Homemade Chicken Stock
Tying into a previous post on not wasting so much food, I started saving vegetable scraps and vegetables that were going to go bad to save for making homemade stock. Carrot peels, ends of onions, celery, broccoli stems, fennel ends, etc. I take a gallon bag and fill it with these scraps and pieces and keep it in the freezer. When the bag in the freezer is full, I wait for whole chickens to go on sale for 99 cents a pound. I buy one for about $5 and use that in my stock.
In the biggest pot I own, it's huge!, I put the chicken on the bottom, dump my bag of veggies in around it and add a head of garlic cut in half through the middle, paper still on and all. I add a sprinkle of peppercorns and cover the whole mix with water. I pretty much fill the pot with water, leaving just about an inch of space at the top. Put it on the stove and turn the heat to medium just until the pot is simmering. Turn the heat to low and let it continue to simmer for about 4 hours. This is a great Saturday project when you'll just be home doing chores and can keep an eye on the pot. It doesn't have to be tended to constantly, but an occasional stir is good.
When the stock is done, turn the heat off. I like to pull the biggest chunks of stuff out of the stock first. Like the chicken, biggest veggie pieces, etc. Then I put a strainer over a quart size container (getting deli soup containers off Amazon is perfect for this and they're pretty cheap!) and ladle the stock into the containers. I let them sit out on the counter until they're room temperature. Then just skim the fat off the top, put the lids on and stick them in the freezer.
In the biggest pot I own, it's huge!, I put the chicken on the bottom, dump my bag of veggies in around it and add a head of garlic cut in half through the middle, paper still on and all. I add a sprinkle of peppercorns and cover the whole mix with water. I pretty much fill the pot with water, leaving just about an inch of space at the top. Put it on the stove and turn the heat to medium just until the pot is simmering. Turn the heat to low and let it continue to simmer for about 4 hours. This is a great Saturday project when you'll just be home doing chores and can keep an eye on the pot. It doesn't have to be tended to constantly, but an occasional stir is good.
When the stock is done, turn the heat off. I like to pull the biggest chunks of stuff out of the stock first. Like the chicken, biggest veggie pieces, etc. Then I put a strainer over a quart size container (getting deli soup containers off Amazon is perfect for this and they're pretty cheap!) and ladle the stock into the containers. I let them sit out on the counter until they're room temperature. Then just skim the fat off the top, put the lids on and stick them in the freezer.
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