Making homemade stock

 

I have always made homemade soup and chicken stock.

I practically lived on homemade chicken soup when I first left home at 17. I was living alone and in a new town; to me it was comfort food, nutritious and inexpensive. I would make a big pot of my Nana's chicken soup for the week, spending money on food over the weekend, when I had some else to cook for. This is how I was able to set up my home, savings on groceries meant I was able to buy something nice for my house.

I use chicken stock as a base for most of my soup recipes, even recipes that ask for vegetable stock. I love the rich flavour that it brings to even a simple vegetable soup. While I have always made stock, I have always had a container of Maggi chicken stock in the pantry as well, just like my Nana always did. Perfect for adding some extra flavour to a casserole or making a quick soup or gravy.

However, I am trying to make a shift to using only home made stock, so I have invested in a few extra containers and have frozen my stock in 1 cup, 2 cup, 1 litre and 2 litre quantities. Ready for any use.

























I love making stock (any slow - back to basics cooking) It can give you a real sense of achievement.

Last week when I made this chicken stock, I used chicken wings that were on sale from my local butcher. Nothing goes to waste. The stock is frozen. The chicken meat can be shredded up as cold meat for sandwiches or added to pasta dishes and soups. The vegetables are picked out (to avoid herbs and peppercorns) and pureed. I then freeze the pureed vegetables in small zip lock bags and add the pureed vegetables to mince dishes: bolognaise, shepherd's pie, meat pies, even taco mince. If you are a mother, you have probably already been doing this for years.

If we are talking about not wasting anything, don't forget to save the carcass from your next roast chicken. I usually put the leftover chicken frame into a bag and freeze it until I have about 4, then use them to make my stock.

Here is the recipe I have been using for 20 years now. I hope you can find the time to make your own stock too.

On the weekend some friends rang to say that they would be calling in for a visit around lunch time. It was unexpected and I didn't want to go to the shops. I looked at the contents of my fridge and pantry and made a simple Asian chicken soup. It was a nice change to sandwiches, which is usually what is on offer when these friends call in unannounced. They were excited by the effort I had made for lunch. On first tasting the soup, one of my guests looked straight at me and said - "you have made your own chicken stock!"

Well worth the effort I'd say.



















Chicken stock

makes approximately 2-3 litres

• 1.5 kilogram chicken (whole/carcass/wings/back/neck/etc.)
• 2 large leeks (roughly chopped)
• 2 small carrots (roughly chopped)
• 2 stalks celery (roughly chopped)
• 5 stalks of flat-leaf parsley
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 garlic cloves

Place all of the ingredients in a large stock pot. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Skim any scum from the surface while simmering. Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve and allow to cool. Refrigerate and allow time for the fat to set, then skim the fat off of the top. This can be refrigerated for 2-3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

























I had never made lamb stock before, so I used my chicken soup stock base and it seemed to work well. It made a delicious gravy to the lamb roast that we ate last week.

I used the bones leftover from a lamb roast and four lamb shanks. I had kept them in the freezer until I had enough bones to make the stock. I've frozen the stock in containers of 500ml (2 cups) so when I am making a lamb roast, I just need to defrost the stock and bring it back to the boil; ready to make my gravy. If I need the stock for soup I can just defrost more containers.

I have been reading a few chefy-type cookbooks that I got from the library, next time I might try roasting my bones before making the stock. This seems to bring out more depth of flavour, and you can never have too much flavour.

Lamb Stock

makes approximately 2-3 litres

• 1.5 kilogram lamb or bones
• 2 large onions (roughly chopped)
• 2 small carrots (roughly chopped)
• 2 stalks celery (roughly chopped)
• 5 stalks of flat-leaf parsley
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 garlic cloves

Place all of the ingredients in a large stock pot. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Skim any scum from the surface while simmering. Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve and allow to cool. Refrigerate and allow time for the fat to set, then skim the fat off of the top. This can be refrigerated for 2-3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.