Easy Chicken Stock
Liquid gold from which so many dishes are born from & so easy to make
Ingredients
- 2-3 Chicken Carcasses Raw or Cooked
- 2 Carrots
- 1 Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- Bunch Fresh Thyme
- 7-10 Whole Black Peppercorns
- 1-2 Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Peel Carrots and chop either lengthways or just in half worksQuarter the Onion – no need to peel but feel free if you so desireLightly squash the cloves of garlic so they are still holding together but there are gaps for the flavour to seep out.
- Using kitchen scissors, chop the chicken carcasses into chunks. (I tend to take off breast bone and halve what’s left)Put the Chicken into your largest pan along with the rest of the ingredients and cover with cold water.
- Pop on a lid and bring it up to a simmer. You don’t want this to be a rapid boil. The simmering will bring any scum to the top.
- Using a ladle or large metal spoon skim off any scum that rises – this usually happens in the first half an hour. (Occasionally I will skip this step and if I’m honest the stock has been fine)
- Simmer the stock for the first two hours with the lid on.Remove the lid and simmer for a further two hours.
- Using a slotted spoon remove the big ingredients and discard the 4 hours of simmering have cooked out any nutrients they had.Strain the stock, either through a fine sieve or through a sieve lined with kitchen roll or muslin.
- You can either skim the fat off now with a metal spoon or leave to chill and it develops a ‘fat cap’. You can then remove this if you wish or leave it and remove before use.
Notes
FAT CAP – I find that the ‘fat cap’ is really useful. It seals the stock in an airtight environment, this keeps it fresher for longer as bacteria needs air to grow.
FREEZING – If I want to freeze my stock I generally freeze it in portions. I pour from a measuring jug into a freezer bag. Tie it up and freeze.