Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is the basic ingredient in many preparations, including broths, soups,  sauces, and stir-fries.  It is readily available at the supermarket in wide varieties, but it's also not that hard to make, and the ingredients are often things that normally are discarded.  The vegetable and chicken scraps can be collected over time frozen and then used to make your stock. This preparation uses mostly vegetable scraps, and left over chicken parts. Result was a clear flavorful stock that was then used in Hungry Girl's Egg-cellent Foo Young recipe.  

5 cups water (1 cup reserved)

8-16 oz chicken rib sections, back bone, or neck bones.

5 medium onion root ends

5 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces of the tops of celery including leaves.

5 1/2 inch end pieces of carrot 

1/2 tsp parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of Pepper

Step One: Making the Stock Base

In a 6 quart sauce pan, combine four cups of water and all ingredients and bring to a boil.   Boil uncovered for 5 minutes and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. 

Step Two: Reducing 

Transfer the stock to a to a slow cooker and add 1 cup of water.  Cook uncovered the whole time. Initially set the temperature to high for 30 minutes and then reduce the temperature to low for 7-8

hours.  Placing a metal or heat resistant colander or splatter shield  over the slow cooker can be helpful to avoid any potential splatters.

Step Three:  Straining

Remove large pieces of bone, meat and veggies.  Using cheesecloth or a single layer paper towel lined the strainer or colander and  strain the stock to another container. 

Tip:  Many paper towels are two ply, which will make straining go a lot slower. To get around

this separate two two plies apart and strain using only one of them.

The strained stock should be fragrant, rich in color,  and mostly clear.  

Cool the stock to room temperature and then refrigerate for 4 hours.

Step Four:  Removing Excess Fat

During refrigeration fat will form on the top of the stock.  Remove the fat layer with a spoon and discard.   Alternatively, prior to refrigerating, the stock could be allowed to settle and then a gravy separator can be employed.  Both methods work rather well, and can be even used together.