Homemade Chicken Stock : Tutorial

We go through a lot of chicken stock at our house.  It seems that most dishes I make call for a couple of cups.  I used to use the pasty chicken flavored soup base, and I'll still do that in a pinch, but for the past year or so, I've tried to keep our downstairs freezer packed with homemade stock and baguettes.  We eat a lot of bread also, but I digress.  That is a post for another time.

This is a weekend project for me and I do it whenever we are running low.  This recipe, from The Barefoot Contessa makes roughly 16 to 20 cups of stock. I usually follow the recipe, except I often omit the turnips, just because they seem to be hard to find in my neck of the woods.

To begin, you will need one very large pot, or two smaller ones.  These are the two 10 quart stockpots that I use.

I use three 5 pound roasting chickens for the stock.

You will also need a healthy compliment of vegetables and herbs.  I use 3 large onions, 6 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, a bunch of parsley, thyme and dill and a head of garlic.  This will all go into the pot(s).

The onions need to be quartered, with their skin on, and divided between the two pots.

Leave the skin on the carrots, halve them and divide them between the two pots.

Leaving the leaves on the celery, cut into the thirds and divide between the two pots.

Cut the head of garlic cloves in half and drop one into each pot. Split the dill, parsley and thyme in half and drop into each pot. 

Now for the tricky part.  You need to cut one of those chickens in half.  Take a big knife and cut it right down the center.

Lay one and a half chickens on top of the vegetables and herbs in each of the pots

and add 3 1/2 quarts of water to each pot.

Finally, add 1 tablespoon of Kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns to each pot.  Turn on the heat and let it simmer for four hours.

After the allotted time, stain the liquid through a colander or sieve to separate the solids from the stock.

Put all the stock back in one pot and all the chicken back in the second and place in the refrigerator over night.

When you wake up, all the fat should have congealed on the top of the nice rich broth.

Skim the fat off the top

and then divide the stock into 1 cup portions and store in quart sized freezer bags.

If you get most of the air out of the bags, they will lay nice and flat and freeze nicely.  Label the bags with the contents and date.

The second stockpot should be full of nicely cooled chicken.

Remove the meat from the bones,

measure into 8 oz portions

and place in quart size freezer bags.

Label the bags with the contents and date.  This meat is good for pasta, sandwiches, chicken pot pie or anything else you can come up with.  Enjoy!