Classic Chicken Stock

I believe this may be the most basic recipe ever featured on my blog. I know it sounds like a no brainer, but I have never made chicken stock from scratch. I have prepared vegetable stock on the fly, without a recipe, but that is the closest I have come to preparing classic stock. As many of you know, I have not eaten chicken in over 13 years so touching and preparing raw chicken is a stretch for me. Even though this recipe allows for chicken bones, wings and thighs; I chose to use a whole free range organic chicken from PCC Market. This was much easier to handle than separated sections of chicken.

I have not yet decided what I am going to make with my stock. I may end up freezing it in recipe portions or preparing homemade soup for dinner tomorrow night. Either way, this should be delicious and it is so much less expensive than purchasing pre-prepared organic chicken stock.

Ingredients:
4 lbs chicken with bones (or chicken bones, wings and thighs)
4 qts (16 cups) cold water
1 onion, stuck with 4 cloves
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp black peppercorns

Place chicken and water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove any remnants that rise to top of water. Add onion, carrot, celery, parsley, bay leaf, thyme and pepper. Simmer 2 to 3 hours.

Strain, cool and refrigerate. Lift off fat with spoon.

Use within 2 to 3 days or freeze. You may also freeze immediately after cooking. Makes about 2 quarts but recipe may be doubled. Hint: make in large quantity and freeze in portions that match amounts required in favorite recipes.

I tasted the stock and it is quite flavorful. I also appreciate that the degree of saltiness is mine to determine. Although I followed the above recipe, I couldn't resist making a few additions; 2 smashed cloves of garlic and one extra rib of celery with leaves. I would also consider adding chopped fennel to my next batch.

As a side note, all vegetables used in this recipe were organic and the parsley was harvested fresh from my garden. Enjoy!

Source:
"Creative Soups and Salads" by Lou Seibert Pappas
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