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Monday, February 28, 2011

This One's For You Dad

About a week ago I asked all of you to let me know what I should cook/bake.  The results are in….NOTHING!  I didn’t get any suggestions so there was no picking a dish out of a hat and no coming up with a new recipe.  Instead I decided to make something for my Dad, to thank him for the giant stock pot that he gave me on the weekend.  It would have come in handy a couple of weekends ago when I was making my mega batch of Bolognese sauce.
When I was at my Dad’s house on the weekend he asked me how to make chicken stock.  I proceeded to explain the details and he looked at me with a bit of a blank stare.  When I left I thought, I’ll have to go back to my Dad’s house soon and make chicken stock with him.  Then I thought maybe there are a few - more people that want to learn, I should put a step-by-step on my blog.  Here it isJ
It really is quite simple and is another one of those things that I like to make in large batches to bag and freeze for later use.  Here’s what you’re going to need 2 whole roaster chickens, 4 carrots, 4 celery stalks with leaves, 3 onions, 1 head of garlic, fresh thyme, peppercorns and salt.  That’s it!  Sometimes I through in other herbs like rosemary and dill but all I had was thyme so that will do.  Also, I got lucky and Metro had buy one get one free roaster chickens this week. 
I start off coarsely chopping all of the veggies.  I don’t bother peeling the garlic, carrots or onions.   It will all look something like this.
Then I dump all of this into a large stock pot, I put the chickens on top and fill it up with about 6 liters of water. It will look like this

Bring to a boil then reduce the temperature so that the stock simmers.  Let simmer gently for at least 3-4 hours.  It will start to look like this
Then strain the stock into a clean bowl or pot and let chill overnight. It will look like this
I hope anyone who has always wanted to make a chicken stock gives it a try.  There is no comparison to a box stock and it will make you a mean pot of chicken noodle soup.
Just to recap I’ll put the full recipe below
Chicken Stock
Yield about 3-4 liters
Ingredients
  • 2 roaster chickens
  • 3 onions, cut in half, not peeled
  • 4 carrots, tips removed and cut in half
  • 4 stalks of celery, leaves included
  • 1 head of garlic, cut in half
  • 1 bunch fresh thyme
  • 20 peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 6 liters of water
Directions

  1. Prep all of you veggies and add to the bottom of a large stock pot
  2. Place chickens on top of veggies and add 6 liters of water.  The water should just cover all of the ingredients
  3. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.
  4. Strain the stock to remove all of the solids.  Cool stock overnight in a large bowl or pot and discard all of the solids.
  5. Stock can stay in the refrigerator for about 3 days or can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for 2-3 months.
ENJOY!

1 comment:

  1. Dad: Sounds great! When are you coming over?!!

    Carla: I like it b/c you don't have to peel the onions!!

    P.S. I only deleted it b/c trying to get our pic to show up! I give up - must get ready 4 work!!

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear what you think about what you've read on my blog. Let me know if you plan on trying or have tried a recipe....ENJOY!