It may come as a shock to all my foodie friends that I've never made my own chicken stock before. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it myself but having an aversion to meat with bones in it I have always avoided home made stock in the past. I know, I'm a wimp. I like to pretend that my meat was never alive to begin with.
Well in the name of better health and saving money I finally bit the bullet at made my own chicken stock last weekend. I started by using a whole chicken since that's what I could easily get to Publix and we happened to be there anyway but in the future I may try using different chicken parts and see what happens. The upside of using a whole chicken is that I was able to use the leftover meat to make some yummy chicken salad :-)
 |
| My new 5 quart stock pot |
 |
| whole chicken, yum... |
 |
| simmering with all the flavorings |
 |
| After simmering for about 2 hours |
 |
| Stock divided in to containers and ready to freeze |
I studied a number of different recipes and came to the conclusion that I could pretty much put whatever I wanted in my stock. I used parsley, thyme, bay leaves, lemon peel, carrots, celery, peppercorns, onions, garlic and enough water to cover everything. I also added salt at the end.
I made soup with my homemade stock just yesterday and it was delicious! I can't believe how yummy and cost effective it is. I will definitely make it again and experiment with different chicken parts. This is a project that's well worth the effort, plus it makes the house smell amazing!
Go you! That is awesome!
ReplyDeleteShrimp stock was a revelation to me - all those shrimp heads and tails we'd been throwing away could make the other things we cook so, so tasty! Then we moved on to bones. All this stuff that used to go to waste! It's crazy! The stock we made with the carcass from out Thanksgiving turkey was epic. Stock has seriously changed my cooking.
I can't wait to hear what other methods you try - and most importantly how to organize them in your freezer - that is what I am struggling with right now.
haha, yeah the freezer thing is a problem for us too. We have a tiny freezer so I made sure to use some of the stock right away for soup aso it wouldn't take up too much room.
DeleteI saw chicken back bone pieces at the Buford Highway farmers market for $1.50 a package so I'm thinking of trying those out next. I can't quite bring myself to do chicken feet just yet.