Chicken Broth & Stock

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 4-6 pound whole chicken
7 quarts (28 cups) water
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 medium onion
1 head garlic (optional)
1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

Put 7 quarts (28 cups) of water in a 12 quart pan and put on high heat. Chop 2 celery stalks, 2 carrots and 1 medium onion and add to water. These can be rough chopped since they’re for flavor not consumption. Crush 1 head of garlic and add to the pan with 1 tablespoon of salt.

Remove the neck and gizzards from the whole chicken cavity. Rinse the chicken and slowly lower it into the pot, being careful not to splash hot water on you.

Cover the pan and bring the ingredients to a boil. Once you reach the point of boiling, lower the temperature to 1/4 heat or less. The point is to maintain the slow boil without having the contents boil over the covered pan.

Boil the chicken for 1 1/2 hours. When it’s through. Turn the heat off, uncover and allow it to cool. Once it’s cool, remove the chicken in pieces with a set of tongs. Do not attempt to remove the entire chicken as it may fall back in the pot and splash you.

Pick all the edible meat off the chicken. If you are making broth, proceed to the *** section of this recipe. If you are making stock, take the chicken bones and renderings, but not the meat, and add them back into the pot and cover it. Bring the contents back to a boil for up to an hour. Again, lower the temperature so the stock does not boil over.

This will create a rich stock.

***When the broth or stock are through being cooked. Allow them to cool. Then strain out the impurities into an 8 quart pan. Place the broth or stock into your refrigerator overnight. The next day, take the pan out of the refrigerator and scrape the floating yellow fat off the top. Try to get all of it to avoid making a greasy broth or stock.

Now you have a delicious homemade broth or stock that can also be used as the base for soup and other dishes.