Sorry if you were expecting another art shot. I chose this brightly coloured pottery bowl to illustrate how clear chicken stock should be, not tantalize you with a new soup.
I have a confession. Until recently, I didn’t understand the fuss about homemade stock. No wonder. I’d been doing it all wrong. I would dump chicken bones in a pot with veggies, bring the whole mess to a boil and forget about it for a few hours. The resulting stock looked murky and tasted uninspired.
After a bit of research and taste testing, I realized properly made chicken stock can be a dish all on its own. Really. I had a bowl last night, hoping to ward off what feels like a very determined cold. The clear, hot broth was surprisingly flavourful and soothing. Although my nose is still a bit congested, my mouth is convinced that homemade is the way to go.
While I’ll still use commercial low-sodium stock for highly spiced or creamed soups, homemade stock will be the only base for my clear soups from now on.
This is also the ideal multi-tasking dish. If you’re going to be home for a few hours make a big batch while you go about your business. Just be sure to check it every so often to skim off any residue that rises to the top and ensure it’s not boiling. In a few hours, your house will smell wonderful and you’ll have a batch of delicious, inexpensive and potentially cold-curing broth.
No real recipe is required if you follow these basic steps:
Perfect Chicken Stock
Printable “recipe”
- Use only fresh chicken bones (or freshly frozen)
- Cover the bones with cold water
- Do not boil, only bring it to a gentle simmer and leave uncovered
- Skim the stock occasionally, making sure you don’t disturb the liquid too much
- Add chopped veggies after a half hour to an hour
- Don’t rush the process, simmer 3 to 4 hours for maximum flavour
- Add the herbs in the last half hour (parsley, bay leaf, thyme, whole pepper corns are classic)
- When done, strain thoroughly (if you don’t have cheesecloth, strain through coffee filters, you’ll be shocked at the residue that’s left behind)
- Skim off fat (easier if you chill in the fridge so it solidifies)
Not sure how much to use? You won’t have to worry about accurate measurements if you follow these guidelines:
- Fill the pot 2/3 with chicken bones and cover with 1 inch water.
- Use 3 parts chicken to 1 part mirepoix (fancy French term for a mix of chopped onions, carrots and celery.
- The classic mirepoix ratio is 2 parts onion to 1 part carrots and 1 part celery.
- Salt is usually 1 tsp for every quart (or 4 litres) of water.
Now that I have a lovely clear, homemade broth, I’ll go make the soup I’d intended to share with you in the first place.
Thanks for the tips. I made chicken stock for the first time a few weeks ago, but I boiled it and added the veggies early.
Do you know why the vegetables are added later?
Thanks for the tips. I made chicken stock for the first time a few weeks ago, but I boiled it and added the veggies early.
Do you know why the vegetables are added later?
Tom, boiling the stock won’t kill you. It just won’t return the best possible results.
Why hold off on the veggies? Adding them a bit later (once the stock has become clear again) gives the water a chance to soften the gelatin and proteins from the bones and cartilage and release any impurities. Of course, this assumes you’ve skimmed the surface clean. No point in holding off on the mirepoix otherwise.
I know some recipes call for sauteing the veggies first and adding bones and water later, but it’s so much easier to get clear stock when you aren’t skimming around chunks of vegetables.
Hope this helps and happy soup making.
One more question, then: why is clear important? Do notice a flavor / mouth feel difference or simply for looks? Thanks!
Hmm…I thought I left a comment earlier but I guess I just meant to leave one…I could be losing it!
Anyhow, glad you are making and enjoying your own stock. It really is a great way to save money and to make your food tastier.
Dana, apparently Blogger was having issues today and not all comments went through. It’s not you!
Tom, ask away! While clarity is pretty, a clear stock also indicates you removed all the fat and impurities. If you let the stock boil, these get emulsified into the stock and can’t be removed. An emulsified stock will not just be cloudy, but also greasy. With the impurities incorporated into the stock, it won’t taste quite as good.
I wouldn’t worry about this too much if you’re making a very flavourful soup, but if you’re going to use it in something like a chicken noodle soup, you want the best broth possible.
What an excellent reminder for me to check my stock of chix stock I keep on hand in the freezer. Depleted! Now I know what I’ll be doing this weekend…
My mother would always make a large pot of stock as soon as anyone had the sniffles and it was a miraculous cure for the cold in our home. No wonder they call it “Jewish Penicillin!”
http://www.jewishpenicillin.com/
Simmering, not boiling is the key and it was only a few years ago that I learned another little trick from an elderly Italian lady who made the best “brodo” imaginable. I couldn’t understand why my broth didn’t turn out as well as hers – I was following her method. One day while visiting her house she had the pot simmering, the aroma was divine. I thought I was helping her and went to “STIR” the broth and she literally screamed at me “NOoooo, you don’t stir it! that makes it milky!”
Lesson I learned: Don’t STIR the brodo, let it simmer!
Oh sure..AFTER I’ve made the turkey soup…Oh well, I have another bag of bones in the freezer. I’ll have to try this. I always made the broth and then put it in the fridge overnight and skimmed the fat that way once it had solidified. I’ll have to try your way, since even my kid will eat homemade soup.
does this work for beef broth too?
Francesca, great story. Yes, no stirring is another point. You want to disturb the stock as little as possible.
Dive Lisa, the straining removes residue, not fat. You should be skimming the fat along with the impurities, so there won’t be a lot left, but there will be some. You can chill the stock and remove the remaining fat as normal. I should have put that down.
This stock will work with beef bones, although you might want to make a dark stock for added flavour with beef. This requires you caramelize the meat and vegetables by baking them first. The rest of the technique is the virtually the same.
Huh- I’ve always used the dump it all in the pot method. I need to try this one out!
I don’t know on how I stumbled upon this cooking blog., All I know is that I’d better check out the archives for a good read. Ha-ha! Just droppin’ to say hi!
Oh. You might want to check this out: http://www.technocooks.com for uhm…a different “menu.”
i could try this at home. clear chicken stock thru slow simmering FOR HOURS…whew sounds like slave labor(ok im exagerrating)