Chicken Stock

[cobysstepmummy]

Ok so im new at the totally homemade thing and after having roast chicken last night i have taken the carcass and chucked it in a pan of water with salt and pepper. So what i want to kow is how long do i cook it for??

That might not make the tastiest stock with just salt and pepper, have you got anything like an onion, celery, a carrot, a bayleaf etc in the house? If so bung those in aswell and a good glug of white wine if you have it. Then bring to boil and gently simmer for about an hour. You can then take the chicken out and if you want to, cook the stock for a bit longer to intensify the flavour.

yup. you definitly need some veggies.

even ones that are almost non usable.

I stick a bit of thyme, a bayleaf and some parsley in, and a clove of garlic.

I bring it to the boil and then let it simmer away for about an hour or so. skim the oil off the top of the stock and return to simmer again.

I leave mine for as long as i can and just top up with boiling water if needed.
I usually do a massive batch and spend all day just skimming it and topping it up.

it is lush

Another time... put the chicken carcass into a roasting tin with a little oil, some unpeeled carrots, celery stalks, unpeeled garlic cloves and peeled onion. Roast for about 30 - 40 minutes until everything is nicely browned. Then transfer to a stockpot or pressure-cooker, add some herbs, seasoning and plenty of water. Cook for about an hour in a stockpot or 20 mins in a pressure cooker. Your stock will have more flavour that way....

Ooh fab tip Chil1234!

Alternative to the above if you don't have a chicken carcass handy..... take a packet of chicken wings (usually v inexpensive) and bash them up a bit with a cleaver, chopping through the bones in several places so that the marrow is exposed. Put those in a roasting tin with oil etc....

Another tip... if you make a lot of stock all at once, you can freeze it in portions in either specially designed plastic pouches... or (cheaper)... use regular sandwich bags placed inside containers/jugs/bowls. Once frozen, remove the container and you have a handy portion of stock to use another time.

I think I vaguely remember Jamie Oliver doing something like that with chicken wings and veg, roasted but then he made gravy out of it, I think he just reduced it down a bit, also looked really good.

The Oliver gravy is excellent - the star anise makes all the difference. Made it pre-Christmas, froze it in portions and whipped it out to add to the turkey juices on the day. Very tasty indeed.

I make stock in a pressure cooker.

Roasted carcass or even two carcasses (I can get them for a few pence at my farmers market if I order a week before.

Bung in oven to roast.

Drain off fat or shmaltz for cooking roasties or in fact browning any meat.

Put roasted bones, plus celery, onion, carrot and bay in pressure cooker. Top up with water and cook half an hour.

When cool, strain off the liquid.

The bones will be so soft they will crumble and the liquid will set to a jelly.

It can be frozen in portions if you want.

I wouldn't add anything like star anise as it alters the flavour of the stock to much.

For me anyway, this can be done, if need be, at the stage the stock is added to a recipe.

I wouldn't want star anise in a simple chicken noodle soup.