How often do you take those little cubes you put in your "home made" chicken soup for granted? Without the flavor that bullion cubes or canned chicken stock gives your soup, it comes out flat and boring. Kinda like boiled chicken with salt and garlic. Well the beauty of this post is that not only will it teach you to make your own stock, but it will teach you to be less wasteful. It also saves a ton of money. Throwing away this source of nutrition would be a big no no when you're trying to survive. You can make stock from the bones of any animal, though chicken and beef are the most common. For this one let's start with chicken, as the process is pretty similar either way. The basic idea is to boil bones low and slow to get all that tasty marrow out. Pretty easy right?
Ingredients-
-One dead chicken
-Whatever vegetables you have in the fridge
-All drippings left over from cooking aforementioned dead chicken
-Salt
Start with a whole roaster chicken, prepare it however you like. If you're planning on making soup, roasting the whole chicken is best, save the drippings. Put the meat in the fridge or freezer to add to the soup after the stock is done. Butchering first is fine too, just save all the bones and skin. They can be frozen as well, I like to save up two or three chicken carcasses and boil them all at once. Add all the bones to a big stockpot or crockpot and cover with water. Now add everything else. I prefer the slow cooker method as it uses less energy but on the stove is just fine too. (next project will be the solar cooker) As far as vegetables, I like to make sure I at least have a half onion per chicken and a few cloves of garlic. The more stuff you use, the better the flavor. Celery, potatoes, leeks, scallions, and apples have all worked well for me. You can add spices if you'd like, bear in mind it will limit what you can do with the stock.
If using a slow cooker, put on low and simmer for a minimum of twelve hours. For stovetop, bring to boil and turn down to simmer for twelve hours as well. The longer it goes, the better. I prefer over 24 hours. After it's boiled for as long as you like, remove from heat and strain out all the solids. The veggies are great for the dog, but for the most part the rest is garbage. To be as thorough as possible I put aside the big bones and let them cool long enough to handle them. Break the bones in half and put them in a pot on the stove and add the stock. Add salt to taste, it should be very salty, maybe double what you would put in the same amount of soup. Boil the stock uncovered for an additional hour. This removes some of the water content and gets the last little bit out of the bones. Boiling it down really just saves space for storage, if you're going to be making soup soon you can skip this step. After the hour, remove the last of the bones and pour off the stock into a tall container. For one chicken a quart size container is usually perfect.
Refrigerate overnight.
The next day you will see all the fat has separated from the stock underneath, skim off and save. Pictured left is a beef stock a friend made. The stock should have the consistency of gelatin, if it's still runny, boil it down some more. Distribute the stock out to smaller containers and store in the freezer. If done properly it can be canned as well. I haven't tried this yet so I won't speculate. I prefer pouring it into ice cube trays, one cube equals roughly two servings of soup depending on how concentrated you manage to get it. For the fat there is a multitude of uses. Chicken fat can be a substitute for butter in most recipes, pork and beef fat make great candles. (See previous post) I like to add it back in when I roast my chickens, it concentrates the flavor and you don't have to add oil or butter.
The reason your mom always made you chicken soup when you were sick is for all the health benefits of stock. Being made from bone marrow it gives an immune system boost. It also helps the the healing process along, especially in the case of a broken bone or joint injury. These home remedies have gone by the wayside in recent years, hopefully things like this will make a comeback.
Start with a whole roaster chicken, prepare it however you like. If you're planning on making soup, roasting the whole chicken is best, save the drippings. Put the meat in the fridge or freezer to add to the soup after the stock is done. Butchering first is fine too, just save all the bones and skin. They can be frozen as well, I like to save up two or three chicken carcasses and boil them all at once. Add all the bones to a big stockpot or crockpot and cover with water. Now add everything else. I prefer the slow cooker method as it uses less energy but on the stove is just fine too. (next project will be the solar cooker) As far as vegetables, I like to make sure I at least have a half onion per chicken and a few cloves of garlic. The more stuff you use, the better the flavor. Celery, potatoes, leeks, scallions, and apples have all worked well for me. You can add spices if you'd like, bear in mind it will limit what you can do with the stock.
If using a slow cooker, put on low and simmer for a minimum of twelve hours. For stovetop, bring to boil and turn down to simmer for twelve hours as well. The longer it goes, the better. I prefer over 24 hours. After it's boiled for as long as you like, remove from heat and strain out all the solids. The veggies are great for the dog, but for the most part the rest is garbage. To be as thorough as possible I put aside the big bones and let them cool long enough to handle them. Break the bones in half and put them in a pot on the stove and add the stock. Add salt to taste, it should be very salty, maybe double what you would put in the same amount of soup. Boil the stock uncovered for an additional hour. This removes some of the water content and gets the last little bit out of the bones. Boiling it down really just saves space for storage, if you're going to be making soup soon you can skip this step. After the hour, remove the last of the bones and pour off the stock into a tall container. For one chicken a quart size container is usually perfect.
Refrigerate overnight.
The next day you will see all the fat has separated from the stock underneath, skim off and save. Pictured left is a beef stock a friend made. The stock should have the consistency of gelatin, if it's still runny, boil it down some more. Distribute the stock out to smaller containers and store in the freezer. If done properly it can be canned as well. I haven't tried this yet so I won't speculate. I prefer pouring it into ice cube trays, one cube equals roughly two servings of soup depending on how concentrated you manage to get it. For the fat there is a multitude of uses. Chicken fat can be a substitute for butter in most recipes, pork and beef fat make great candles. (See previous post) I like to add it back in when I roast my chickens, it concentrates the flavor and you don't have to add oil or butter.The reason your mom always made you chicken soup when you were sick is for all the health benefits of stock. Being made from bone marrow it gives an immune system boost. It also helps the the healing process along, especially in the case of a broken bone or joint injury. These home remedies have gone by the wayside in recent years, hopefully things like this will make a comeback.
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