Am obv going round the bleeding twist but have decided to have a go at making my own..

[HuwEdwards]

chicken stock.

How long to I boil the chicken skeleton for?

Twig - tis arduous compared to unwrapping a stock cube and disolving in boiling water ( yep, I know - philistine!)

feckin 'ell, no-one mentioned peppercorns....

thinking about it Twiglett, maybe I do do it for 2 hours...I'm not too sure now...

tbh I usually make stock from cooking a chunk of ham and I just give it as long as the ham takes. I think it tastes nicer than chicken stock. Then I use it to make veg/lentil soup by chucking in any veg I have, some lentils and cooking for about an hour or two, then blitzing with the blender.

I just know - such is the power of mumsnet - that I will be making bloody stock within a week!

yabbut Huw .. I's a ponce remember

(should be celery in my list btw)

actually one thing you can do .. is chop the carrots in baton shape and rescue them, the celery, onion from the seive then serve the stock with vermicelli and any chicken left over

that's yummy chicken soup that is

phew! Thanks your ponceness, I did actually forget that momentarily

stock mantra
skeleton, veg, WINE and peppercorns
skeleton, veg, WINE and peppercorns
skeleton, veg, WINE and peppercorns

ok. gottit

no NOT wine .. euwwwwww

why wine?

unless the wine goes in a glass whilst you mn of course

jellyjelly and rosa (well-named, you can't deny) advocate wine.

Not, me your ponceness, not me - they said wine.

Now look, don't be laughing at me, but I always make my own stock and always have a load in the freezer. You can make a veg soup in about 10 mins with it, or a risotto, or whatever. It is immensely satisfying and literally my only piece of "housewifely" knowledge.

Onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, bayleaf, carcass (or some fresh wings or drumsticks). Needs about 3 hours (or 50 mins in a pressure cooker).

Don't go and grass me up on the "City lawyer" thread. (And don't tell Issymum who still hasn't got over my revelation that I whizz up the ends of bits of bread to make breadcrumbs which I keep in the freezer)

oooohhhhh

bits of bread

whizzer

I can whizz

I have a lot to learn [humble]

Forgot to add peppercorns to my list too. Never add wine, and I do it in a pressure cooker hence the 45mins.

I do it all the time! Good advice here so I will just add my top tip: do NOT put it in the fridge or you will discover it three weeks later in an advance state of decay looking like a diseased urine sample.

Freeze it in half-pint portions in ziplock sandwich bags or tupperware. Much easier, and when you come to use it you can just tip the frozen lump into the stew/whatever.

do you get a layer of fat on the top that you should rmove before freezing?

yes Huw .. which is why you should cool it before using it

I believe thin people do remove that layer of fat. Personally - and remember I whizz my own breadcrumbs - I think life is a bit too short..

I pour off the worst of the fat before freezing but don't bother with any nonsense about skimming off the little beads of fat or the scum or any of that rubbish. It all blends into the soup!

the whole thread is a dichotomy

wine ovs no wine?

remove fat vs keep?

3hrs vs 1hr?

slow cooker vs saucepan?

I know now why it's taken me so long to embrace stock.

oh and thin people vs Huw....

Anchovy I make my on breadcrumbs (from my own homemeade bread) and I do remove the fat

OK: no wine; fat either way (I am neither a fat person nor a thin person, if that helps); three hours in pan or 1 hour in pressure cooker (advanced option, TBH); don't use slow cooker for stock.

COV, TBH sometimes my home made bread is only fit for breadcrumbs!