How-to Make Chicken Stock

My philosophy on this is that it should be easy, or I won’t bother. That means it can’t take 3-4 hours, I will use whatever I have and I do not make a real bouqet garni. If you don’t have garlic or tomato omit it, you can use shallots rather then onions and old limp carrots and celery will totally suffice. I followed Mark Bittman’s suggestion from How to Cook Everything for the timing.


Chicken Stock:
chicken parts, necks, backs, bones, meat
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, quartered widthwise
1 celery stalk, quartered widthwise
1 tomato, quartered
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
3 springs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 small handful black peppercorns
several sprigs of fresh parsley
water, enough to cover the rest

1. Put poultry in a big soup\stock pot. Add everything but water. Add enough cold water to cover the chicken.
2. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cover.
3. Simmer covered for about an hour, occasionally skimming impurities.
4. Strain into another large container, discard all solids. Strain stock through a fine sieve and put into storage containers. Store in the fridge for ~12 hours, skim off the fat. Freeze or use as desired.