Chicken Stock

TIME2 hours MAKESAbout 2L of stock PORTION
0.5x 1x 2x 3x

A simple but tasty brown chicken stock. I typically save my chicken offcuts in the freezer, and when I have enough make a batch of this chicken stock in my pressure cooker. I then portion this out into 1 and 2 cup servings and freeze for later. Adapted from Serious Eats.

INGREDIENTS

  • ~2 kg chicken bones1
  • Vegetable oil, for drizzling
  • 1 (225g) yellow onion (cut into quarters)
  • 1 medium (115g) carrot (cut into 2 inch pieces)
  • 2 large (85g) celery rib (cut into 2 inch pieces)
  • 2 medium cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns

STEPS

  1. Preheat oven to 200ºC with rack set in middle position. Lightly coat all the chicken parts with oil and arrange in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan. Roast, turning bones once or twice, until beginning to turn golden brown, about 30 minutes.

  2. Meanwhile, lightly toss onion, carrot, and celery in oil. When step 1 is complete, scatter all over and around bones and continue roasting until bones and vegetables are nicely browned, about 30 minutes longer. Be careful not to let anything scorch.

  3. Transfer chicken parts and roasted vegetables to a pressure cooker. Pour a thin layer of boiling water into roasting pan and scrape up any browned bits. Pour pan juices into pressure cooker.

  4. Add garlic, tomato paste, and peppercorns to pressure cooker. Add enough cold water to bring level to the cooker’s max-fill line; do not let water exceed the max-fill line, even if some solids are not submerged.

  5. Close pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Allow cooker to depressurize naturally2. Open cooker and strain stock through a fine-mesh strainer; discard solids.

  6. Skim the stock by either carefully ladling off the top layer of fat while stock is still hot, or, for greater ease, refrigerate stock until well chilled, then remove the solid cap of fat that lies on top.

  7. Portion stock into storage containers or zipper-lock bags (if it’s been chilled, reheat it to a liquid state first), then freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.

  8. Use any combination of reserved chicken backs, wings, necks, as well as carcasses saved from prior meals. Chicken feet are great to add to the mix, too, since they will deliver the biggest dose of gelatine to the stock, improving its body and sauce-making qualities.

NOTES

  • To make an asian-style chicken stock, the aromatics and vegetables can be replaced with garlic, spring onion, and ginger. For a really traditional asian-style chicken stock, don’t include any aromatics (typically the flavouring is added later when making the dish), and don’t roast the chicken pieces — instead, prepare them by bringing them to a boil in water for 5 minutes, discarding the water, and rinsing/scrubbing them to get rid of any gunk.

  • To clarify the stock, whisk 1-2 egg whites per litre of stock until slightly foamy, and add them to a saucepan of cold stock. Slowly bring the stock up to a simmer, and then turn off the heat and let the stock and raft sit for 10-20 minutes. Then strain, preferably through a cheesecloth.

  1. Different parts deliver different qualities to the stock. Wings and feet give a lot of gelatine, which is great, and decent flavour; backs give a lot of gelatine too.  ↩︎
  2. By allowing the pressure cooker to depressurize naturally, this ensures that the stock is not brought up to a rapid boil. This can cause sputtering of hot liquids, but can also cause emulsification of the stock making it cloudy ↩︎