Making Chicken Stock

This past week I came down with the worst cold ever.  Usually I can get through my days with a cold as long as I have a box of tissues handy.  But not this time, I was knocked out for almost a week.  And while I was ill all I could think about was homemade broth and soup.  There really is something to the old wives' remedy of hot broth when you are wrapped in blankets on the couch bemoaning the fact that you have yet to buy stock in Kleenex after you blow your nose for the millionth time.

Making stock is really the simplest of things and so wonderful to have on hand all the time.  The only catch is that you need time.  I tend to make stock on laundry day, when I know I will be home for several hours.  Plus there is the added incentive that after going up and down 5 flights of stairs to the laundry room, when I walk into the apartment it will smell heavenly.

Not all stocks that you can buy in the store are gluten free, you have to be very careful and read the labels.  Plus, they add so much sodium to them that I can't stand the overwhelming salt flavor.  So I make my own. All you need to make your own chicken stock is a leftover chicken carcass from a roasted chicken.  What if you don't roast your own chicken?  Well, you should try that one day, but even if you don't, I am willing to bet that once in awhile you buy those roasted chickens at the grocery store to bring home for dinner.  And there you have your carcass once you have picked it clean. Now you don't have to make the stock right away, I often don't have time to make stock after dinner, nor am I going to leave our gas stove on overnight while we sleep.  All you have to do is put the carcass in a zip lock bag and put it in your freezer until you are ready to make stock.  That is what I did with the stock I made for this post.  I had roasted a chicken two weeks ago with sage, lemon and sea salt.  When we were done I saved all the bones in the freezer until I was ready to make stock.

Once the stock is made I put them in 4 and 8oz sized Tupperware containers and freeze them until I need them.  A friend who has a smaller freezer than I uses zip lock baggies and freezes them flat so that they take up less room.  Whatever works best for your storage is what you should do.  Once frozen the stock lasts up to a year, however you will find that you never let it stay that long in your freezer.  I use my stock for soup, mashed potatoes (instead of adding milk or cream), stew, curries, and the base for some sauces.

Now this recipe is for one single carcass, which makes approximately a gallon or so of stock.  I don't have a stock pan large enough for more than one carcass, and I also don't have the freezer space for more than a gallon of stock.  If you have more than one carcass, and a stock pot large enough, you can easily double or triple the recipe.

What you will need
one large onion
4 or 5 stalks of celery
2 large carrots
two cloves garlic
2 springs rosemary
5 sage leaves
about 4 or 5 sprigs of thyme
10 peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
chicken carcass

Now - these are the herbs that I like best in my stock, I encourage you to play around with herbs and see what you like best.  I have a friend who loves dill and always uses it in her stock.  The vegetables, or aromatics, used are also a part of the flavors for your stock, and what I have listed are the basic aromatics for stock making.  You could also use leeks, mushrooms, shallots, or parsnips according to what you like for flavors.

I would suggest making the recipe as it is listed above if you have never made stock before, then once you know how to make this stock, play around and discover other flavors.


Remove the papery outer layer of the onion and garlic.  Then chop the onion, carrot, and celery into large chunks. No need to be overly particular about size, and you can keep the tops of the celery and carrots intact.  Place in your stock pan with the oil and garlic over medium heat and sweat the vegetables for about 3 minutes.

Once the onions have started to become a little translucent, add the herbs, salt and peppercorns.

Cook for one minute, then turn down the heat to low and add your chicken and enough water to cover.

For those of you with sharp eyes - yes, that is a lemon wedge floating in there.  Remember I had frozen the carcass?  Well, apparently I had missed a lemon from the cavity and once submerged it floated out.  I am leaving it though, there is no reason why my broth can not have a wee citrus zing. 

Put a lid on your stock and simmer on low for 4 to 6 hours.  Every 15 minutes of the first hour you should check the stock and skim off any "scum" that rises.  The scum is nothing more than denatured protein from the carcass, and is not bad for the stock, if you do not skim it off it will eventually dissolve back into the stock, but will leave your broth cloudy.  It is purely an aesthetic choice to skim the scum.  If you forget or don't want to, don't worry about it.

If the water level drops significantly while it is simmering (maybe your stove top runs hot, or your lid does not make a good seal with your pan), top it off with more water.

After simmering for 4 hours taste test it.  If you are happy with the flavor, great.  If you want the flavor to deepen more, then allow to simmer longer.  Once done, remove as much of the carcass as you can and strain the broth through a fine sieve into a large glass or ceramic container to cool.  The broth will be hot, so I don't recommend putting it in any plastic container to cool.  The bones and vegetables will also be hot - learn from my experience and don't immediately put them in the garbage - they will melt your garbage bag and make a mess.  Wait until they also have cooled and then thrown them out.

And now you have your own stock to use as you please in lots of wonderful ways.  Enjoy!