Homemade Chicken Stock

Chicken is hip. Rightly so. Because little compares to a juicy, tender chicken. In my book Handboek voor de Perfecte Kip, I explain how you can make a superior chicken dish at home. Part 2 in a series: chicken stock.

The tastiest chicken stock is made from a spent laying hen, in other words, a soup chicken. But for a powerful homemade chicken stock, you can also add necks, wings, giblets and, if desired, carcasses and bones. This is how Robert Kranenborg makes his chicken stock.

Method

Ask your butcher or poultry specialist for a whole soup chicken. For an extra-powerful stock, you can also add necks and wings. You can use the carcass, bones and trimmings in stock as well, just like the giblets (with the exception of the liver, which makes the stock bitter). Kranenborg prefers using only the meat parts (so no bones or carcasses).

Cut the soup chicken into eight pieces and place them in a large stockpot with cold water, making sure everything is completely submerged. To blanch the chicken, bring the water to a boil over high heat and remove the pot from the heat as soon as the water boils (otherwise valuable flavor compounds will be lost).

Let it infuse

Drain the water and rinse the chicken under hot water. Put a pot back on the heat with fresh cold water and add the blanched chicken pieces, vegetables and herbs. Keep the stock just below a simmer on a warming plate for a maximum of 2 hours. Note: the stock must not boil (it should infuse, just like tea).

Let the stock cool in the pot, then cover and refrigerate it. You can also leave it overnight (for at least 12 hours). This gives the ingredients more time to release their flavor into the stock.

Strain

Skim the solidified fat from the stock. Remove the chicken pieces from the pot with a slotted spoon. You can pull the meat into pieces and use it as a filling in, for example, chicken soup or ragout. Strain the stock through a sieve. Always bring the stock briefly to just below a boil before using it.

Tips

• Covered, stock will keep in the refrigerator for at least 4 days. In the freezer, it will keep for up to 6 months.
• There is indeed a limit to infusing stock: if you infuse it for longer than 2 hours, vegetables can become stale-tasting; after that, they no longer release any flavor and have served their purpose.
• To give the stock more color (and flavor), you can first lightly brown the chicken and necks, together with some onions, in an oven preheated to 180 °C; cook them for 5 minutes on each side. You will then get a dark stock rather than a clear one.
• You can reduce the stock further to give it a more intense flavor.

Read part 1, part 3, part 4 and part 5 of the series here.

Image: Sven Benjamins

Title: Handboek voor de perfecte kip
Author: Marcus Polman
Publisher: Fontaine
Price: €16,95

Also read:

• How to cook the perfect steak
• What is the difference between stock and fond?
• Chicken sashimi exists, and this is what it tastes like