Make Your Own: Chicken Stock

When making most of the recipes in this blog which calls for chicken stock, I usually go for the quick and easy method by using store-bought stock cubes. However, for or when you have some extra time on hand, or when the flavor of the stock is truly the heart of a dish, here’s a simple recipe for you to make your own batch at home.

This recipe is written to make 3 liters over the stove, but if you are pressed for time and you don’t really need that much, you can always halve the recipe and chuck it into your ever-handy electric pressure cooker, done in a third of the time.

Here we also added ‘Western’ dried herbs like oregano, thyme and rosemary, but for use in Asian dish, you can always omit these herbs for a more neutral stock.

Based on the recipe by Emeril Lagasse.

Chicken Stock

Makes 3 liters stock

Ingredients

• 2 kilograms chicken carcass or bones
• 2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)

Directions

In a large stockpot, add all the ingredients.

Add 4 litres water.

Over medium high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered, 2 hours.

If using an electric pressure cooker, halve the amount of ingredients, and add 1.5 liters water. Close and lock the pressure cooker lid and cook, using the Soup program (or equivalent), 45 minutes. When the timer is up, leave the pressure cooker to naturally depressurize before carefully removing the lid.

Using a slotted spoon, skim the surface to remove any foam rising on the surface.

Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the stock into a clean container.

Use as desired, or let cool completely before storing in airtight containers in the freezer. I recommend pre-measuring the stock into 500 ml batches, so you only need to take out and thaw the amounts you need at any given time.