Home Made Chicken Stock

Hello again all, hope everyone had a great holiday season! Over the last couple of weeks of cooking, teaching, catering, found myself using a lot more stock than usual and thought about how often people just buy a simple stock from the grocery store. For those that haven't had the pleasure of using a freshly prepared stock, I suggest trying the following recipe for a simple chicken stock. The flavour will be immense and using a quality bird will enhance it even more so. Enjoy!

1. To make basic chicken stock, we used the bones from two organic chickens, water, 2 medium onions, 2 medium carrots, 2 stalks celery and 1/4 of celery leaves, 15 whole black peppercorns, and a bay leaf. This yields about 2 quarts of stock.
2. Remove as much fat from the chicken bones as possible. Don't worry about getting it all; you'll skim off the remaining fat before the stock is finished.

3. Place the bones in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring the water to a near-boil, and immediately reduce the heat to low. (Boiling causes impurities to churn in the pot rather than rise to the top where you can skim off any foam.) Cooking at a low simmer ensures a clear golden stock.

4. While the water is heating, chop the vegetables. Since they'll be discarded after flavoring the stock, they don't need to be bite-sized: quarter the onions or cut them in large chunks.
5. Peel and trim the ends off the carrots. Cut them in thirds or coarsely chop.
6. You can add the entire celery stalk, leaves and all--just be sure to clean the leaves thoroughly. Cut the celery into chunks.
7. Combine the chopped veggies, peppercorns, and bay leaf in a bowl.
8. Check the simmering stock: a layer of fat will have risen to the surface.
9. Use a ladle or skimmer to strain off the fat.
10. After the stock has simmered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, add the vegetables to the pot. Bring the stock back to a simmer and cook for an additional 45 minutes, skimming occasionally if fat rises to the surface.
11. Strain the stock through a fine colander.
12. The finished stock should be a clear, light tan color and have little or no fat floating on the surface. The stock is now ready to use. If you don't need the full amount for soup, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze them, so you'll have small amounts ready to use.
After making this a few times, start adding a few simple herbs to change the flavor, some garlic or ginger for a nice twist.