I have decided to start making my own Chicken stock, rather than buy the chicken stock base that I currently use. Ina Garten is one of my life heroes and I seriously couldn't put into words how much I LOVE her. I have been wanting to make her chicken stock recipe for YEARS, but was never able to, because I didn't have a pot big enough. One of the things she consistently says is that homemade stock is SO worth using in a recipe, because it makes a really big difference.
So I made her recipe and HOLY COW, IT DOES. I am never buying bullion again! Ever!
Here is everything in the pot ready to go:
3 whole organic chickens, celery, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, fresh dill, thyme & parsley, and lots of filtered water.
After simmering for only HALF the time, the liquid was already a golden color and the whole house smelled divine!
After it was done and I let it cool, discarded all of the solids, and separated the chicken meat from the bones to a bowl to use for different things (chicken soup, chicken & dressing, and chicken enchiladas).
And then I strained the stock into a different pot, and came out with an ~8 quart pot of stock!
Since that first batch, which was a home run, I have altered the recipe a bit and learned a couple lessons:
1. I assemble everything in the pot differently to make it all fit better. This way I was able to add more water, and I also kept adding water as it cooked off. This version rendered a significantly more amount of broth - about 8 cups more!
2. I added 6 tablespoons of Braggs apple cider vinegar. This was a step that combined the Nourishing Traditions recipe, which is possibly the single best cookbook ever written. It explains so much about health and how to eat truly HEALTHY. One of the healthiest and most healing things to make and eat, is bone broth. The recipes were very similar, but adding an acid helps leach more of the goodness out of the bones, so in my second batch I did that, and it didn't affect the taste much if any, so I will continue to do that.
3. I cut the wings off the chickens to expose more bone. Honestly, I'm not sure if I would do this again. It was a pain, and I'm not sure if it made THAT much of a difference. Both recipes turned into a beautiful gelatinous consistency.
4. I cooked it for MUCH longer. Ina's recipe says 6 hrs, but the Nourishing Traditions says to cook it for anywhere from 6-24 hours. So I made it first thing in the morning, let it cook until right when I went to bed (~12 hours), let it cool over night, and then separated the broth, chicken and solids that next morning.
Both batches tasted DIVINE! I have lots of stock in my freezer to use in the near future, and I am never buying pre made stock/broth/bullion again! Between how easy it is to make, the taste being much superior, and the healing/nourishing properties of making it from scratch - it's a no-brainer!
Plus, I get to use my fabulous pot on a regular basis!
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