Sunday 12 January 2014

Homemade Chicken Stock

Homemade chicken stock by Carole's Chatter

I made my first ever chicken stock – from scratch!  I have been thinking about doing this for some time so I saved the last 3 chicken roast carcasses and froze them in a plastic bag.

This stock was made in the crock pot.  First I dumped the frozen chicken bones etc into the slow cooker.  I didn't defrost them or re-roast them as I have seen advised.  Too much like hard work.

I then put water in up to about half way and then added all of the following:

Onion – quartered
Leek – chopped into 4 pieces
Celery – 4 stalks roughly chopped
Mushrooms – say 6 quartered button mushrooms
Piece of lemon zest
Tomato – with seeds taken out
Bay leaf or 2
Sprig of fresh thyme
The stalks off a bunch of parsley
10 whole black peppercorns

Chicken stock at the start of slow cooking: Carole's Chatter


Then I topped up with water until it was covered.  The slow cooker was pretty much full.  I cooked this for 8 hours on low.

Chicken stock after 8 hours in the slow cooker: Carole's Chatter


Then you strain the liquid through a sieve and discard all the bits and bones.  Let it cool a bit and then put it into containers and refrigerate.  I put some of it into jam jars – this is for using soon.

Chicken stock stored in jam jars for short term storage by Carole's Chatter


The rest I put into jelly molds in the freezer.  When frozen I'll transfer the stock into little plastic bags for storage – and may even label them for a change!  Because I had only 6 molds (and the lid of one was missing – where do things like that go?) – I had to freeze it in relays.

Chicken stock being frozen in jelly molds by Carole's Chatter



So now I feel all virtuous having made my own stock.
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11 comments:

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  2. Great job! Using the crockpot to make the stock is a good idea :).

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  3. Homemade chicken broth is the best.

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  4. Looks great. I make my own stock all the time. I like it so much better than store bought. I freeze my stock after I make a large batch, this way I always have some on hand all winter long!

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  5. I love freezing my own stock. And it does make me feel virtuous! And competent.

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  6. What a brilliant idea!
    We have been grumbling about the excessive saltiness of shop bought stock cubes lately and threatening to make our own. Now I know how to do it!

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  7. It is so worth it. I often just make it with bones. Roasting them first does give more flavour though so it's worth a go.

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  8. My new years project is to save all veg scrap and bones. I saved all the peels and nubs of onions and zucchini and pepper stems etc. It's going to be a wierd stock. I even froze small amounts of veg that were leftovers from dinner. Everything but potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. Currently I've got two freezer bags full of scraps and one full of bones. Haven't made the stock yet but maybe this week. I've always used fresh veg so this will be a departure. And I plan on using the crockpot for an all day process as well.

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  9. A great use for the crockpot and for using up the entire chicken.

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  10. I actually freeze mine and many other things in glass jars. It keeps very well. I have gotten away from using a lot of plastic. You just cannot fill the jars all the way because the liquid will expand when frozen.

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  11. I have not tried making this in the crockpot. I need to remember this!

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