Homemade Chicken Stock

A new cooking lesson, how to make homemade chicken stock. Lots of tips and techniques, my own and Michael Ruhlman's, from his new book "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking".

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

"Cook" Books vs "Recipe" Books: Which One Suits You?

My kitchen bookshelves sag under cookbooks, the basement is home to two decades of food magazines.

Author Michael Ruhlman wants us to call these not "cook" books but "recipe" books. Recipe books, he says, teach us to follow recipes; cook books teach us to cook.

But acceptance is a virtue and me, I accept that I’m a recipe cook. Turning the pages of cookbooks and magazines, I experience the thrill of the hunt, the possibility of discovery: be still, my heart!

Still, deep within, I long to be released from the shackles of recipes. In the cooking of my mind, I stand before a well-stocked pantry and a just-filled refrigerator, grab a few things and move with assurance to the stove; soon the table is ready, plated with foods tickling all the senses.

So when Michael offered a review copy of his new "cook" book "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking", I accepted. Perfect! This was the way to begin transformation from a recipe cook to what I call an "instinctive' cook", what Michael calls an "improvisational" cook.

To understand the concept behind Michael’s book Ratio, take dough, say. Many doughs call for flour, liquid and fat. What makes the exact same ingredients morph into the oh-so-different bread, biscuits or cookies, well, it’s the ingredients’ ratios, one to the other.

Ooops. How much flour for bread? and biscuits? and cookies? "Hello, my name is Alanna and I am addicted to recipes."

I learned much from Ratio. But again and again, my attention was drawn to the recipes at each chapter’s end. Much-practiced eyes scanned these basic recipes, quickly assessing what was new, interesting, appealing.

And then, my eyes stopped for a long time at the ratio for stock. Three parts water, two parts bone. Three parts water, two parts bone. I repeated the ratio for good homemade stock in my head, branding it onto my brain. Here was my initiation to really learning to cook, with stock, something I make most weeks without thinking but without really understanding, either. Three parts liquid, two parts bone.

"Hello, my name is Alanna and I’m a recipe cook. But there’s hope."

The Steps Are Simple

Please, don't be put off by the long instructions for making chicken stock. They're long because there are so many inside tips. I'd really like your first homemade stock to be a huge success! But essentially, it's a super-simple process:

• browning the bones and aromatics
• simmering
• separating, skimming, straining and packaging
• freezing

I still use commercial stock but oh my, when I make soup with homemade chicken stock, it's just that much better. Plus I feel so good knowing exactly what's in the stock.

I usually make two pots at a time, making efficient use of the oven and packaging time. But really, what’s important is to find your own rhythm, what works, timing-wise, for each cook.

But If Even Ratio's "Simple" Steps Seem Too Complicated?

I hear you.

If you're rolling your eyes, all this fuss over making chicken, well, yeah, me too. In fact, while I make homemade stock all the time, this is how I make it, I call it No-Big-Deal Homemade Chicken Stock. Frankly, it's no big deal to make chicken stock. All this detail? Who's got time for that?

More About Ratio

Is the name Michael Ruhlman familiar? You might know him as an author, sure, but also as a judge on Iron Chef America or The Next Iron Chef or from the PBS program Cooking Under Fire. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Michael when he visited St. Louis in 2007. For a real "celebrity" in the food world, he's much like the rest of us, fascinated by the art and science of cooking. He also seems – there's no other way to put it – just plain nice.

Ratio uses weight – not volume – for measurement. And if you don't yet have a kitchen scale, I'd definitely consider investing in one. I keep mine in the top drawer next to the stove, it needs to be handy because I use it every single day!

RESOURCES

• This is the kitchen scale I've relied on for years and years.
• More about Michael Ruhlman at Ruhlman.com
• If you're an improvisational cook – or would like to become one – you might want your own copy of Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman.
• My Disclosure Promise

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COOKING LESSON: HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK

Hands-on time: 20 minutes over several hours
Time to freezer: 24 hours
Makes about 6 cups of stock

BONES & AROMATICS

• 2 pounds chicken bones
• 1 – 2 large onions, skins on, washed, root ends sliced off, cut into quarters or eighths
• 1 – 2 carrots, washed, root end sliced off, cut into large chunks
• 1 – 2 ribs of celery, washed, cut into large chunks

OPTIONAL FLAVOR DEVELOPERS

• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh parsley
• Cracked pepper
• A spoonful of tomato paste

• 3 pounds cold water (about 6 cups)

My tips are shown in italics.

BROWN the BONES Place the bones in a large oven-safe skillet about six inches under the broiler until the bones just begin to brown. For bones, use either "raw bones" or "leftover bones". For "raw bones", I use the backs and wings from a whole chicken. The butcher is happy to package these separately when he cuts up a whole chicken, they stay happy in the freezer until I’m ready to make stock. For "leftover bones", use the carcass of a rotisserie chicken or a roasted chicken. The carcasses can also be frozen, making the question of "when" to make stock flexible.

ADD the AROMATICS Surround the bones with the onions, carrots and celery. Return the skillet to the broiler until the edges of the bones begin to blacken. I collect vegetable scraps – carrot peels, the "green" leaves from leeks, onion skins – in a freezer bag. Whenever it’s time to make stock, there are aromatics waiting. Red onions create a stock with lovely color!

SIMMER Transfer the bones and aromatics to a large pot. Add the flavor developers and water. Cover and bring just to a boil – but, this is important – do not allow the liquid to actually boil. Adjust the heat to barely simmer for a minimum of three hours, as many as eight hours, adjusting the temperature as needed to maintain that slow-slow simmer. During the first hour or so, if foam appears on the surface, skim it off. After foam no longer forms, if you like, transfer the pot to a very low oven, 180F, 190F, no more than 220F. Ratio’s recipe for homemade chicken stock suggests adding the aromatics and the optional flavor developers only for the last hour of simmering. This prevents the vegetables, especially, from soaking up the precious liquid. Be sure to cover the stock, otherwise all the liquid will evaporate and you’ll burn the stock. Yes, that’s experience talking.

COOL & SEPARATE Let cool, then use tongs or a colander to separate the liquid from the solids. Discard all the solids, they’ve given their all, there’s nothing left to give. Well, unless you compost or keep chickens! Except! It’s common wisdom to discard all the vegetables. But my favorite improvisational cook recently separated the vegetables from the bones, puréed the vegetables in the blender and made a great soup. It’s worth a shot – nothing to lose at this point!

SKIM OFF THE FAT Cover and refrigerate until a layer of fat forms on the top. Scrape this off – it’s rendered chicken fat, also called "schmaltz" and many people like to cook with it.

STRAIN If clarity is important, say for a clear soup or a fine sauce, then you’ll want to strain the stock. To strain, place a couple of layers of cheesecloth in a colander and pour the liquid through at least once, some times twice. Since my chicken stocks are used in hearty soups, I rarely go to the effort of straining. Ratio suggests substituting inexpensive white handkerchiefs for cheesecloth. They’re washable and re-useable!

PACKAGE & FREEZE Transfer stock to freezer bags, squeezing out as much air as possible while sealing. Label and lay flat in the freezer. Later, they can be stored upright or however you choose. I put two cups of stock into a quart-size bag. Consistency pays when it’s time to grab a bag from the freezer. UPDATE! I gave up on freezer bags, too messy to fill, too leaky when thawing, too much plastic. Now I use glass canning jars to freeze chicken stock, here's all the info, How to Freeze Stock in Canning Jars. Do include the date in your label. Plan to use the stock within a couple of months.

TO USE Place the freezer bag in a bowl to catch any stock that leeches out as it thaws. Let thaw in the refrigerator or fill the bowl with cold water to thaw more quickly.

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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