just making my first chicken stock from scratch....

[glaskhamhasoneintheoven]

OK, so i roasted a chicken yesterday, used only the breasts for a roast dinner, have taken all meat off the bone just now to be used to make a korma for tea tonight... have also decided to make my own chicken stock to use as the base for a leek and potato soup i'll make tomorrow, or tonight if it will be ready??

Anyway in the very large pan i put all the chicken carcus and skin, i chopped up about 4 carrots, 3 large potatoes and a large onion.... have put on a very low hob to simmer. How long should i let it simmer away?? I was thinking a good couple of hours on a low heat would be enough??

Should i add anything else or will this be enough? and should i season the stock? or season as a soup? Just i'm going to be serving it to my 4yo and 2yo.... i dotn normally add salt to anything they eat so was considering only adding salt and pepper to my own once cooked... DH isn't a big fan of salt and pepper anyway so probably wouldn't miss it in his... but if adding it to the stock that will get drained of the veg and bones will still be ok for the DC's then i'd not mind adding a bit to taste..... argh- that sounds so complicated.... basically do i season it when i'm giving to the DC's??

Also i'm gathering that once i have added my leeks and potatoes to the stock tomorrow all it will need is a bit of cream and it'll be done with a blitz up in either the blender or using the hand blender... does that sound right??

Is there anything else i could do that is just as simple with the stock?? As i do think i'd have enough in the massive pan the stock is being done in to make 2 different soups...

anyone?? It is starting to smell pretty good so far. dont want to have missed somethign important and have wasted all the veg and gas for nothing!!

right

do not season the stock when you are making it - taste the finished soup (or whatever) and season that

you needn;t have put spuds in the stock - in fact if you wanted to make anything other than soup with it later it could cock up the dish (our main use of stock is gravy, and spuds would murder that)

the stock will benefit from being left in a bowl in the fridge overnight so you can skim the fat off the top in the morning before using it - next time don;t put the skin in.

if you ahve any left after making the leek & potato soup you could use it as a risotto base.

here's what I do:
no potatoes
less carrots (i always find they make the stock too 'sweet')
leek if i have
sometimes garlic

i make soup and risotto from mine. risotto is always amazing!

right ok then, Thanks!! I will be putting it in the fridge overnight... didn't think of the fat, but gather i'd have wondered what to do in the morning!!

I'll see how sweet the stcok is once made and decide if i need less carrots for next time... they were only smallish carrots, so hopefully that'll help.

there wasn't lots of skin, just the leftover bits that were attached to the bones i put in... but at least i know for next time again.

I did wonder if i should ahve put garlic in but had no fresh cloves, just a jar of peeled and preserved and didn't think they'd do much... will maybe try with them for next time!!

Glad i haven't completely cocked up... at least i should be able to make double amount of soup if nothing else and just freeze half!

if you have any celery, a bouquet garni and a handful of peppercorns I would add those too. Agree re not adding salt and also agree re potatoes - would fish them out if they aren't cooked yet.

bayleaves are good too.

when you make the soup i'd fry an onion first, then briefly fry the leeks & spuds before adding the stock. add the cream at the end and don't let it boil or else it'll separate .

oooh! celery! i love celery! yes add that too.

potatoes are cooked already... may still fish what i can out now though... dont have any celery, but will use some next time, and have just added a few peppercorns.... sorry if i sound dumb but whats a bouquet garni??

I do normally cook in the kitchen, i'm not a complete novice.... just always been a lazy mare and used oxo .... i normally have a chicken carcus once a forghtnight at least so just dont see the point of wasting all the stock potential anymore!! (and maybe it's my serious nexting making me be the perfect homemaker doing somethign too!!)

I make it up as i go along, and I'm sure you will too as you get more expewrienced int he whole stock making thing

I usually add onion or something similar - maybe leeks, shallots or whatever..

And then some combination of:

Celery, pasrnips, carrots, sweet potato- all add nice sweet flavour

Rosemary sprigs/ bouquet garni/ bay leaves

A couple of whole, unpeeled cloves of garlic

Add salt, pepper etc when it's finished.

great!! i'm getting more and more exited as its really smelling nice!! I'll be having chicken more often now just to experiment and make soups... will also be able to use my stock-making skills when making DC3's food when i get to weaning... never used stocks with other 2, just boiled and blitzed veg, sure stock will give more goodness!!

or consider blw - no blitzing (or stock) required...

how does BLW work?? i think we kind of did that in our own way with the other 2... DD was offered blitzed veggies etc and blitzed meals from about 6.5mths, but never ate any of it (spat every bit out) till she decided to crawl across the room at 10mths and grab DS's food from his plate one night!! Then she just took things in her own speed... but i still did all the blitzing and freezing etc 'just in case' she decided to eat it when offered!!

God i sound so dumb!! I am into all these things... BF till 12mths, used (and will use) cloth nappies, made all my own baby food.... can you tell i didn't have MN before the other 2??

when you start mostly it's just fruit/veg without the blitzing
ie slices of pear, steamed carrot sticks etc
movign swiftly on to toast, pasta shapes, chips lentil wedges etc

just ate the leek and potato soup for lunch and it was delicious!! DH and both DC's were almost licking the bowl clean!!!!!

Think they want some more making up... thinking i may make ham and pea soup next week!!