An easy, flavorful chicken stock for use in a variety of healthy recipes.
Chef's notes
In less than 15 minutes you can put this stock together and in no time at all, your house will smell amazing. In the end, you will have a nutritious, delicious, salt and MSG-free stock for use in many recipes.
Steps
1
Cooking Nonna's Chicken Stock
Ingredients
6 lb chicken bones (backs & necks)
2 large onions
1 whole leek (optional)
1 stalk celery (with leafy tops)
4 heads garlic
2 medium carrots
20 whole, black peppercorns
3 whole bay leaves
3 whole cloves (optional)
1 can drained, whole tomatoes (796 ml/28 oz)
1/2 bunch fresh parsley (1 cup w/ stems, or even just stems)
6 liters/quarts cold water (enough to cover bones completely)
To make this stock, first rinse the chicken bones under cold water and then place into a large stock pot.
Roughly chop the onions, leeks and celery and place into the pot. Cut the head of garlic in half. Roughly chop the carrots and add both to the pot. Add the peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, drained whole tomatoes and parsley. Finally, add the cold water and bring everything to a simmer. Let the stock simmer gently for 4 to 6 hours. Skim the stock occasionally to remove any impurities that float to the surface.
2
Finishing the Stock
After the stock has finished simmering, strain, cool and refrigerate. Any excess fat will float to the surface and will harden as it chills. Remove and discard. The stock is ready to be used or it can be portioned and frozen for future use.
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I have some wonderful stock from Thanksgiving. I wasn't as careful to skim and strain it before freezing. How long is it safe in the freezer? Does the presence of a little fat and a few particles impact its lifespan?
Frozen Stock will keep for months in the freezer. I just used some that I have had in my freezer for 5 months now, and it was perfectly fine!
And don't worry the little bit of fat and particles won't affect the lifespan.
I really like the Rouxbe recipe for rich chicken stock. I like to take it one step further. Instead of simmering on the cooktop for six hours, I put the stockpot into a 250-degree oven, often overnight. It's happy in there, unmolested by direct flame, and all of the goodness of the ingredients is distilled into liquid bliss. Try this with the tomatoes from your garden - use the same technique, but once the tomatoes are boiling on the flame, put the stock pot in the oven and let it barely bubble at 200-250 degrees for several days. Check it after the second day because it can caramelize as it is reduced, and it becomes the perfect flavor base for classic Mexican cuisine! Once your perfect tomato paste is cool, you can line muffin tins with Saran wrap and fill with gems of tomato, freeze, store in freezer bags, and in the middle of next year's worst blizzard you can add the fresh taste of High Summer to any dish.
I noticed the bottoms of the garlic heads were already either trimmed or cleaned of dirt and roots, and the leeks were not cleaned at all. Given that other recipe(s) on Rouxbe highlight the importance of cleaning leeks, I'm curious why the cleaning was omitted.
Secondly, I was talking with a chef the other day and he said he never uses celery leaves in his soups or stocks because they impart bitterness. (This is based on a test stock he made from celery leaves.) Is this your experience also?
I made this will I cleaned the house. What a great smell, certainly better than any cleaner.
I was so happy with the end result, really nice color with the tomatoes.
Chicken bones, backs and necks is what we used in the video. Perhaps it looks like meat on the bone, but I assure you they were just bones. Bones will still have some meat attached to them, which will add lots of flavor to the stock.
If you had meat on the bones though you could also use that to make a broth rather than a stock, see our Broth Lesson in the Rouxbe Cooking School - http://rouxbe.com/school/sections/20/objectives
Hope this helps!
dont worry about the meat on the bones.
next time you do this, try not to be cheap and put the whole bird in, wings thighs and breast still intact.
u might want to ask your butcher to remove the skin though...
there is nothing in the world that is better than a chicken stock made with a whole chicken or two
Indeed you can add meat to the stock, essentially you would then be making a broth. We go into in more detail in the cooking school lesson on How to Make Broth. We also talk about it in How to Make Broth Soups. Cheers!
Depends on what you are using it for really. If you desire a nice clear stock then you can go ahead and strain it again. If using it for things that don't require a clear stock, such as stews etc. then dont' worry too much about it. Taste it what matters most. If it taste good then you are good to go. Cheers!
Just put this on the stove now. I could only get 4.5 quarts of water in there. So..... just go with that and have a richer stock? Or.... add water at some later point in the simmering as room becomes available? If I add water later, should it be cold water or hot (to match the stock temp)?
As long as the bones and other ingredients are covered then you should be okay. As you thought, you will just have a more intensely flavored stock, which is not a bad thing. If you do need to add more water to ensure things are covered then you should use cold water (as mentioned in the lesson on Stock Making Fundamentals). Cheers!
I had some left over bones and threw them in a pot and then came to find this recipe. I haven't used the stock yet but the smell was delightful. I put it in two bags and froze this morning. I'm really looking forward to using it.
The only thing I regretted was not having a use for the vegetables. I would have pureed and given to the dogs if not for the onions. I'll figure out something.
Dawn T •Frozen Stock will keep for months in the freezer. I just used some that I have had in my freezer for 5 months now, and it was perfectly fine! And don't worry the little bit of fat and particles won't affect the lifespan.
Jack E •I really like the Rouxbe recipe for rich chicken stock. I like to take it one step further. Instead of simmering on the cooktop for six hours, I put the stockpot into a 250-degree oven, often overnight. It's happy in there, unmolested by direct flame, and all of the goodness of the ingredients is distilled into liquid bliss. Try this with the tomatoes from your garden - use the same technique, but once the tomatoes are boiling on the flame, put the stock pot in the oven and let it barely bubble at 200-250 degrees for several days. Check it after the second day because it can caramelize as it is reduced, and it becomes the perfect flavor base for classic Mexican cuisine! Once your perfect tomato paste is cool, you can line muffin tins with Saran wrap and fill with gems of tomato, freeze, store in freezer bags, and in the middle of next year's worst blizzard you can add the fresh taste of High Summer to any dish.
Ken J •I noticed the bottoms of the garlic heads were already either trimmed or cleaned of dirt and roots, and the leeks were not cleaned at all. Given that other recipe(s) on Rouxbe highlight the importance of cleaning leeks, I'm curious why the cleaning was omitted. Secondly, I was talking with a chef the other day and he said he never uses celery leaves in his soups or stocks because they impart bitterness. (This is based on a test stock he made from celery leaves.) Is this your experience also?
Terry F •Just put this on the stove now. I could only get 4.5 quarts of water in there. So..... just go with that and have a richer stock? Or.... add water at some later point in the simmering as room becomes available? If I add water later, should it be cold water or hot (to match the stock temp)?
Geni P •I had some left over bones and threw them in a pot and then came to find this recipe. I haven't used the stock yet but the smell was delightful. I put it in two bags and froze this morning. I'm really looking forward to using it. The only thing I regretted was not having a use for the vegetables. I would have pureed and given to the dogs if not for the onions. I'll figure out something.