Chickens: Chicken Stock
I've always loved stocks and sauces. They add an inexpensive explosion of flavors to most any meal, spicing them up a little or a lot depending on your recipe and on the amount you use. The first sauce I came to love as a child was catsup and I still do! In fact, I make my own catsup, whoops, I mean table sauce now. And the asian style Plum Sauce I make with plums from my plum trees...out of this world!
Years ago I sold fresh Vermont duck, pheasant, game hens, turkey, lamb, forage, etc., to some of the finest restaurants in Vermont and the NYC/NJ metroplex. I became friends with a couple of chefs from 3 and 4 star kitchens. I always watched and listened whenever I was in their kitchens. I picked up alot of what I know about cooking from these men. One of them now lives in Vermont and we're close friends so I'm still learning, always learning.
Stocks, reduction sauces, and soups are a normal part of life on the homestead. My wood cook stove is always running and many times you'll find a pot of something cooking away. Chicken stock is so versatile. You can use it to cook your rice in for a savory rice dish or boil your potatoes in for some extra flavor. Use it as a broth for someone who's ill or as a base for soup or other sauces. Be creative.
Remember all the extra pieces from my Killing, Plucking, Eviscerating and Cutting Up Your Chicken pictorial?
Here's how I use some of them.
I'm using the backbones, necks and feet in this stock.
I grow alot of my vegetables in raised bedsit works great in Vermont.
I always leave carrots, parsnips and beets in one of them to harvest throughout the winter.
Here I dug up some carrots for my stock and they were delicious.
I'll can the rest of the bed sometime soon.
Chicken, Celery, Onions, Carrots
Pack it all on there, it'll roast down.
Roast at 300° or so until nice and brown.
Just about right.
It looks good enough to munch on already.
Into the stock pot.
I never seem to have enough stock pots, do you?
And let it boil for hours, adding water as necessary.
I cook on a wood fired cook stove that we also use for heat, it's always hot.
What a great place to keep a pot cooking.
My stock has cooked for a little over 24 hours.
It has a gelatinous consistency and is as flavorful as it looks!
Time to strain all the chunks out.
I'll run this through my meat grinder and feed it to my dogs.
It's resting now with all the fat hardening on the top for easy removal.
Before I removed the fat layer.
After the fat is removed.
Yummy.
All canned and ready to rock 'n roll!
I've always loved stocks and sauces. They add an inexpensive explosion of flavors to most any meal, spicing them up a little or a lot depending on your recipe and on the amount you use. The first sauce I came to love as a child was catsup and I still do! In fact, I make my own catsup, whoops, I mean table sauce now. And the asian style Plum Sauce I make with plums from my plum trees...out of this world!
Years ago I sold fresh Vermont duck, pheasant, game hens, turkey, lamb, forage, etc., to some of the finest restaurants in Vermont and the NYC/NJ metroplex. I became friends with a couple of chefs from 3 and 4 star kitchens. I always watched and listened whenever I was in their kitchens. I picked up alot of what I know about cooking from these men. One of them now lives in Vermont and we're close friends so I'm still learning, always learning.
Stocks, reduction sauces, and soups are a normal part of life on the homestead. My wood cook stove is always running and many times you'll find a pot of something cooking away. Chicken stock is so versatile. You can use it to cook your rice in for a savory rice dish or boil your potatoes in for some extra flavor. Use it as a broth for someone who's ill or as a base for soup or other sauces. Be creative.
Remember all the extra pieces from my Killing, Plucking, Eviscerating and Cutting Up Your Chicken pictorial?
Here's how I use some of them.
I'm using the backbones, necks and feet in this stock.
I grow alot of my vegetables in raised bedsit works great in Vermont.
I always leave carrots, parsnips and beets in one of them to harvest throughout the winter.
Here I dug up some carrots for my stock and they were delicious.
I'll can the rest of the bed sometime soon.
Chicken, Celery, Onions, Carrots
Pack it all on there, it'll roast down.
Roast at 300° or so until nice and brown.
Just about right.
It looks good enough to munch on already.
Into the stock pot.
I never seem to have enough stock pots, do you?
And let it boil for hours, adding water as necessary.
I cook on a wood fired cook stove that we also use for heat, it's always hot.
What a great place to keep a pot cooking.
My stock has cooked for a little over 24 hours.
It has a gelatinous consistency and is as flavorful as it looks!
Time to strain all the chunks out.
I'll run this through my meat grinder and feed it to my dogs.
It's resting now with all the fat hardening on the top for easy removal.
Before I removed the fat layer.
After the fat is removed.
Yummy.
All canned and ready to rock 'n roll!
