Homemade chicken stock, mmmmm.......

[wildeyed]

I have been on a mission to make the perfect roast chicken. A happy side effect of this effort, lots of chicken stock! I save the picked carcasses in the freezer until I get three. Then I put them in a large stock pot with water, veggies, onion, garlic and herbs and simmer for a few hours until it looks cooked. I usually have enough for soup right away and some left over to freeze for later.

I am simmering away right now with my new Penzey's Herbes de Provence. It smells divine on a gloomy winter day!

[WritersBlock]

1. Snap!

Mmmm... that sounds good!!

Sort of doing the same thing here - just strained some chicken stock and am waiting for it to cool before making a bastardized cross between Blue Gardener's Chicken Enchilada Dip (in the appetizers thread) and my own chicken enchiladas. I just can't be bothered to roll up enchiladas tonight, but I'm on a severe tex-mex crave. Plus we've got a great big container of creme fraiche from Costco that needs to be used up, and I've got a fresh supply of diced green chilis via mail-order.

I found a wonderful secret for chicken stock (well, it was secret to me) - whole cloves! Put 8-10 whole cloves in with chunks of celery, onions, carrots, couple of bay leaves, several peppercorns, etc., and it's fantastic! Even my veggie husband is drooling over the aroma in the kitchen just now.

[The empressof all]

2. I make chicken enchilada's lasagna style

I layer tortillas, chicken, sour cream, enchilada sauce, refrieds, and chili's in a bowl. Yum! Easier than rolling and really really good.

Oooops----Don't forget the cheese!

[NMDemDist2]

8. i saw a 30 minute meal show with a similar recipe== looked easy

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 (14-oz) can stewed tomatoes or fire-roasted chopped tomatoes
1 cup medium heat taco sauce
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt
8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
2 scallions, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil – twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add stewed tomatoes or fire-roasted chopped tomatoes and taco sauce. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly.

[The empressof all]

9. I do something similar but

I use cooked chicken--(great way to use left-over roast or boiled bird) (I've been known to buy a cooked grocery chicken)

I use a jarred enchilada sauce

Canned Re-fried beans

Packaged Shredded Cheese (Usually 4 blend Mexican)

and a half can of chopped jalapenos

And of course sour cream-- (fat free or light is actually good in this)



It's the ultimate of convenience food/home made combo's

[wildeyed]

5. Whole cloves sound great.

I bet it is especially good for cold sufferers. Sounds astringent, like it would help clear up your sinuses.

[tishaLA]

3. I always make my own stock

because I'm on a sodium restricted diet and, excepting a brand at Whole Foods, EVERY stock is way to high in sodium--even those labeled "low sodium."

It's not hard to make a good stock, but it's hard to make a RIGHT stock, IMHO. Sara Moulton on Food Network says proper stock has no cloudiness, and hastily made stocks are always cloudy. The slowness of the simmer....the big payoff at the end.

Do you ever roast the chicken carcass before you make the stock? It makes a richer, dark chicken stock that I sometimes like. And I made a hella good turkey stock this thanksgiving. MMMMM.

[wildeyed]

4. I don't worry about clarity

since my stock is usually for a soup or sauce base, not a consomme. But now that I have perfected my roast chicken, maybe I should start perfecting my stock. Do you find there is a taste difference, or mostly just textural?

I have not roasted the bones, but I have heard that it really make a difference.

Why do they put all that salt in canned stock? I go back and forth between canned and homemade and one big problem I have is forgetting I used the canned and adding salt to whatever I am making without tasting. Then I think, oh-oh, too much salt in the canned stock already, plus what I just added, yuck!

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Why they use so much salt in prepared/canned stock

Look at the ingredients. A mix of food and chemicals. I'm not ascribing any evil to anyone, but here's what's going on.

Salt is needed by all of us. It is, indeed, a taste enhancer. To be sure, people on low sodium diets can "adjust" their palate to appreciate low or no salt recipes, but most folks simply don't like food without it.

Prepared stocks don't take the time to fully develop the flavors and/or use less of what gives the flavor in the first place. The salt ups the "tastiness" and makes a weaker/thinner flavor seem more fully developed. Home made stock done well will beat canned stock any day, any time, any how. And done well, it needs far less salt to taste nice and rich. But it does need *some* salt to taste right to all but people acclimated to low or no salt diets.

Browning bones (or veggies, for that matter) does indeed result in a richer flavor by caramelizing and concentrating the flavors already there. The exception is fish stock. The bones and/or shellfish shells you use need no browning.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. The classic clarifier for stock is the "raft"

..... which floats to the top of a strained stock and catches the small bits that make stock cloudy.

You're right about not cooking a stock fast. Cloudiness will result from fast cooking (boiling instead of simmering) or from cooking a given type of stock too long. (Beef stock can go for 24 hours or more. Fish stock takes far, far less time.)

Any stock can be clarified by making a raft. The raft can be made after a stock is fully developed and the solids all removed. This liquid will now have all the flavor and, depending on type, some fat, too. A good general purpose raft includes egg whites, the meat (if a meat stock), vegetables and seasonings of the original stock. Start with the stock being fully chilled. Add the raft ingredients, and allow the whole thing to again heat, but very slowly. The raft will form from the new (raft) ingredients and float to the top. (In classic - Escoffier's day - French cuisine, the raft included beef blood, even in non beef stocks.) When the raft floats to the top and is reasonably solidified, turn off the fire. (Note, never allow to boil. Boiling will break the raft apart or prevent it from forming in the first place.)

Now here's the tricky part. You need to get the liquid out without breaking the raft. Old fashioned stock pots had spigots at the bottom to allow the stock to be drawn off. So be sure you used that spigoted stock pot you got for Christmas ...... what? .... you didn't get one? Mmmmmmmmm .........

Actually, just be careful and tilt the stock pot to allow the raft to float out of the way a bit and ladle off the stock below it. If you're strong and brave, or have a helper, you can do this same thing but just pour off the liquid into another container and leave the raft intact.

A final strain through cheesecloth may be needed, but you'll have crystal clear stock as your reward.

Note - some people just add the egg white to their other ingredients (when everything is still cold, of course) when making the original stock. This gives a raft right from the start. Some bones, of course, may not lift in any raft, but a long cooking stock will pretty much clean the bones anyhow so you'll still have a reasonably clear stock that a pass through cheese cloth should be all ya need.

[NashVegas]

10. Alton Brown Did Stock Last Night

on Good Eats. I taped it. His looked beautiful.