Best method for stock

Kimia

It's nearing soup season! So, what's the best way to make stock? A really good, unctuous and flavourful chicken stock. Any suggestions?

Honey-ec

I use Darina Allen's chicken stock, it's lovely.

MAKES ABOUT 3.5 LITRES


2–3 raw or cooked chicken carcasses
1 onion, sliced
1 leek, split in two
1 outside celery stick or 1 lovage leaf
1 carrot, sliced
a few parsley stalks
sprig of thyme
6 peppercorns
Chop up the carcasses as much as possible. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and cover with about 3.4 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil. Skim the fat off the top with a tablespoon. Simmer for 3-5 hours. Strain and remove any remaining fat. Do not add salt.


Stock will keep for several days in the refrigerator. If you want to keep it for longer, boil it up again for 5-6 minutes every couple of days; allow it to get cold and refrigerate again. Or, do what I do and freeze it in 500ml portions.


I usually make a third-quantity of this every time I have a roast chicken, but if you could only be bothered making the full quantity, just freeze your leftover chicken carcasses until you have enough to make the full recipe.

Ophiopogon

personally I would not use a recipe for stock, I don't see the need really.

I freeze any bits of veg i have after making dinners, peelings etc. and freeze the chicken carcass after roasts. If I want I light stock I use one and more if I want really nice one.

For bone stocks I think time spent is the best practice, like 8+ hours simmering away.

Faith

chubnut, I have deleted your post. Unless you have a recipe to contribute (that's not "buy a stock pot"), don't bother posting on this thread again.

Honey-ec

Ophiopogon wrote: »

personally I would not use a recipe for stock, I don't see the need really.

I freeze any bits of veg i have after making dinners, peelings etc. and freeze the chicken carcass after roasts. If I want I light stock I use one and more if I want really nice one.

I'd call it a method more than a recipe. There's certain veg that shouldn't be used in a stock - brassicas, potatoes and beetroot, for example - so it's not really helpful to just say "use whatever you like" to someone who may not have made stock before.

Ophiopogon

Fair enough, I was really reacting to the post that has been deleted (about the expense of said recipe for stock) and my point was that you can just use your leftovers. I was not really thinking about beginners.

Honey-ec

Ophiopogon wrote: »

Fair enough, I was really reacting to the post that has been deleted (about the expense of said recipe for stock) and my point was that you can just use your leftovers. I was not really thinking about beginners.

Fair enough as well, I didn't see the deleted post. All the veg in the Darina recipe is stuff I'd always have to hand anyway, so I wouldn't consider it an expensive thing to make at all (if that's what the deleted post was insinuating). And I would have thought it would pretty much go without saying that you'd make it with the leftovers of a chicken you'd already used, not to go out specifically buying chicken carcasses to make stock with!

Jellybaby1

This my own recipe which I put somewhere else here but I just saw your question now. It's a simple recipe and works well for us:

After we've finished with a roasted chicken, I put all the carcass (except the skin) into a saucepan and cover with cold water, break the bones if necessary to fit it into the pot. I add some mixed fresh herbs if I have them or leave out if I don't, a couple of onions cut in half, a couple of carrots cut in half and bring to the boil, remove any scum from the top of liquid if necessary, simmer for 20-30 mins and strain off the liquid, which is the chicken stock. When its cold, remove any solidified fat from the top. I don't add salt to the stock but I do add a little salt to soup which I would make with the stock. We think this is a pretty good stock, little or no fat, no salt. Other folk may do it differently. I don't bother reducing the liquid for a stronger flavour.

I pour the cold stock into jamjars and cover with lids and freeze. Suits me well.

the beer revolu

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

This my own recipe which I put somewhere else here but I just saw your question now. It's a simple recipe and works well for us:

After we've finished with a roasted chicken, I put all the carcass (except the skin) into a saucepan and cover with cold water, break the bones if necessary to fit it into the pot. I add some mixed fresh herbs if I have them or leave out if I don't, a couple of onions cut in half, a couple of carrots cut in half and bring to the boil, remove any scum from the top of liquid if necessary, simmer for 20-30 mins and strain off the liquid, which is the chicken stock. When its cold, remove any solidified fat from the top. I don't add salt to the stock but I do add a little salt to soup which I would make with the stock. We think this is a pretty good stock, little or no fat, no salt. Other folk may do it differently. I don't bother reducing the liquid for a stronger flavour.

I pour the cold stock into jamjars and cover with lids and freeze. Suits me well.

You're leaving a lot of the flavour behind by only cooking it for 20-30 minutes. Chicken stock takes about 1 1/2 hours, beef or lamb stock about 3-4 hours.
Fish stock cooks in 20 - 30 minutes.

Jellybaby1

the beer revolu wrote: »

You're leaving a lot of the flavour behind by only cooking it for 20-30 minutes. Chicken stock takes about 1 1/2 hours, beef or lamb stock about 3-4 hours.
Fish stock cooks in 20 - 30 minutes.

Thanks. Problem is, every time I need to make chicken stock, I don't have those hours. I'll plan it next time. I expect you are right.

Kimia

I'm about to embark on a soup cooking frenzy this weekend but I have 2 questions before I begin.

1) Can you use raw bones when making stock?

2) How long will my soup last once made? It will be in a large pot on my stove and will be reheated every day.

Thanks!

the beer revolu

Kimia wrote: »

I'm about to embark on a soup cooking frenzy this weekend but I have 2 questions before I begin.

1) Can you use raw bones when making stock?

2) How long will my soup last once made? It will be in a large pot on my stove and will be reheated every day.

Thanks!

Yes you can use raw bones to make a white stock.
Roast them if you want a darker and richer stock.

A large pot of soup won't last too long out of the fridge - and definitely don't go reheating the whole pot - just heat what you want each time.
Best to refrigerate the lot and heat just what you need - that way it should easily last 4-5 days or more. If the pot is too big, put it into clean containers.

I do not recommend what you suggest in 2)

duploelabs

One piece of advice I can give to anyone who's making stock as I've seen it done by many people. When you are adding the water to your veg/carcass/etc, make sure the water is cold, then heat it up. If you start with cold water, it will leach out the flavour out of the bones and veg, if you start with hot water, it will seal in the flavour.

Kimia

the beer revolu wrote: »

Yes you can use raw bones to make a white stock.
Roast them if you want a darker and richer stock.

A large pot of soup won't last too long out of the fridge - and definitely don't go reheating the whole pot - just heat what you want each time.
Best to refrigerate the lot and heat just what you need - that way it should easily last 4-5 days or more. If the pot is too big, put it into clean containers.

I do not recommend what you suggest in 2)

Thanks Beer. What's wrong with reheating the entire pot every day? Genuinely curious as my grandmother used to make giant pots of soup and it'd be on the range all the time. She'd heat the entire pot up every evening.

Would the quality be compromised or is it food safety? Reason I ask is because I would be under the impression that when you reheat the soup each evening it kills off all the bacteria.

rubadub

the beer revolu wrote: »

You're leaving a lot of the flavour behind by only cooking it for 20-30 minutes. Chicken stock takes about 1 1/2 hours, beef or lamb stock about 3-4 hours.

I expect a pressure cooker would speed things up hugely, I have one that can be run at 28psi, this would destroy the likes of potatoes but should be OK for stocks. Most pressure cookers around now only go to 12psi, make sure you at least get a 15psi if getting one.

Little Alex

I made Buffalo wings on Friday and got some lovely chicken jelly/stock out of them too! Dunnes Stores is the only supermarket I know that sells free range chicken wings so that's where I get them. Anyway...

I roasted the wings on both sides until nicely coloured. After eating the wings I took the bones, washed them quickly in hot water and snipped them all in two with the kitchen shears. I then boiled water in the kettle, poured about a pint into the roasting tray and "dissolved" all the jelly and fat that the wings threw off during roasting, stirring with a spatula.

I then put the cut bones and the roasting tray water into a pot on low heat and let it simmer lightly for an hour or so with the lid on. During the simmering any remaing chilli sauce (Frank's, in my case!) comes to the surface in the droplets of fat and can easily be spooned off, leaving an untainted stock.

After letting it cool for a while I strained the liquid into a pint glass, let it cool to room temperature and put it into the fridge. The fat separated and floated to the top, turning to into a half inch ring of solid, tasty chicken fat. This can be left or scooped off and used for roast potatoes. The stock itself turned into really thick jelly. It is literally like a glass of Chivers jelly!

I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but it smells great and it's not bad at all for the letfovers of only eight chicken wings (sixteen pieces).

Not forgetting that after the further cooking the last shreds of meat, skin and cartilage literally fall away from the bones and makes a fine treat for the dog (or cat).

nosietoes

a couple of years ago I went on a research frenzy online about chicken stock and came up with loads of different version, some of which I took to heart. At the same time I started working in a kitchen that made perfect chicken stock a few times a week (wish I hadn't wasted all the time beforehand researching chicken stock) My tips as a chef:

Don't add too much water to your stock. Just cover the carcass (cooked or raw, as long as you take off excess skin and fat) and vegetables (carrots, leek, onions, celery, thyme, parsley, bay, pepper corns, spring onion or any combination of these things that are hanging around your fridge).

Bring up to the boil uncovered. Skim off any foam that comes up. That's the dirt and impurities of the meat or dirty veg coming to the top.

Do not let fully boil. If you boil the stock you release fat in the bones of the meat that make the stock oiler. Most great food writers suggest you bring the stock to the point where it is quivering. ( One, I can't remember who, refers to the stock smiling at this stage - oddly poetric)

Do not cover the stock. It will make it cloudy. Unless you don't mind about cloudiness then go ahead.

Cook for at least an hour and a half, and up to 3 hours.

Skim off excess fat once cooled.

* If you are unsure about the freshness of your stock, bring it back up to the boil. If it bubbles a lot, don't eat it. It has gone off.

the beer revolu

Kimia wrote: »

Thanks Beer. What's wrong with reheating the entire pot every day? Genuinely curious as my grandmother used to make giant pots of soup and it'd be on the range all the time. She'd heat the entire pot up every evening.

Would the quality be compromised or is it food safety? Reason I ask is because I would be under the impression that when you reheat the soup each evening it kills off all the bacteria.

The boiling of it is fine it's the hours that it sits cooling at temps that bacteria thrive in is the problem.
Your granny possibly kept the soup hot all the time rather than heating and cooling it - and people were made of tougher stuff then;)
While boiling will kill any bacteria present it won't always destroy toxins that they may have been released before hand.

huskerdu

the beer revolu wrote: »

The boiling of it is fine it's the hours that it sits cooling at temps that bacteria thrive in is the problem.
Your granny possibly kept the soup hot all the time rather than heating and cooling it - and people were made of tougher stuff then;)
While boiling will kill any bacteria present it won't always destroy toxins that they may have been released before hand.

Also, Grannies kitchen was unlikely to be as warm and constantly centrally heated as yours. As was said above, the soup sitting around warm for hours will allow bacteria to thrive.

Faith

And also, repeatedly reheating something will affect the flavour and texture, and most likely reduce the nutritional benefits.

the beer revolu

Also a large pot of soup or stew can easily sour if not cooled quickly enough.
I don't believe this is harmful but it generally tastes pretty rank.