Why I make my own Chicken stock...

I make a lot of homemade soups. I mean, like, A LOT. Soups are easy. They're filling. They're inexpensive. And, they're a good way to use up leftovers. Plus, they freeze well, so it's a great way to make meals in advance. Because I make a lot of soup, I use a lot of broth.

Don't misunderstand. Store bought broth is quick, easy, and inexpensive. There are even a bunch of brands now that are are "all-natural" and "organic". But, as I've mentioned before, I am a super cheapskate and I hate buying things just to throw them away. Hypothetically, if I were to buy some all-natural chicken broth, it would be a healthy option, but I'm spending about $5 for a quart (or about $10 just for the broth in my homemade soup), and I now have 2 containers I need to dispose of.

On the other hand, an entire chicken is also about $5. This one little chicken will give you enough meat for more than a few different recipes, as well as a few GALLONS of all natural broth. Plus, you can control the amount of fat and sodium... Plus, it couldn't be simpler.




You'll need:
A crockpot
a whole chicken (roaster, fryer, even a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken would work)
vegetable scraps (whenever I prepare carrots, onions or celery, I throw the scraps into a bag in my freezer just for this reason. Just make sure to wash well first. You're going to be putting this directly into your broth)
Whole peppercorns and Bay leaves (optional, but they give a lot of flavor)
Tap water

Directions:
Prepare your chicken. Usually the "odds and ends" pieces are tucked away inside (neckbones, liver, etc). Sometimes, they're in a plastic bag. Get rid of the plastic bag, but keep the rest.
You can either roast the chicken first, but it's not necessary. It will change the flavor a little and will get rid of some of the fat, but neither of those matter to me.

Place the chicken in your crockpot. Dump in your vegetable scraps. Pour in enough tap water to just cover the chicken. (If your crockpot is small, you can cut the chicken into pieces first). Add your peppercorns and bay leaves, if using. Cover and turn your crockpot on. (either high or low setting works, use your own judgement) Then, just leave it alone for 24 hours.

After 24 hours:
Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Ladle out a quart of broth; it is ready to use in your recipe right now, or you can set aside for later. Add a quart of water to the crockpot to replace the broth that you just took out.

Once the cooked chicken is cool enough to handle, start separating the meat from the skin and bones. It should all be falling apart at this point. Set aside the meat for use in other recipes. Return the bones and skin to the crockpot.

Once a day, you can take out about a quart of broth and replace with water. After about 5-7 days, all of the nutrients will have been boiled out of the bones and they will lose their integrity (AKA: get all crumbly)
At this point, pour what is left in the crockpot through a strainer and discard the solid bits (I throw these scraps in the compost)

Straining your broth:
The broth that you remove from the crockpot will likely have a lot of fat in it. Put it in the refrigerator, the fat will rise to the top and solidify, leaving a thick white layer at the top. When you're ready to use, just remove this layer with a spoon. You can pour the remaining broth through a coffee filter to remove any tiny fat particle you may have missed. (I put this fat aside to be used later, but that's a story for another day)

Reducing your broth:
I like to make a lot of broth at one time and then reduce it to store for later use.

Just pour the broth into a large stockpot and bring to a boil. I like to reduce it to 1/4 of the original volume. This is the easiest way I've found to do this. Once you've poured your broth into the pot, put the handle of a wooden spoon into it to measure the depth (kind of like checking your oil)

When you pull the handle out, make a note of where the liquid stopped. Estimate what 1/4 of this length is and mark the handle with a pen. Keep boiling your broth until you can see this mark at the top of the broth when the handle is placed back into the pot. Once reduced, let cool and then portion out to freeze.
1/4 cup frozen broth reduction = 1 cup broth
1 cup frozen broth reduction = 1 quart broth
1 quart frozen broth reduction = 1 gallon broth
Just add that water back in when you're making your soup, or used in this reduced form for sauces

I like to freeze it in icecube trays. This way, I know that 2 cubes can be reconstituted to 1 cup of broth.

The flavor of this broth is better than anything you can buy at the store. Just remember that it doesn't have any added salt, so you'll need to adjust your recipes accordingly.