I went down to the freezers this morning to get the stock and Demi-glace to make some French Onion Soup today and while I had enough of both to make the soup, they were my last containers of both. So I decided to make chicken stock instead.
A well made chicken stock in your freezer is a beautiful thing to have lying about. Useful in more preparations than I could mention in a lifetime.
I learned how to make a really good stock in culinary school, prior to that time I had worked in restaurants that relied on bullion for our broths. These came in two main forms: a paste that resides in a larger bucket or cup. They range in size from 8 fl oz to half gallon or so. The other is in hard cubes. Neither of them are any good when compared to the real deal.
In classical French cuisine, stocks are classified as "Fond du Cuisine", or the foundation of the food/kitchen. I could not agree more.
When we cut chicken in our kitchen, any bones that are removed for whatever preparation we are making are bagged and frozen to be made into stock at a later date when the need arises.
I removed the many bags of bones from the freezer and retrieved my stock pot from the cupboard.
I have a 20 qt stainless steel stock pot that I use for my stocks. It is important to make sure that you use a non-reactive pot for your stocks. It would every disappointing to make a stock and find that after all your work that it tastes like metal.
First I put the bones in the stock pot and cover them with cold water.
It is vitally important that you start your stocks with cold water. When you start with cold water, you'll be able to extract the gelatins from the collagen on the bones.
O.K. Time for a little talk about gelatin, it's sources and why it's important in your stock. The gelatin in your stock is what gives it body, a richness that is unobtainable with the cubes and pastes that many people use for their soups.
Collagen dissolves at low temperatures, therefore you need to start with cold water to start your stock. If you start with hot water, the collagen seals itself and becomes unavailable. So start with as cold water as you can. The gelatin is also a preservative that will help your stock last longer should you choose to store it in the refrigerator and use it quickly.
Turn on the heat to full and let it go. The water temp will rise slowly and extract the gelatin.
The next step is to prepare your mirepoix (meer-a-pwah).
The traditional mirepoix is onions, carrots, leeks and celery. I leave the leeks out of my chicken stock and keep my carrots to a minimum.
Once you have started the heat on the stock, bring it to a boil and then reduce to a very low simmer and let it roll for 5-7 hours. If you let the stock keep boiling you will end up with a very cloudy end product that isn't very attractive and will likely have some unintended "off" flavors.
Once it has achieved the boil and been reduced to a simmer, remove the gray foamy substance from the surface of the stock. Also remove as much of the rendered fat from the surface.
Once you have de-greased the stock, add the mirepoix.
After the allotted 6-7 hours of simmer has past, it is time to strain the stock.
For this I use a chinoise, a fine mesh strainer that will hold back all but the smallest of particles.
Usually I use a small sauce pan to bail the stock out and pour it through the chinoise and into an 8 quart container.
From here I pour it into 1 qt containers for storage in the freezer.
Remember to label and date the stock before it is frozen.
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