I know that this is coming a couple of days late, but I decided to take the weekend off (something that I will probably always do for this site….so don’t expect posts on the weekends unless it’s a special occasion!).  Today was Chicken Stock day and it is about 4 hours after I put that liquid gold into conainers and my house still smells like heaven.

Now listen, there isn’t a single good excuse out there for not making your own chicken stock.  All you do is throw some stuff in a pot and cook it for a few hours.  Then you portion the liquid into freezer-safe containers and VOILA!  You have the best soup base/rice water/num num out there.  I’ve been making my own Chicken Stock for years now and I will tell you in all honesty that there’s really nothing to it.

What’s the difference between “stock” and “broth” you might wonder.  Well, broth is a lightly flavored liquid made from the meat of an animal.  Stock is a much heartier liquid made from the bones and cartilage of an animal.  By cooking the bones for so long, you extract the collagen and get a thick and almost gelatin-like liquid that is nutrient-rich and fantastic.  Skip the broth and go for the stock….even for Chicken Noodle Soup.  If you’re sick, stock will cure what ails you.

This is my stock pot.  It is ridiculously enormous and I love it.  I do Crab Boils for friends with this pot and I make about 5-6 gallons of stock with my 20lb. Thanksgiving turkey with this pot.  You don’t need a giant pot like this to make stock.  A Dutch oven will do just fine.  I just like to make a LOT of stock since I use it so much.

The first step of making chicken stock is to put your chicken carcass in the pot.  If there’s meat and skin leftover, that’s ok.  It only adds to the stock.  If you can, try to keep the wings on the bird as they contain a lot of connective tissue.

You must add extra nutrients to your stock to give it flavor, color, and nutritional value.  I like to add celery, carrots, garlic, and onion.  In this case (for a 6 lb. chicken picked over) I used about 7 small stalks of celerey, 6 carrots, 1 bulb of garlic cut in half horizontally (no need to peel it) and one onion cut into quarters (don’t peel that either).  Throw those guys in the pot with the chicken.  Now add 2 Tblsp. of salt, 1 Tblsp. of ground black pepper or black peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 1 Tblsp. dried parsley or 1 bunch of fresh parsley, and 1 Tblsp. dried dill or 1 bunch fresh dill.  Please make sure that you add enough salt to this.  If you don’t, it can have a tendency to taste like stagnant mud puddle water…and that’s icky.

Now cover everything with water (I used about 3 gallons) and bring to a boil.  When the liquid is boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 4-6 hours.  When cooking is done, turn the heat off and allow the liquid to cool in the pot for about an hour.

Get yourself a big slotted spoon and fish out the big chunks of debris from the stock.  Then put a fine mesh strainer over your freezer-safe containers and run the liquid through that into the containers to ensure that only the liquid gets frozen.

There might be a little bit of fear of bacteria invading this warm, nutrient-rich liquid (especially if you watch Good Eats with Alton Brown) but please don’t worry about that.  Just always make sure that you bring this liquid to a full boil and boil for at least 2 minutes before consuming…and you were probably going to do that anyway.  At least I do…

I made about 2 gallons of stock tonight and I will use every last drop of it.  I love this stuff and my kitchen simply wouldn’t function without it.  Again, you have no excuse for not making this stuff homemade.  We all have lazy days when we stay home and watch movies or read books and this chore will not interfere with that.  Try it, I know you’ll love it.