Home-Made Alternative Series: Stock

Let me start by saying, it's worth it. It is SO worth it. You're not going to think so when you first see it, but when you taste it...

First off, you're using your whole chicken. You are wasting nothing which is a sexy, environmentally sound thing to do.

Secondly, your soups, risottos, sauces, whatever you use broth in will thank you for making a home-made stock. Home-made stock adds a clean flavor, a rich depth and a complexity you just cannot get out of the box.

It is the difference between dating George Clooney and Zach Galifianakis. One's sexy, smooth, debonair, witty and the other's a schlub (still love you Zach...call me!).

My first attempt at making a stock was a roaring success complete disaster involving smoke alarms, 6 hours of my time and a whopping 1/4 (that's ONE-QUARTER) of a cup of stock. Lesson learned: slow simmer and rolling boil cannot be interchanged.

What you should know up front:

1. This will take between 5-6 hours of your time. Mostly you're doing nothing, but you will need to check on the stock every now and again.
2. Don't skimp on the bones. You want a flavorful stock.
3. When in doubt, skim.

With those commandments set, let's get cooking.

First up, the chicken carcasses from our Sunday night dinner into the pot.

Oh wait, that's Ginger and Edison sunning themselves in today's beautiful weather. Baxter is just to the left of Ginger.

OK back to the recipe, the chicken carcasses in the pot with 4 quarts of water. All told you'll need between 3-5 lbs. of chicken bones. Any bones really. Last time I made stock out of chicken, duck and Cornish hen bones. It was divine.

Over medium-low heat SLOWLY bring this to a simmer...and I mean slowly. Like this should take about 3 hours slow. The whole time, you want to skim anything that rises to the top of the pot with this contraption which I'm sure has a proper name, but since I don't know what that could possibly be, I call it Fred.


Fred is critical to this process. Love Fred.

While you wait patiently for 3 hours or so, you can probably find the time to chop up 6 carrots, 2 leeks and a yellow onion.

When bubbles just start to break the surface of the water it's time to add the ice! This much:
Which is also like 8 cups of ice for you technical folk.

This is a critical step because it brings the fat to the top of the soup which Fred will help you skim out. Once you've skimmed yourself silly, add in your chopped up vegetables. Crank that puppy all the way to medium (we're getting crazy here) and get the slow simmer happening again.

It will take a lot less time this go around, like 20-30 minutes. Once it reaches the simmer, keep it that way for about 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit for 20 minutes more.

I'm not sure I've mentioned this here yet, but I have a slight psychotic obsession, think Fatal Attraction but less violent food crush on Thomas Keller. He's my god and he can say nor do no wrong. So this next part is very critical because he says it's critical.

With a ladle, ladle out the stock and strain it through Fred's friend Bob into a bowl sitting in an ice bath.
Then pack the stock up into containers for freezing (if you're not going to use it within a day or so).
It keeps great in the freezer. Just defrost it when you're ready to use it. I guarantee you, it's worth the effort. Make a big batch on a rainy Sunday. You won't be upset. Well, unless your first attempt resembles mine, but the second batch...SO worth it.