Description
Basic recipe for chicken stock.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place bones in an appropriately sized, heavy-bottomed stockpot. For roasted or brown chicken stock, rub bones with canola oil and roast at 450ºF/230ºC for 1 hour, or until a dark, golden brown.
- Add onions, carrot, & celery.
- Fill the stockpot with enough cold water to cover the bones by 2-3”.
- Add pepper corns, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and cloves.
- Heat stock on medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
- Once the stock begins to simmer, reduce heat to low/med-low to maintain a slow simmer. Do not allow stock to boil or it will become cloudy and emulsify the remaining fat from the bones.
- Simmer for 4-6 hours, skimming with a ladle as necessary.
- After the stock is finished, pour through a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Discard bones, mirepoix, and sachet leaving you with only the pure chicken stock.
- If you do not plan to use the chicken stock immediately, pour back into the stockpot and place in an ice bath to cool rapidly. Store in fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Using cold water to start your stock will form larger protein aggregates, which will later stick to the edge of the pot or float to the top which you will later skim. If a stock is started with hot water, the proteins will coagulate faster, making smaller protein particles, causing your stock to be cloudy. If the appearance of your stock isn't an issue and you're in a rush, you can use hot water to start, although I wouldn't recommend it.
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There are 18 Comments
The only advantage is purely
The only advantage is purely visual. Starting your stock with hot water can make it cloudy but it won't affect the flavor.
I don't really think so. When
I don't really think so. When we do chicken stock in the kitchen, we always do such massive amounts that it usually takes 25-40 minutes for it to boil in the first place. Honestly though, I think bringing the stock to a simmer over a 15 minute period will coagulate the protein aggregates into large enough clusters to keep you stock from going cloudy. I've never done side by side test though so i can't be sure.
Beyond bones....
Have you tried adding chicken feet to your stock pot? I know that when my sous chef at work makes Pozole it tastes much better than then without. They have a lot of collagen to my understanding.
Yes, I'm a huge fan of
Yes, I'm a huge fan of chicken feet in stock. They add a great flavor and the collagen gives the stock an excellent body. They're sometimes not the easiest thing to come across though unless you live by a huge Asian market or your purveyors sell to a lot of Asian restaurants.
Thanks
I appreciate your input Jacob. The place I'm working is undergoing a big change and I am being promoted to Saucier. I'm very much not qualified to do this but I'm the only one that has a snowballs chance to do this. So I am doing my "book learning" now before I am tossed into the fire in a couple months. If you don't mind I will be picking your(and anyone else that decides to chime in) brain a lot in the next few months.
Hey Randy, Yes, chicken
Hey Randy,
Yes, chicken backs are awesome for stock, and is what we use at the restaurant.
The bone weight of a chicken is usually about 40%, so once you know how big your chicken is, you can figure out about how much bone you'll have by multiplying the weight by 0.4 (40%)
Chicken stock freezes well. You can either put it in freezer bags, or reduce it down and put it in ice cube trays. Once the cubes freeze, pop them out, and place in a zip-top bag, back in the freezer. This is especially helpful if you plan on making pan sauces. Add a couple of reduced chicken cubes to the pan, reduce slightly, season, and you're good to go.
Welcome to Stella Culinary, and please let me know if you have any more questions.
Right on, Randy. Glad your
Right on, Randy. Glad your chicken stock came out good.
Right on. Let me know how the
Right on. Let me know how the chicken thighs turn out, and don't forget to review the sauces and soup page. You can do some really nice reduction sauces with home made, roasted chicken stock: http://stellaculinary.com/sns
The road to being a great
The road to being a great cook is paved with failures. I still fail all the time; it's a natural part of the R&D process for new dishes and recipes. But you always learn a lot from your failures in the kitchen, so they should always be embraced.
I too am a massive fan of mushrooms; the really are like little flavor sponges than can add lots of depth to a dish.
Hey Randy, That's great to
Hey Randy,
That's great to hear. I always love when people take the fundamental building blocks taught on Stella Culinary and make them their own. After all, that's what Stella Culinary is all about; learning the hows and whys behind food so you can use other people's recipes for inspiration or a jumping off point, not a limiting crutch.