Take your cooking up a notch and use Homemade Chicken Stock in recipes.  This is the secret ingredient to wonderful tasting dishes.  You will forget about all those cans and boxes of stock once you have made and used your own!  Making your own chicken stock is easy and frugal – home cooks and chefs alike have been making stock since the beginning of fire. When you make your own stock, you know the exact ingredients so you know that it is healthy and without salt and chemicals.  Let me repeat this.  Do NOT put salt in your stock.  You will be using the stock as a base for many other dishes – you will be adding salt as you cook truly amazing meals with this sauce. There are several methods of making Chicken Stock, but the ingredients will be the same (although sometimes I skip the leek).  You can use a Stock Pot on the stove, a slow cooker (crock pot), and even a rice cooker.  The method I am showing you today is using a stock pot on the stove. What do you do with Chicken Stock? I use Homemade Chicken Stock in many of my favorite dishes including:

  • Chicken Marsala
  • Mushroom Rice
  • Cream of Chicken & Rice Soup
  • Senate Navy Bean Soup
  • Chicken Rice
  • Chicken Noodle soup
  • Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients

Homemade Chicken Stock Ingredients
  • 1 or 2 chicken carcasses
  • 1 onion
  • 3 carrots
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 1 leek
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 10 whole black pepper corns
  • 10 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried)
  • 10 sprigs of fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried)
  • Filtered water

Equipment

  • Knife and Cutting Board
  • Colander ( I use my Salad Spinner )
  • Stock Pot
  • Large Spoon

Mise en place (get everything ready)

Smart Thoughts on Smart Cooking.  Rough Chop an onion Rinse the whole onion. Cut off the ends and do a Rough Chop. A good Rough Chop in this case is simply cutting the onion in half, then cut each half into quarters. Notice that its okay to leave the skin on. The skin will actually make the stock a beautiful color
Smart Thoughts on Smart Cooking.  Rough chop carrots Scrub the 3 carrots and cut off the ends. Rough Chop into 3 or 4 pieces each carrot.
Smart Thoughts on Smart Cooking.  Rough chop celery Rinse the celery making sure you get off any dirt. Rough Chop into 4 to 5 pieces. The leaves are full of flavor so use them as well.
Smart Thoughts on Smart Cooking.  Rough chop leeks Leeks can have dirt in them. Do a Rough Chop, separate the layers and rinse well in a colander.
Smart Thoughts on Smart Cooking. Rough chop garlic Chop off end of garlic and Rough Chop by simply cutting in half.

Directions

Storage

Tips and Tricks

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