The key to a good stock is in the quality of your ingredients; the carcass of a free-range, slow-reared chicken will undoubtedly taste better than a cheap, battery chicken and will be far healthier for you too. You can make chicken stock very simply using the leftover cooked carcass and bones from your Sunday roast, or you can use a raw carcass, sold cheaply at most butcher’s. If you’ve got leftover chicken bones but you don’t want to make stock straightaway, store them in the freezer in the meantime. How to make chicken stock To make stock, you’ll need roughly the following ingredients, although you can be flexible here. You can also swap in a roughly chopped leek, some bashed garlic cloves, leftover herb stalks (parsley works well here) or vegetable peelings. 1 chicken carcass, bones and skin (raw or cooked) 1 onion (skin on), cut into quarters 1 celery stick, cut into chunks 1 carrot, cut into chunks 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 fresh bay leaf or a sprig of thyme Method
- Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan with a pinch of salt and cover with water so everything is submerged.
- Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer (don’t boil) for around 3 hours, until it has a good depth of flavour. Check the stock from time to time and top up with more water, if needed. Use a spoon to remove any scum from the surface.
- Once it’s ready, remove the carcass and take out the vegetables and bones with a slotted spoon. Strain the stock through a fine sieve.
- Use immediately if you like, or store in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 4 months. Put your homemade stock to the test and try one of these recipes
