Homemade Chicken Broth

The best thing I've ever done to improve my cooking has been to make my own chicken broth. Making homemade chicken broth may sound intimidating, but it is probably the easiest thing in the world to make, it just takes a little block of time. This small investment each month has transformed my cooking from good to amazing. I get to pick all my fresh ingredients and I especially like that I can control the amount of salt added, which in this case, I add no salt to the broth. Opting to salt only after I use it in a dish. Not adding salt lends flexibility so I can reduce my broth to a demi-glace for that pop of intense flavor without it getting overly salty as it concentrates. If you were to do this with canned chicken broth, it would get too salty as it reduces. 

So next time you see whole chickens on sale, buy them and make your own chicken broth. When I'm ready to make broth, I buy two whole chickens and cut them up. I cut off the chicken legs, thighs and breasts and vacuum seal the meat and stick it in the freezer. What's left over...the rib cage, chicken necks and chicken wings gets tossed into the stock pot. This time, I also included a whole chicken leg and de-boned my thighs and put the thigh bones into the pot as well. Now we are ready to get started.

Homemade Chicken Broth

Makes about 16 cups

2 chicken carcasses, skin removed
filtered water
2 onions, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 bunch parsley stems
2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
8 sprigs of fresh thyme

Prepare your vegetables and set aside.
Remove the meat from your whole chicken and freeze for use later. Next remove the skin from the remaining carcass. It's ok to leave the skin on the wings. Fill up your stock pot with cold water so that it covers the chicken bones and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, immediately, turn the heat down to a very low simmer.

Once the water comes to a boil, the impurities will float to the top. Turn down the heat to low and skim with a spoon to remove the floating proteins and foam.

Add the onions, carrots and celery and heat at a very low simmer for 3-4 hours. Resist the urge to stir your stock. The key to clear chicken broth is that you don't stir or disturb the pot. Very low and very slow and no stirring. The water should never be boiling from this point on. The first boil was to remove impurities but now it sits and simmers for the next 3-4 hours.

After 3-4 hours of simmering, add your bouquet garni, which is parsley stems, thyme, bay leaves and black peppercorns and continue to simmer for one more hour. Make sure you only use the stems of parsley, if you use the leaves, the broth will take on a green color.

Turn off the heat and prepare to strain and freeze your homemade chicken broth. Get a clean stock pot and a chinois and place two layers of cheesecloth in it. If you don't have a strainer like this, use a collander layered with cheesecloth. Begin ladling hot broth into the strainer, allowing the clear broth to collect in the clean stock pot. Continue straining until all broth is collected and only bones and vegetables remain in your original stock pot.

To prevent spoilage, you'll need to cool your stock down quickly in order to place it in the freezer. I set up an ice bath with pre-labeled freezer bags, like this. (Normally I use a bigger ice bath but my other container was holding baked goods so I had to improvise, so give your self some room and use a bigger ice bath than this one. ;) 

Ladle 2 cups of hot broth into a measuring cup and then transfer broth into labeled freezer bags sitting in an ice bath. Zip up bag, taking care to remove as much air as possible. Let it sit in the ice bath until cooled a bit. Place sealed bag flat on a cookie sheet. Continue to cool and place bags of broth on cookie sheet making sure there are no leaks. I place a piece of parchment between the layers of bags so when they freeze they don't stick to each other. Place cookie sheet of bagged broth into the freezer until frozen. Once frozen, you can stack them in the freezer without the parchment paper or the cookie sheet. You're done. Now you have homemade chicken broth at the ready.

Other recipes to try:

How to make Dill Pickles

How to Roasted Peppers in the Oven