Tips for preparing chicken stock for chicken soups
When people see a recipe using chicken broth, they most likely open a can or box of chicken broth from the supermarket. What they may not realize is that making homemade chicken broth is no more difficult than boiling water. The only difference is that you add some vegetables and spices to the water to flavor it. Once you make your own chicken broth, you won’t want to go back to canned or packaged broth (except when you run out of homemade chicken stock in your freezer).
The basic ingredients in homemade chicken broth are chicken bones (and sometimes skin), onions, celery, carrots, peppercorns, and bay leaves. You can also add parsley, ginger and thyme. If you are making roast chicken, save the bones and the skin. While you’re washing dishes after your roast chicken dinner, put the chicken bones and skin in a pot with some onions, celery, carrots, peppercorns, and bay leaves and let it simmer for a few hours. If you don’t have a roasted chicken carcass, you can use chicken backs, chicken wings, or other chicken parts. After the chicken broth has simmered, let it cool to room temperature, then strain the broth and divide it into bowls that can be stored in the freezer.
Once you have a supply of homemade chicken broth, you can either refrigerate the broth if you plan to make some chicken soup within the next few days, or freeze it for later. Either way, it’s best to get rid of the fat that floats to the surface. It is easier to remove the fat layer when the soup is cold because it will harden.
Some of my favorite chicken soups are chicken noodle soup, chicken rice soup with vegetables, lentil soup, and minestrone soup. The nice thing about making your own soup is that you can choose your favorite beans, grains, and vegetables to add, and the sodium level is much lower than store-bought soup.
Homemade chicken broth
ingredients:
1 grilled chicken carcass or 2 pounds of chicken pieces
2 carrots, peeled, peeled, and cut into 3-inch pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into 3″ pieces
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 piece ginger, grated, optional
A few sprigs of fresh thyme, optional
Half a bunch of fresh parsley (optional)
directione:
Put all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook, covered, for 2 hours. Strain the soup and store it in freezer containers (4 cups work well for most soup recipes).
Note: If you are using chicken parts such as chicken legs and thighs, cook the chicken parts for 35-40 minutes until cooked through. Then take the chicken out of the pot and remove the meat for different uses. Return the bones and skin to the pot and continue to cook the broth. Chicken meat will be delicious when added to soup if you make chicken noodle soup, for example.
Copyright 2011 by Janet Chen
