour, it needed to have the foam that would form skimmed off of the surface. Then it was time to wait. And wait. Checking now and then to add more water if needed.
Five hours later the house smelled amazing and the stock had a rich amber color.
The bones had become soft enough to break and I broke most of them in half to help release the marrow. I let it gently simmer for another hour just to make sure all of the gelatinous goodness inside would make it into the liquid gold.
After straining out the vegetables and bones I was finally rewarded with just a little over 3 1/2 quarts of wholesome homemade chicken stock.
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| The reward! |
I'm excited to try it out! Now to make some soup...
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