If you INVERT a stainless steel folding steamer basket over the bones/aromatics they will stay contained and submerged thus allowing unimpeaded skimming; free of floating bones/aromatics. The holes in the basket will allow the passing of the unwanted effulum (scum)to the surface for removal.

A classic technique is to make a tomato paste/liquid (of your choice) slurry which is basted over the bones and aromatics in the last stage of the baking/browning process AFTER the browning/sucs have developed. During this last 10-15 minute stage you should reduce the oven temperature slightly to prevent burning.

My grocery store did not have chicken backs so I used necks and wings for my "bones". I used my roasting pan and as the bones cooked they released a lot of moisture and fat. It seems that they were boiling in this liquid after 45 minutes or so and were not browning. So, I removed the pan and drained off the liquid. After putting the pan back in the oven, the bones began to brown and carmelize. I defatted the liquid and set it aside. After roasting my bones and veggies, they went into my stock pot along with cold water AND the liquid from the roasting pan and cooked for about 6 hours. The finished stock was very flavorful, rich, dark, chickeny", and...cloudy! It never got above a very gentle simmer because I pretty much camp over the pot the entire time. Also, there was very little foam to skim during the cooking time. Could the liquid from the roasting pan be the culprit? I'm not too disappointed with this batch because it will be a good base for my sauces and such. However, I will try again because I want to learn to make a classic stock.

I am loving my Rouxbe cooking lessons and try to do one or two every day. I've prepared a couple of the recipes for my family and they are loving my lessons, too. My husband has taken it upon himself to see that my knives are properly sharpened. He is a hunter and fisherman so he has all the sharpening "toys". In addition,we bought a good steel a few days ago. I used to go to the mall. Now, I go to the restaurant supply stores. Oh my! I've got it bad.

Cooking with love, Cheri

Today, I bought 5 lbs of chicken backs and 1 lb of chicken feet. I am going to make my stock tomorrow. If there is a lot of liquid that developes during the roasting process, should I pour it off to help carmelize the pieces? And, if so, should I discard ALL of the liquid or should I de-fat and put the liquid in my pot?

As I discribe in my earlier post, I put the liquid back in during my first attempt. My stock became cloudy and I wonder if the roasting liquid was the reason.

Thanks for any advice!

If for some reason a lot of liquid comes off of the bones as you roast them (though they should be fairly dry in the first place; otherwise they will steam rather than roast) then yes I would drain it off. I would just discard it as it is likely just impurities. Hope this helps - cheers!

Thank you, Dawn. I followed your advice. This batch of stock was much clearer.

I enjoyed the in depth look at the different types of broths and stocks. I've been making what I called stocks for many years and I got in the habit of chopping through my poultry bones to expose the marrow. This makes sense to me especially if making short stocks. Is this common or necessary.

Indeed you can break up your poultry bones a bit when making stock and/or short stock; however, it is not totally necessary. This is most often done when making smaller amounts of stock as the pot, amount of bones and the amount of time are all usually shorter and smaller. By breaking up the bones, you can fit more into a small pot and make a more concentrated stock.

Breaking up or chopping the bones is more beneficial for larger bones. This is commonly done when using beef or veal bones as they are often very large.

Hope this helps - cheers!

Is it really a substitute to veal stock?
We have no available veal bones or veal stock in carton in my country. Is it the same taste of a veal stock?

Dark stock will have the same consistency as a dark veal stock but if you make a dark chicken stock it will not taste exactly like a dark veal stock as they are two different animals. That being said, I am sure you would love dark chicken stock. In fact, it's the one I make most often. Hope this helps - cheers!

I just watched your video on the importance of salt...I did not remember any mention of adding a bit of salt to the bones before roasting would this not be a good thing? Not to make it taste salty but to impart more natural flavor?

There is really not a great need to salt the bones. A bit of salt is adding during the stock making process, but as you said you do not want to get carried away and make it too salty.

Stocks are meant to be fairly neutral so that you can flavor and season them further when it comes time to use them in whatever dish you are using them in. Cheers!

Hello, I went to the butcher today to see if I could get chicken backs and necks to make this dark chicken stock and all they have is chicken breasts bones? Can these be used for the same results? What other chicken parts can I also use, example, legs, wings, thighs, etc...Thank you JoAnn B

Really any parts will do. For more info Topic 2 in the "Stock Making Fundamentals" lesson covers this in a fair amount of detail. Cheers!

Can I use bones from a roasted chicken, instead of fresh bones? Will I need to roast them too?

Here is another thread from the "Making Stock Fundamentals" lesson that also talks about this. I believe there are even a few other threads that talk about it as well. In short the answer is yes. Cheers!

After saving backbones, necks and wing tips(I make a lot of Buffalo wings) for a few months, I gave this a try worked out great.

Hi Dawn,
I tried making stock again - last time I didn't use enough beef bones, so this time I tried the chicken stock. I went and bought 7.5 lbs of frozen bones. They sold bones of the entire chicken, couldn't buy backs/necks separately.

So I went through the entire process, browned the meat/mirepoix, drained off excess fat, simmered for 6 hours (on about level 3 on my induction range), skimming impurities and removing fat.

Once again, after I cooled down the stock, the next day the stock wouldn't gel/congeal up. It's more broth like and this time I used 7.5 lbs of bones in a 12 L stock pot! What am I doing wrong here?

A bit frustrated as I don't know what I'm doing wrong, maybe I really do need back/necks only? It's quite an investment of time for this not to work out, I really need some help here to point out what I've done wrong - yet again.

Today: I've reduced the stock by 1/2, went from 8 L to about 4 L and put it in the fridge, I'm thinking maybe it was too watery for it to congeal? Also, the stock isn't very clear but I am 100% it did not boil as I was very careful about this this time, if anything it may have been a very low simmer.

I found some frozen Veal Glace from my butcher that I tried and tasted very good, and I'm not sure I can keep doing this if I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I realize it's useful to make it yourself, but the time spent and it not turning out right is very aggravating.

Thanks for your help again. Everything else on this site is working 100%, just this one issue I keep having with stock!.

Forgot 1 thing, b/c the whole bird was frozen, I roasted a bit first, then chopped it all up and then continued roasting so bones were fairly small...

Thanks!

Stock will not always congeal. If you read through all of the forums on stock you will see that this has been asked and answered many times as everyone is worried about "their stock not congealing". Don't panic you likely did absolutely nothing wrong. Sometimes stock congeals...sometimes it does it a little bit and sometimes it barely congeals at all. It sometimes just depends on the amount of fat and gelatin in the bones. Next time if you use more necks and backs then it might congeal more, but again, don't panic if it doesn't.

You might be surprised now that you have reduced it and then refrigerated it, as this may give the stock a thicker consistency.

Next step is to use the stock and see how it taste and also see if it thickens when reduced to a sauce...it should btw.
Okay now take a deep breath and remember that all good cooks go through these trials and/or errors. This is how we all become better and more confident cooks. Keep up the good work and don't get discouraged. Cheers!

Hi Dawn,
I read somewhere that adding a package of chicken wings would help? Or chicken feet (although that might freak out my wife)? Maybe just add the wings to add more gelatin?

I checked it after the reduction, still no gel, it tastes good as always (which I guess is the main thing) but it still is very frustrating.

I'll try making a pan sauce with my chicken stock and see how it thickens. I can report here that the frozen veal glace I got from the butcher thickened beautifully and tasted great. So at least there's a backup solution, albeit and expensive one....

Thanks for the encouragement, glad to know I wasn't the only one dealing with this!

When I made the chicken stock I used a lot of wing tips I had cut off and saved when I make hot wings (we eat a lot of hot wings) It congealed very well, mind you it was close to half and half ratio of wing tips to backs and necks

I just roasted a chicken last night and saved the bones. This is a general question about making stock. Is it better for the bones to be from a raw chicken or is it ok to use bones from a chicken that's already been cooked?

Thanks!

You can definitely use cooked, leftover bones to make stock. We often freeze leftover bones until we have enough to make a bigger batch...but a small stock from one carcass is just as good. Cheers!

Barry, thanks for the 'tip' (bad joke I know). I think I will try that next time as I can't be bothered to invest this type of time and have it not turn out as expected. I'll try 1:1 as you suggested, hopefully my butcher saves the wing tips and I can just buy those.

Cheers!