I guess it is time again for my next tip and culinary tid bit!

I thought today I would put up a simple chicken stock. I already told you how a good beef stock is great but a good chicken stock and a good beef stock is Fantabulous.

Tip of the Day: Chicken Stock

Have you ever roasted a chicken, cut it apart and then thrown out the bones?  Well, don’t!  Use them in your chicken stock just the same as you would non-cooked bones…just don’t rinse them.

Vocabulary Words
Degreasing – When a stock is refrigerated, fat rises to its surface, hardens and is easily lifted or scraped away before the stock is reheated or stored.

Deglazing – to swirl or stir a liquid (usually wine or stock) in a sauté pan or other pan to dissolve cooked food particles remaining on the bottom; the resulting mixture often becomes the base for a sauce.

Remouillage (rhur-moo-yahj) – French for “rewetting”; a stock produced by reusing the bones left from making another stock. It will not be as clear or as flavorful as the original stock; however. It is often used to make glazes or in place of water when making stocks.

China Cap – a cone shaped strainer made of perforated metal.

Recipe

Ingredients:
      1 chicken carcass
      cold water
      Mirepoix (see Beef Stock post)
            · 8 ounces onions, coarsely chopped
            · 4 ounces carrots, coarsely chopped
            · 4 ounces celery, coarsely chopped
      Bouquet garni (see Beef Stock  post)
            · 3 or 4 parsley stems
            · 3 twigs of thyme leaves
            · 2 bay leaves
            · 6 black peppercorns

Rinse the bones and place the carcass in a 4 L. pot. Fill with COLD water to cover the bones, add the vegetables and herbs.  

Set over high heat and bring to a boil and then reduce quickly toless than a simmer.  (meaning barely a bubble will surface)  Skimming off any scum and grease that comes to the top. 

Keep mixture at a constant low simmer and continue to skim the stock until it is clear of any scum and large amounts of grease.  Cook for 3-4 hours adding water as needed to keep the same volume.  Then remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer and cool the stock in an ice-water bath. 

Store in refrigerator overnight.  As it cools, the fat will rise to the top and solidify.  Carefully remove this from the top and your stock is ready to use.

* If your carcass is already roasted, just place in pot and cover with water and mire poix and continue with the directions above.

If there is every anything you don’t understand about what I have typed up, just ask.  Sometimes I don’t explain myself clearly as I type.  It is clear in my head but sometimes it doesn’t make it out of my head very clear!

Good luck and please try these recipes.  I am making a chicken stock right now.  I used some leftover bones from a couple roasted chickens I made the other day.  It smells amazing in our home.  You have to try these for yourself.  They are easy easy easy!!!!

Enjoy cooking!

It’s been a while since my last post so I thought I would just post some of the new things I am learning in school. I definitely won’t have a lot of time to type up “books” anymore but hopefully my little tips of the day will help you further your cooking techniques if you want them to.

Tip of the Day
Beef Stock

Never boil a stock rapidly.  It reincorporates the impurities that come out of the bones back into the stock. Still edible just not a perfect product!

Vocabulary Words
mirepoix (meer-pwa) -50% onion to 25% carrot and 25% celery by weight (usually 1lb total)

bouquet garni (boo-KAY gar-NEE) -2 bay leaves, 3 twigs of thyme, 2 stems of parsley and 6 peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth and tied up

Sachet – same as bouquet garni

Stock is one of the easiest things to make and is the basis for many things.  Without a great tasting stock so many of your soups and sauces will only be good.  Not GRRRRReat!

Recipe
Yields: about one gallon of stock

Ingredients:
      • 8 pounds beef bones, including knuckle bones, trimmings, etc., sawn into 3-4 inch pieces
      • Oil
      • 6-7 quarts cold water
      • 8 ounces onions, coarsely chopped
      • 4 ounces carrots, coarsely chopped
      • 4 ounces celery, coarsely chopped
      • 3 ounces tomato paste
      • 3 or 4 parsley stems
      • 3 twigs of thyme leaves
      • 2 bay leaves
      • 6 black peppercorns

Heat the oven to 400F. Lightly oil sheet pan. Place the bones on the sheet pan and roast for 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Slather the bones with tomato paste, add the mirepoix (onions, carrots, celery) on top of the bones and roast for an additional 30 – 45 minutes (until the tomato paste turns dark “almost” burnt looking, turning occasionally, until evenly browned.

Place the bones, browned mirepoix and sachet (parsley, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns into a 4″ square of cheesecloth and tied into a sack) in the stockpot and cover with cold water.

Drain the fat from the roasting pan and discard. Deglaze the pan with water and add to the stockpot. Bring to a boil quickly, and then lower to a simmer. Skim any scum that forms on the surface gradually as needed.

Continue to simmer the stock for 6-8 hours, skimming as needed. If necessary, you may add more hot water to keep the bones covered.

Strain the stock through a china cap layered with cheesecloth, and cool the stockpot in an ice-water bath.

Transfer to a container and refrigerate overnight; the next day, skim off all the fat that’s risen to the surface.

Let me know if you try making your own stock.

Good luck and until next time……