There is nothing better than real chicken stock, don’t get me wrong I do buy stock cubes and that liquid Knorr stuff but it is not quite the same as making it yourself. in a sauce or soup its the star of the show and you don’t need 100s of ingredients for flavour as the stock does it all by itself.

People are often wowed by making stock or think its really complicated but literally its the easiest thing in the world. You can add bay or other herbs but I just tend to keep it simple. Heres how i do it:

There are no exacting rules here as to measurements so go with what you want. If you want really intense stock use less water which I would do if I were making a sauce or quite a bit if you want it for the base of your soup.

Method

Grab yourself a large pot – the best are the massive stock pots. Also good for pasta as the water never usually gets that high to boil over (I have a tendency to get sidetracked and before I know it there is boiling water erupting from the sides on to the stove top). 

Strip your carcass of all the meat you want to eat, leave some on the hard to reach parts – like the under side and the wings  as it does give flavour.

Put the meat aside for however you want to use it, Chuck all of the bones and body in to your pot 

If you are not eating the skin lob that in as well.

If you have cooked your chicken in a metal roasting tray add some water to it so it just covers the bottom and put on the burner of your hob to release all the marmitey juices and burnt bits from the bottom. 

Once there are no bits sticking to the bottom of the pan take off the heat and pour in to your pot.

Fill the pot with a couple of pints of water for an intense stock otherwise fill it so the bird is totally submerged.

Put the lid on and simmer on a low heat for about an hour 

When it’s ready get a big sieve and bowl – large enough to hold the stock and tip it out leaving the bones behind. Discard these.

Skim the fat off the top if you wish and voila. 

Tip; when using, chicken stock gets super hot so if you are giving it to kids just bare this in mind.

Popular Articles...