Making Your Own Chicken Stock

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

alm260 — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:39:18 GMT

My husband is a protein type and he loves to drink our leftover broth from either our grass-fed beef or chicken I cooked previously for breakfast. He says it really satisifies him.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

screenprinterguy — Tue, 15 May 2007 00:44:13 GMT

I personally think that it's a crime not to get the absolute last drop of nourishment and flavour out of something that's been killed just so that you can eat it.
I like eating game, because it's healthy and really tasty, and I always make stock out of the carcasses. It would seem that you can keep the stock pot on the go for days as long as it's boiled up for at least 5 min. twice a day to preventy spoilage. The flavour just keeps getting better and better. The biggest danger seems to be putting it on a low heat and forgetting about it. I lost some duck, rabbit, pheasant, and chicken stock that way about 10 years ago, and I still feel the loss to this day.
A minor problem is the occasional piece of lead shot that gets included in the mixture, but since they took lead tetraethyl out of petrol, I've been far too healthy anyway.
If you want to know the lowdown on how good chicken stock is for you, check out:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn79-stock-remedy.html

Happy eating - It's the best kind.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

choctawlady — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:07:18 GMT

I went into this article to see how the lady made chicken stock and ended up looking at alot of Political BS, what's up with that!!!!!!!!!! Isn't there another place for your political interests or opinions? I doubt if Al Gore wants to know how to make a good chicken stock.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

Anathema — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:38:21 GMT

Deeply roasting the chicken in turn deepens the flavor of the stock.

I like to puree the vegetables I add to the stock and drain them out with a large strainer. Again, this adds for a more complex flavor that the whole or large-cut vegetables simply can't make up for.

By cooling the stock in the the fridge allows one to skim the gelled fat off the top.

Aside from health or food processing reasons, from a pure cooking enthusiast's standpoint, there is no can broth that holds a candle to the real thing.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

librarygeek — Sun, 13 May 2007 11:33:56 GMT

Why do some people say to discard the fat? Just curious, since I use organic chicken and alwlays thin the broth later with water anyway. My family is very skinny and does not eat an excess of calories, so do we need to worry about this? Aren't there some good things about chicken fat when it's eaten as part of a healthy diet?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom about this.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

shekwan — Sun, 13 May 2007 08:54:56 GMT

The way I learned to do it was this:

Take carrots, celery, and onions (the standard deal, you can probably vary this to suit your preference), chop them in big chunks (no peeling necessary on the carrots), put them in a big pot, full of water, plop the fresh bought chicken in there, and make sure you've got enough water to cover. You could also saute the veggies before you add water and chicken if you want more flavor (optional). Perhaps lightly, at a low temp?

Also add herbs - oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, sage, marjoram, paprika, whatever you wish. Boil until the chicken is done. I might do a smaller batch with a single turkey breast, but however you like.

When the chicken is done, strain the stock out and save, discard the veggies (preferably to a compost pile), and pull the chicken, discarding the bones.

Then, start all over again, returning your freshly made broth to the pot - a fresh set of celery, onions, carrots, or whatever you like. Shallots, garlic, etc. Boil up the veggies, saute if you want (optional), before adding the broth you just made and then add in your freshly pulled chicken.

Might have to try it this way, but the way I've just described is the way I've learned to do it. A little different, but it makes some really tasty soup - I just can't eat up a whole chicken fast enough, so a single breast and a much smaller portion (2 quarts, perhaps) might last me a week or so.

BTW I highly recommend these "enamelware" pots (nonreactive) they have at K-mart (they're this strange blue color) - and about $15. Cast iron coated with porcelain. Get yourself a "flame tamer" (usually $3-4) and you can cook up almost anything.

Will have to try maybe saving the bones -- although there's not much from a turkey breast to save at the portion sizes I do.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

artsyoceanic — Sat, 12 May 2007 16:35:48 GMT

Is chicken stock really healthy? You might want to suggest using only organically raised chicken..the regular chickens are not healthy and if you go to PETA.com you will see the abhorrent way chicken is procured in this country . I have become a vegatarian and use vegtable stock instead for soup ..Bonnie Morgan Lahaina Hawaii

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

ThomasT — Sat, 12 May 2007 16:07:54 GMT

Good point picking up on the cookware VTC. Cooking in SS, or copper or aluminium is 15 years out of date. Heavy metals have been identified as one of the primary cases of the failure of the cells integrity so as to cause of Cancer. see A Cure For Cancers... Hulda Clark Phd. If cooked in enamel, glass or earthenware, it would be in my kitchen. For a Merc.com health column,. lets be precise, and better read..

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

Mae — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:29:22 GMT

For a couple of years now I have been using a Chicken Base, by the Amish Country Kitchen which reads NO MSG ADDED.
I look at the ingredients better now here this morning and it has in it;
Cooked Chicken Meat
Salt
Sugar
Food Starch Modified (corn)
Maltodextrin
Chicken Fat
Yeast Extract
Onion Powder
Disodium Inosinate amd Disodium Guanylate
Tumeric Powder and Oleoresin Tumeric

I use about 1 tsp. which has 0 fat and 2 carbs.
Now I think maybe I shouldn't use it all all!
What do you think?

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

Dr. David Spitz — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:02:11 GMT

This is great, because you can not go to a restaurant and get soup without MSG.

Almost ALL soup you buy in a can has MSG, also disguised as:

Autolyzed Yeast Extract
Hydrolyzed Soy Protein
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Monopotassium Glutamate
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein
Glutamic Acid
Yeast Food
Yeast Extract Glutamate
Textured Protein
Sodium Caseinate

Be very wary of chicken and beef bouillon....it always contains MSG unless they say it doesn't. AND THEN I still don't believe them....so making your own is the BEST idea.

I'm sure there are many more. If anyone knows some more...please add.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

still learning — Sat, 12 May 2007 10:55:57 GMT

I seem to use the same recipe as most listed, using 1/4 c apple cider vinegar in the water to help leach the nutritious minerals from the bones. I also add a couple of onions, carrots and celery, course chopped and cook them the entire time. I don't put a lid on the pot, but check in every couple of hours to add water as needed. Usual cooking time for my stock is 8-14 hours on a simmer. I've never had any bitter taste ever, but perhaps because I always use organic veggies. Jim

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

dbaes — Sat, 12 May 2007 03:25:46 GMT

My bit of advice on making stock:
Do *not* put stock strait into the fridge after straining it! If you do, in an hour or 2, you will have slightly cooler stock, along with warm milk, butter, meat, and whatever else is in the fridge. The stock will stay in the 40 deg to 140 deg range way too long and be ideal for growing bacteria - which is not what you want.
After straining the stock, fill a sink with very cold ice water, and put the bowl with the strained stock into it, and stir occasionally. Once it has cooled significantly, then put in the freezer or fridge.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

Aram Ovsepian — Fri, 11 May 2007 23:46:18 GMT

I recommend to drink chicken, beef and fish broth to all of my clients. Broth is easy to digest and it contains an incredible amount of important minerals. Very good when you are sick, recovering from the injury or have a digestive problems.

P.S. I personally like to keep it on the heat as long as possible. Up to 24-48 hours.

re: Making Your Own Chicken Stock

Russ Bianchi — Fri, 11 May 2007 21:45:10 GMT

OK, I have an alternate recipe, or formula, for the all Animal Liberation Front wackos, that will no doubt be writing in, saying chicken stock, or soup, is "unethical, immoral, and disgusting".

A recipe for you macrobiotic/veggie-head/tree-hugger/Al Gore loving/
Animalistas:

Take One Large FULL Pot Of Water, At A Rolling Boil, To The Nearest 100 Foot (Or Greater) Sheer Cliff, To Jagged Rocks, Or Circling Great White Dorsal Fins Below (If Near An Ocean).

Tip Said Pot Of Boiling Water On Your Head In One Swift Motion, AFTER Positioning Yourself At Least Toes Hanging Over The Designated Cliff, Previously Described.

Make Sure In The Motion To Get the Entire Pot Onto Your Head, As A Crash Helmet (SAFETY FIRST!) So You Remain Semi Conscious Until Impact.

Dinner Is Served For The Mountain Lions, Snakes, Coyotes, Buzzards Or Sharks.

Bon Appetit!

;-)

Uncle Russ