Reading ‘Salt, Fat, Acid Heat’ by Samin Nosrat a few months ago, one of her statements struck me. I am paraphrasing, but the implication is use homemade stock or water if not on hand, do not use pre-prepared or store bought stock. After listening to a few podcasts and reading the ingredients, I tend to agree as well.
The good news is, making stock is cheap and easy. The biggest hurdle is time followed by the end result storage if you don’t use it all in one setting. What I am showing in the picture is two whole chicken carcasses (mostly bones and skin), onion, garlic, celery, carrots, salt, pepper and bay leaves. I also don’t get too fussy about the proportions. I try to get two carrots and two celery stocks with half an onion, but I use what I have on hand. You can save parts on hand in the freezer until you feel like you have enough offal or bones or you need to make stock for a recipe.
For best results, try to keep it under boiling, but that is really for clarity and not flavor. My style is to let it go overnight, turn it off in the morning and stick it in the refrigerator the next evening. I also try to let it cool, skim off the fat and filter the liquid through a coarse strainer if I have the time
When complete, I put about three cups in a quart jar and put them into the freezer. If I have less than three cups, I put it into the refrigerator for current use. You can also pressure can it for shelf stable storage. That is it. In the words of Charlie Papazian, ‘Relax and have a homebrew, it will be alright’.
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