The Kitchen Sink’s Liquid Gold

Because we have our dog on a RAW diet, we go through a whole chicken every two days. With each whole chicken, Britta the Weimaraner gets the breast, legs, thighs and wings. We save the necks and backs for ourselves. So about every other weekend, when we have about 10 pounds of necks and backs saved up, we make a chicken stock with it.

If you’ve never tried it, homemade chicken stock is one of the easiest things to do in a kitchen; it takes about 5 minutes to throw everything into a pot. And about 4 hours later, you end up with liquid gold.

Our method is simple: step 1) grab all your leftover kitchen ingredients and throw it into the pot as is - don’t bother peeling onions, cutting off celery tips, cutting off carrot tops or peeling garlic, step 2) simmer for 4 hours, step 3) strain and use.

There are a lot of recipes out there that make you buy whole chickens, or chicken leg quarters, or chicken necks and backs, etc. My advice is, don’t do it. If you don’t have a dog on a RAW diet (and my guess is you don’t), I would encourage you to obtain your stock ingredients using the following methods:

• chicken carcasses: When you make or buy a rotisserie chicken, save the carcass, put it in a freezer bag, and throw it into the freezer. When you collect about 8-10 pounds of meat and bones, you can make 4 quarts of stock, provided you also have the following items laying around (at our house, this is always the case). Alternatively (and this actually works better for us), buy whole chickens, butcher them yourself, and save the necks and backs for stocks. (For us, about 3 or 4 necks and backs will fit into one Ziploc bag; when we hit two full bags, we defrost them and make one batch of stock.)

• medium yellow / brown onions: Depending on the time of year, ours are either from the garden, the farmers’ market, or from local grocery stores when they’re less than $0.50/lb. It’s a good idea to stock up on onions when they’re less than $0.50/lb; they’ll keep awhile in a dark storage basket.

• carrots: Like onions, we get these from either the garden or local grocery stores when they’re on sale for less than $0.33/lb. Like onions, it’s a good idea to stock up on carrots when they’re about $1.00 for 3 pounds’ worth. They’ll also keep awhile in the fridge.

• celery: We haven’t had much success growing celery in our garden, so ours come from the local grocery stores when they’re about $0.49/lb on sale. When you’re using celery for another use, cut off the tops (leaves) and bottoms (white end) and save them for the stock.

• thyme: Our is always growing in the garden; therefore, always free. You can buy them at the local grocery stores for about $1.99/package (or come to our house and get them for free).

• parsley: Our is always growing in the garden; therefore, always free. You can buy them at the local grocery stores for about $1.99/package (or come to our house and get them for free).

• dill: Our is always growing in the garden; therefore, always free. You can buy them at the local grocery stores for about $1.99/package (or come to our house and get them for free).

• garlic: Ours is from the local farmers’ markets or grocery stores for about $0.20 / head when they’re on sale. Also, every garlic head comes with small to large cloves. We use the medium to large cloves when we need to dice or mince them in our recipes. Since the smaller ones are trickier to peel, we save those for the stock (because then we never actually have to peel them).

• bay leaves: We always have two jars of Turkish bay leaves in the spice cabinet. One is for whole leaves; that’s great for using in soups when you have to fish the leaves out. The other is for broken leaves; the jars always come with some broken leaves. We save those for when we don’t have to find the leaves later. In other words, broken leaves are great for stocks, because you won’t need to dig it out later; it’s all going into the trash.

Last week, we hit our double Ziploc quota with a lazy mid-week dinner. We also had overgrown parsley, thyme and dill growing out back, and tons of onions on the counter.

We also picked up some celery for $0.49/bunch and carrots for $0.33/lb. at the market, so it was silly not to make some stock, especially since we’re running low on our frozen cube supply. Helloooooooo stock!

Here’s a reference photo for what the stock looks like out of the fridge (after the fat has been removed but while it’s still cold and gelatinous).

After the stock is heated, it turns into a darker color, and looks more translucent.

Garden Chicken Soup

Great for garden chicken soup!

Have fun; you’ll never want the canned stuff again. [K]

Garden Chicken Stock

~ Makes ~

4 quarts

~ Ingredients ~

• 6 quarts water
• 8 – 10 lb. chicken necks and backs
• 2 medium yellow / brown onions
• 3 carrots (4 oz.)
• 3 stalks celery (6 oz.)
• Handful thyme (2 branches)
• Handful parsley stems (10 sprigs’ worth)
• Handful dill (10 springs’ worth)
• Handful garlic cloves (1 med. heads’ worth)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 ½ tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. whole peppercorns

~ Preparation ~

Preparation Time: 4 hours 30 minutes + 10 minutes at later time for storing

1. In a large (8-qt.) stock pot, add chicken carcasses and enough water to cover (6 quarts). Turn the heat up to high. While that’s heating:
2. Quarter onions and throw them into the pot. Slice carrots in half (or thirds) and throw them into the pot. Do the same with the celery. Cut the leaves off the parsley, and save the leaves for another use. Throw the stems into the pot, along with the thyme and dill.
3. Without removing the skin, slice a heads’ worth of garlic in half crosswise, then throw into the pot. Add the bay leaves, salt and pepper.
4. Bring pot up to a boil, then reduce to simmer for additional 3½ hours.
5. Optional: After approximately 1 hour of simmering, remove chicken backs from pot and set aside in large prep bowl to cool, about 30 minutes. Extract chicken meat from bones, then return bones to pot and continue to simmer for another 2½ hours. I get approx. 12 – 14 oz. chicken meat from the bones. Refrigerate the meat or freeze for another purpose.
6. When the stock is cooked, check it again for final seasonings. Salt and pepper if needed. Strain it and put it into the refrigerator overnight. The next day, pull out the stock, skim off the fat (if you’re handy, save the fat for another use, like dog treats), then either use or store. I like to freeze into 2/3 cup muffin molds and then freeze it, so I can use them a few at a time over several weeks. I also put about 1-2 cups’ worth into the fridge, because I’ll probably be using it within a few days.
7. Source: Rustic Garden Bistro