How Do I Make A Great Chicken Stock

Freeze stock in muffin pans or ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop them out and store in a zip-top freezer bag. When making a sauce or soup, add some frozen stock to a hot pan and beat until melted. Also, the leftover carcases of whole roasted chickens or turkey can be used to make stock. Freeze them if you don't have time to make the stock right away.

Make stocks in a narrow deep stockpot to prevent excessive evaporation during cooking, and remember to start with cold water covering the ingredients.

Stock

The liquid that's the result of simmering meat, poultry, or fish, seafood, or vegetables with seasonings in water for several hours. Stock is a homemade broth, while broth is thought of as a canned, store-bought product. When refrigerated, stocks often gel. They can be used as a flavorful base for soups and sauces. A brown stock is made by browning bones and vegetables before their simmered. This gives your stock a richer flavor and color. Seafood, fish, or vegetable stock are excellent soup bases.

You can make a extra delicious chicken stock by adding cut up chicken to water along with diced green bell peppers, onions, and celery. Use ground sea salt instead of regular table salt for the best flavor.

Chicken Soup

If your making chicken stock any way why not make some delicious chicken soup. To your chicken stock add diced green bell peppers, celery and onions. You'll also want to add a couple of cups of cooked boneless chicken and a cup of diced carrots. You'll also want to add fresh minced garlic, ground sea salt, and black pepper for flavor. If your going to add noodles or pasta to your soup cook the noodles or pasta in a separate pot until done and then wash it well under hot running water before you add it to your chicken soup. You can serve homemade chicken soup with some saltine crackers and a toasted cheese sandwich for an excellent meal you and your family are guaranteed to love.

In order to prepare and cook the perfect chicken stock you must have high quality ingredients. Its the ingredients that make this chicken stock so great. I just love smelling it cooking. And once you know how to prepare a great stock you have the basic knowledge to prepare all kinds of great soups. You can make this chicken stock up in batches and freeze what you don't use to be used later. Just be sure to cool your stock and allow an inch or two in the container for it to expand as it freezes.

Once you ever taste a delicious homemade chicken stock you will never again want a stock that comes out of a can. Homemade chicken stock is so much better tasting than chicken stock from out of a can. Canned chicken stock is often filled with salt. I always use ground sea salt when ever possible because sea salt has a lot more nutrients than regular table salt.

For Your Chicken Stock You Will Need.

1. One Large Whole Chicken , preferably a hen if possible.

2. Two Gallons Of Water.

3. 4 Large Carrots Peeled and Diced Up Small.

4. 1 Cup Of Celery Diced Up Fine.

5. 1 Cup of Purple Sweet Onion Diced Up Fine.

6. 2 Tablespoons Fresh Minced Garlic.

7. 3-4 Sprigs of Fresh Parsley.

8. 2-3 Sprigs of Fresh Sage.

9. 3-4 Sprigs of Rosemary.

10. 2 Teaspoons Ground Sea Salt.

Cut your chicken up into pieces and then add all your ingredients to a large stock pot. Bring your pot up to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until the chicken is tender and done. As soon as the chicken is tender your stock is done. At this point you can remove the chicken from the stock pot and remove the chicken skin and chicken bones. Let your chicken meat cool before you put it into the refrigerator or into the freezer for later use.

Always use fresh herbs and spices when ever you can. You'll find the fresh herbs and spices will always produce a better tasting stock than those made with dried herbs or spices. At some point your going to want to strain your finished chicken stock to remove everything but the liquid. At this point you'll have a really rich delicious chicken stock that would be perfect for making chicken and dumplings.

Remove your chicken from the pot and place in a bowl and set aside to cool. Pour your stock remaining in the pot through a colander and discard the contents of the colander. Save your chicken stock to use in what ever recipe you wish.

You can let your chicken cool and when its cool enough remove it from the bones and discard the skin. Keep your chicken meat and freeze it for a later use. You can also save and freeze any left over chicken stock for a later use. And you have just made one of the tastiest chicken stocks you will ever taste.

Spray The Inside Of Your Stock Pot With Vegetable Coating Spray.

If you'll always spray the inside of your pots with a good quality vegetable cooking spray you'll find that your pots won't stick and the clean up will be a lot easier. You should also spray your cooking spoons and cutting boards to make them easier to clean up also. Never use wooden cutting boards for cutting up or working with chicken because wooden cutting boards can crack and bacteria grows and reproduces in cracks. So use glass or plastic cutting boards for your chicken.

Caution About Raw Chicken

Always think food safety when your making anything with chicken or working with raw chicken. Use a bleach solution made up of 5 cups of water mixed with one cup of bleach. Use this bleach solution to clean up any surface that raw chicken touches. Don't forget knives, trays, plates etc. Any thing touched by the raw chicken should be cleaned with the bleach solution. You can't see bacteria so it's important to make sure everything is cleaned up super clean anytime you work with chicken.

You can use a chicken or turkey carcass to make a delicious and rich chicken stock with. I usually take the chicken or turkey carcass and put it into a large stock pot. To that pot I add.

1. One Large Sweet Onion Cut Into Slices.

2. One Cup Real Butter.

3. Three Carrots Peeled And Chopped.

4. One Teaspoon Ground Sea Salt.

5. One Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper.

I bring the pot to a boil for at least fifteen minutes and then I reduce the heat to a low simmer. I let it cook on a low simmer for an hour and then I cool it to room temperature while covered. Once the stock is cool I pour it through a colander and put it into a container or large bowl with a lid. I put it into the refrigerator overnight and the next day I scoop and skim all the fat off and discard. What I am left with is a rich delicious stock that can be used for almost anything. It can be stored tightly covered in the freezer for up to six months. This stock makes a wonderful base or starter for homemade chicken noodle soup or homemade chicken and dumplings.

Make Your Own Chicken Stock For The Best Results.

One really good thing about making your own chicken stock is you can control the amount of salt going into your chicken stock. All to often store bought chicken stock is often very salty. And if you buy low sodium chicken stock you don't get as much flavor. So you really should consider making your own chicken stock.

Making Poultry Stock

A good homemade stock is invaluable in the kitchen. Some Chefs say you should not add salt to your poultry stock but I do but I use the ground sea salt instead of the regular old table salt. Sea Salt is filled with nutrients and is so much better for you than regular old table salt.

1. Three Pounds Chicken Backs And Necks.

2. Two Onions Peeled And Quartered. , Use Sweet onions.

3. Four Quarts Cold Water.

4. Four Carrots Peeled And Chopped.

5. A Handful Of Fresh Chopped Parsley.

6. One Teaspoon Dried Thyme.

7. Two Bay Leaves.

8. One Teaspoon Ground Sea Salt.

9. One Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper.

Here's How To Put Your Stock Together

1. Combine your poultry and onions in a stock pot with a little vegetable oil. Cook stirring occasionally until the poultry and onions are browned but not burned. You'll have to stand there with your pot. You can't walk off.

2. Add the water and stir well to make sure the sediments at the bottom get stirred up into the stock.Bring to a boil and skim off any impurities that come to the top.

3. Now add the remaining ingredients. Cover the pot and barely simmer the stock for about three hours.

4. Strain the stock into a large bowl that has a lid and then place in the refrigerator over night. When its cold remove the layer of fat that will be on top and discard. Also remove and discard your bay leaves.

When I first worked as a Chef many years ago in Key West a wonderful Greek Lady I worked for taught me all kinds of things about making stock. You can take the stock you just made and use it to make all kinds of things with. I like to use a run of this stock to make chicken and dumplings with and they are oh so wonderful.

Fresh vegetables add a lot of flavor to your chicken stock. I like to freeze chicken stock in ice cube trays and then I dump the chicken stock ice cubes out into a large zip lock bag and put them into the freezer as soon as possible. You can take out as many chicken stock ice cubes as you want.

I almost always use a whole fryer or whole hen to make my chicken stock with. Once the stock is made you can discard the skin and bones and freeze the meat for later use. You can use the chicken meat later on to make a delicious chicken chili or chicken taco's. There's all kinds of things you can make out of chicken meat. And if you have it already cooked you can get a meal ready much faster.

I like to take my homemade chicken stock and add pureed chicken and white sauce to it to make my own homemade cream of chicken soup. You can eat the homemade cream of chicken soup with crackers or you can use the homemade delicious cream of chicken soup in other dishes your cooking.

I think if you try using ground sea salt in your stocks you'll find that you'll have to use less salt in making your stock and the flavor will be far better than regular table salt. Always start off with cold water not hot when your making things like chicken stock, soups, or stews.

Caution

Always let any soup, stock, or stews cool to room temperature before you put into containers to go in the refrigerator or freezer. Always leave a inch or two of room at the top of any containers you fill especially those going in the freezer.

Remember never to put hot soup or stock in the freezer or refrigerator. Let it cool completely before you put it away.