I am always harping on about how much better home made stock is compared to store bought and especially stock cubes which are all salt with barely a nod to anything that might once have been chicken. So I thought a discussion on how to make it at home would be a good place to start.

Chicken broth… or is it stock? What’s the difference? Is there a difference? Well, there are differences but what the differences are is subject to debate and, I suspect, more a matter of diverse opinion than definitive nomenclature. Some will tell you broth is just the meat and bones simmered a long time in water while stock is the broth flavored with aromatic vegetables. Some will say one is made from meat while the other is made from bones. Blah, blah, blah… What’s in a name anyway? Call it what you like (I like Stock!), and we are going to make some delicious “liquid gold”.

But wait a minute, these days you can buy pretty decent stock bases at the grocery store. Knorr in the UK makes a kind of demi-glace that you dilute in water. Here in the US we have a product called Better Than Bullion which is basically a stock that has been reduced down to thick paste. In both these products there isn’t too much that you wouldn’t put in your own home made stock. They are both shelf stable and keep a long time. So why bother going to the trouble of making your own? A fair question.

In the first place, as good as these ready made stocks are and as convenient, home made is still better. Whereas the store bought product has quite a lot of added salt your home made stock is salt free, allowing the cook to determine how much salt to add. As yet there isn’t a commercially available product that can match the flavor and texture of a well crafted home made stock. And there is always the satisfaction you get from creating something nutritious from what is essentially kitchen scraps! Oh, and by the way, I do not recommend any of the stocks sold in aseptic cartons. They simply don’t taste like chicken stock should and have you ever read the ingredient list on the box?

So, if you still are up for making chicken stock, read on…

Back in the bad old days when people raised chickens, either in the back yard or on the farm, they were primarily for eggs. The hen (as the older bird was called) would eventually stop laying after some years and end up in the pot. The meat on the older birds is tough as old boots and has to be boiled to death to make it edible. It is, however, full of chickeny flavor and goodness and the stock it makes iss very rich and flavorful.

It’s hard to find an old hen these days. Almost all the chickens we buy in the store today are ready for market in as little as 5 weeks from hatching. They may be young and tender at that age but much of chicken flavor is sacrificed for the accelerated growth schedule. That’s why you have to do all kinds of things to tart up a chicken to make it taste of anything; marinades, brines, herb crusts and what have you.

Still, young chickens are what we have to work with so there’s no use complaining; we’ll just get on with it. There is not much to making stock but it does need some planning and a time commitment of a few hours, at least.

You will need some chicken bones to start. When I buy chicken I usually get a whole one and break it down myself if I am not roasting it whole (“Of course you do!” I can here you say, rolling your eyes), but that’s just me. Not only is it much cheaper to buy a whole chicken than chicken parts, all the scrap bits can go in the freezer and when I have enough they go in the stock pot. And the stock you make from the scraps is much cheaper and infinitely better than whatever bullion cubes you buy.

Here’s the thing about chicken bits: the skin and bones are heavy in a substance called collagen which, after long slow cooking breaks down into gelatin. The gelatin gives the stock that rich, unctuous, lip smakin’ mouth feel but it doesn’t taste of much. The flavor comes from the meat, so the bones you use should have a fair bit of meat on them otherwise you will have a great textured but flavorless stock.

Don’t have any chicken bones lying about in the freezer? Go to a butcher shop and ask for some chicken bones. They usually sell them cheap and the backs and wings are best. They have lots of collagen rich skin for superior texture and enough meat for flavor.

What goes in the pot with the chicken? You can add all kinds of things. When you trim the dark top leaves of a leek, freeze them for the stock pot. How about the stems from the shitake or portabello mushrooms you trim off? All of these and more can end up in the stock pot. However, in this case I am of the opinion that less is more. I stick with a simple mirepoix which is the French term for a mix of onion, carrot and celery, collectively called aromatics. (In Italy it is called The Holy Trinity and in Spain, a Sofrito.)

Call it what you will, the proportions for a good mirepoix are: 2 parts onion to 1 part each, carrot and celery.

The amount of mirepoix to add is important also; too much and the vegetable flavor is too pronounced while not enough will render a milder stock. The proportions for a good balance are: 5 parts chicken bones to 1 part mirepoix? Does your brain hurt yet, with all this math? Let me give you and example: I’m using imperial weights here for my selfish convenience. You can convert to metric yourself, remembering that 2.2 lb = 1 Kg.

If you have 5 lb of bones, you will need 1 lb of mirepoix. 1 lb of mirepoix is made up of 1/2 lb onion and 4 oz each of carrot and celery. Clear as mud, right? OK, moving on, if you need clarification on that, please let me know and I’ll try to explain it a bit better.

The mirepoix is the basic addition to the stock. Depending on what I have lying about in the kitchen/fridge, I may add a few whole peppercorns, perhaps a bay leaf or two and maybe some parsley stems and thyme sprigs if I have them.

Now, there are a couple of ways you can proceed with this. You can chuck everything in the pot with water to cover, bring it to a simmer and cook it for a couple of hours. You will get a good stock out of that but it will be thin because the collagen we spoke about before won’t have had time to break down to gelatin yet. Nevertheless, the stock you make by this method is very good and flavorful.

It is important not to cook the veggies longer than 1.5 – 2 hours because the proteins will begin to break down and turn the stock cloudy and give it an off taste. You want a nice clear stock. 

The longer method, and the one I invariably use, is to simmer the bones on their own for 4 – 5 hours before adding the veg. Then I simmer the stock for about an hour longer before straining it. The resulting stock is deliciously rich and flavorful. It is so rich that for most recipes where I use this stock I can dilute it with a little water, thereby stretching out it and making it even more economical. Either way you will get a really good product. Whichever method you decide to use, the long or the short, there are a couple of very important things to remember:

Stocks should NEVER boil. A gentle simmer is all that is needed. If it boils too vigorously impurities that need to be skimmed off will recycle back into the stock and impart a bitter taste. I try to keep my stock at just a sub simmer; around 205°F (95°C)

Skimming is very important. In the first hour or so of simmering a foamy scum will form on top of the pot and you need to skim that off as thoroughly as possible. Keep visiting the pot every 5 – 10 minutes in the first hour or so to skim off the scum. Eventually the production of scum will stop and you can leave the stock alone for hours after that.

Do Not stir the pot, EVER! Once it comes to a simmer leave it alone (skimming notwithstanding) because stirring it will disturb impurities that didn’t make it to the surface to be skimmed off and make the stock cloudy. (Some of the impurities stick to the bones or get trapped in crevices.)

Do Not pour the finished stock through a strainer to strain it. Sounds counterintuitive I know, but for the same reason you don’t want to stir the pot you can’t strain it either. Instead, use a soup ladle and gently nudging the bones and veg aside, scoop out the clear stock into a bowl through a strainer to catch any wayward veggies. Tip the pot to the side as the level gets lower to reach the stock lower down. Eventually you can’t ladle out any more so you have to remove some of the bones to get to the bottom. This last bit of stock isn’t going to be as clear as what you just ladled out but again, being as delicate as you can be, try to get some more stock out. Put this secondary stock in a separate bowl so as not to contaminate the good stuff. At some point you will have to sacrifice the little bit at the bottom of the pot and dump it, along with the bones in the compost bin. (In commercial kitchens the giant stock pots have a tap near the bottom to drain out the clear stock, thereby avoiding disturbing the bones.)

For food safety reasons it is important to chill the stock as quickly as possible. I bought a stack of 2 cup (1/2 L) plastic deli tubs from Amazon and divvy up the stock into them. It cools much faster in small quantities like that than in a big bowl so it can go in the fridge sooner. These deli containers are food safe but if you have a particular aversion to storing food in plastic, use any small bowls you may have. Before I got the plastic tubs I used rice bowls. You can also pour some of the stock into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once frozen the stock ice cubes can go into a ZipLok freezer bag so you don’t have to thaw a whole tub to get just a few tablespoons called for in a recipe. Whatever, get the cooled stock into the fridge as soon as you can.

Next day, if there is any fat in the stock (there won’t be much because you will have skimmed off most of it along with the impurities) it will have solidified on top of the now cooled stock. It is easy to scoop it off with a spoon to leave a completely fat free stock. (Don’t throw the fat away! This schmaltz is a kitchen gem, used for sautéing, in sauces, in mashed spuds instead of or as well as butter, to mention just a few.) Freeze the stock. It will keep a good 3 months or so in your freezer. Don’t forget to label the containers with the date and the contents so you don’t wonder a month later, “What’s this?”

I haven’t given any specific quantities here because how much you make is dependent on how big your pot is. You don’t really need a specific quantity though; using the ratios I gave earlier you can make any quantity you like.

So, let’s review the process:

• Meaty bones and mirepoix at a ratio of 5:1 plus water to cover by at least 1″ (25mm).
• Simmer, do not boil.
• Quick method – Put everything in the pot with enough water to cover. Simmer a couple of hours and “strain”.
• Longer method – Simmer bones 4 – 5 hours. Add veg. Simmer another hour or an hour and a half. “Strain”.
• Either way, skim off the impurities for the first hour or so.
• Cool the strained stock quickly by dividing it among a number of small containers.
• Get it into the fridge, ASAP then freeze.

Now, this is a light colored “blonde” stock for general purpose use. You can make a darker chicken stock by roasting the bones in a hot oven to brown them before adding them to the stock pot. Roasting the bones does several things:
First, it gives the stock a deeper, roasted chicken flavor and second, much of the fat is rendered out in the roasting making a more or less fat free stock. Another benefit to roasting the bones is that the proteins that form the foamy scum are denatured which means less skimming at the beginning of the process. It is an additional and optional step but it comes with worthwhile benefits in my opinion.

Oh, and one last thing; don’t get too hung up on quantities for bones and mirepoix. Near enough is good enough in most cases. You may want to weigh it out first time so you can get a good visual of what the bones and veg look like at that quantity and eyeball it for future batches.