Roasting a chicken has to be like the hardest thing - ever. Remember when Ruhlman wrote about how insanely difficult it is to roast a chicken a while back?? It's Twitter crashing stuff, man. Imagine if people actually started to make stock...at home! Forget that crap movie 2012, it's gonna be 2010!!!
Of course, I'm being sarcastic (you did catch on right?) and roasting a chicken really isn't that hard and there's also this misconception that making stock is a labor intensive and difficult process. While it does take a little time, making stock is anything but difficult. If you can make Sandra Lee cakes (aka box cake mix) - you can make stock.
So why make stock in the first place? I mean they sell it at the grocery store in boxes and cans right? It's true, you can just buy stock at the grocery store but compared to homemade stock, it's more expensive and it doesn't taste as good.
I don't know if this counts as "true" stock because I used the remaining carcass of an already roasted chicken. And no, I'm not going to make up a ridiculous name like "brock" combining broth and stock. This is just another way of being resourceful and squeezing out as much as you can from your ingredients. Everyone's having a tough time right now because of the economy so saving a few bucks here and there is always a good thing.
Easy Chicken "Stock"
Original, Makes 8+ Cups
- 1 carcass of already roasted chicken, bones from wings, thighs and legs
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 2 medium carrots, rough chop
- 2 stalks of celery, rough chop
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed, skin on
- 1 sprig of parsley
- few sprigs of thyme
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, lightly crushed
1) Add everything together in a large stock pot. Fill with enough cold water to cover everything. Bring up to a boil over high heat
2) Once it's at a boil, reduce the heat down to a simmer and go do other important stuff for 45 minutes to an hour. Skim off the foam and impurities that rise to the top with a ladle every once in awhile.
3) After cooking, pass the stock through a fine sieve. Discard all the vegetables and the chicken bones. You're done with those suckers.
4) Now, line the sieve with a cheesecloth... or a coffee filter (I had to improvise okay??) and pass the stock through the lined sieve one more time.
5) Pour into containers and use within 5 days or freeze up to 6 months.
4 comments:
Roast chicken is the best thing ever, and so is homemade chicken stock. I make it all the time!
Oh wow! Fancy!! I don't care if you say it's easy, it looks pretty hard to me. :P But I am sure it tastes SO MUCH better than the store bought ones.
I am a huge fan of using up bits that normally get thrown away. Love the idea of using the roasted chicken carcass for stock! My dad used to do this with the Thanksgiving carcass to make a crazy leftover turkey soup back in the day!
ps: Thanks for your comment on my blog....T is recovering nicely and i'm so glad to have time to read my favorite food blogs again!
I'm beginning to like this blog. Maybe I'll actually add it to my late-night reading from now on ;)
P.S. In the 45-60 min that you've wasted, I mean, spent on step number 2 alone, I would have already finished a meal at PF Chang's. And no chopping, quartering, crushing, boiling, sieving twice, and cleaning up necessary.
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