Chicken Stock

An easy way to make a pot of delicious chicken stock to use in all recipes. The true way of making good chicken stock calls for a whole, uncooked chicken to be used. This method, whilst not wasteful as you can still eat the chicken, is not particularly practical for many people. The recipe below uses cooked left overs which can still make a fine stock if treated correctly. You can easily freeze left over chicken bones as you eat them until you have enough to make a pot of stock. One word of warning - no matter which bit of the chicken you use, the quality of your stock will only be as good as the quality of your chicken. Buy the best you can. Cheap supermarket chicken rarely yields good flavoursome stock.

Cooking Time

: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass, bones, left over meat, giblets - what ever you've got.
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot left unpeeled, and cut into chunks
2 celery sticks, including leaves
Any other bits of raw vegetable leftovers, eg. broccoli stalks cut into chunks
salt and pepper for seasoning

Herbs & Spices

2 Bay Leaves or 1 tsp Bay Leaves Chopped
1 tsp Celery Leaf

Cooking Instructions

Put all the ingredients in a big pot. Cover the chicken with water and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer covered for at least 30 - 40 minutes, preferably for 1 hour.

Allow to cool in the pan then strain the stock to remove all the bits. Once strained, it is worth picking over a chicken carcass for bits of meat that could be salvaged and used in another dish. The flesh should come a way easily.

Season stock with salt and pepper to taste. The finished stock can be frozen until needed.