How I Prepare Chicken Stock

Despite all the "waste not, want not" attitude of my MIL and SIL, apparently I am worse then them. During a familiy gathering, they mentioned how they wonder why some people gather the turkey or chicken carcasses after a holiday dinner to boil and make chicken stock.

First, for me, though chicken broth is readily available in the grocery stores, I want my signature taste in my chicken stock/broth. I don't want to have the same generic taste you get from those canned ones.

Second, I prepare chicken stock not only to make use of such bones that would otherwise end up in the trash, but because I like the flavor of "roasted" poultry it imparts to the resulting stock. Sometimes I do prepare stock using chicken necks or backs, though, which gives me the plain boiled chicken taste (the meat of which I remove from the bones after 45 minutes to 1 hr of boiling, then I continue to simmer for another 2 hrs, or I use the slowcooker to simmer overnight.

Third, chicken stock brings out the best taste in dishes such as pancit, chop suey, mami noodles, lugaw (if there's no meat; I usually like the meat taken off the necks here), chicken dumplings in stewed tomatoes, and some stir-fried veggies.

I prepare chicken stock with minimal basic spices: 2 bay leaves, 10 peppercorns, 3 cloves of garlic, and salt (approximate amounts to end up with about 2 quarts of stock). I usually pour water to cover the bones, then double that amount to make room for reduction while simmering. I don't put a lot of salt since that can be easily fixed once you do the cooking and final adjustment.

As depicted in the slide show above, I use empty cups of cottage cheese which measure about 16 ounces (2 cups) to freeze the strained broth. After freezing, I transfer to plastic bags and use as needed.