Roasted chicken stock
Be careful: homemade chicken stock is another one of those "you can never go back" recipes.
I remember a little over a year ago, I made minestrone soup for the first time. It's one of my favorite soups, but I couldn't understand why it was so..... blase. Despite the fact I had used fresh ingredients and used the proper technique, it wasn't worth making again, and I stuck with my usual soup staple, Provencal Vegetable Soup.
About a year later I was having some friends over for an Italian night - caprese salad, various pastas with homemade sauces, and affogatos. Something was missing and (being ignorant of the traditional Italian primi and secondi) I decided to add in minestrone soup.
So I tried again. Talk about night and day! It was like the first batch I had made was anti-minestrone and if the two batches had ever met they would have annihilated each other. The only difference? The fantasmagorically delicious minestrone was made with homemade stock instead of commercial chicken broth.
Every recipe I've used with this stock has sung with flavor. Why? That flavor comes from tons of fresh ingredients and no salt. It's a recipe that I've adapted from more traditional chicken stock recipes to fit the way I cook. I roast a bird one week, save the carcass, skin, and fond and after I roast another bird the next week I combine the two carcasses with any leftover meat and tons of aromatics. This way I'm getting maximum use out of those chickens with minimal waste.
And it is so worth it!
Roasted chicken stock
A Jitterbean original
Yields 3-5 quarts stock
As with any water-based recipe, use fresh cold water. Do not use hot water to speed the process along, since this water has been stored in your hot water heater and has picked up off flavors.
As you're doing prep for other cooking, save things like carrot tops, herb stems, and onion peels. Put them in the freezer and throw them in the next stock you make.
Do not put salt in your stock. If you reduce the end product at all, it can quickly become inedible. Wait to add salt when you use the stock for a soup or something.
This list of ingredients is only a suggestion. You can add practically anything to a stock to make it flavorful. However, shy away from adding broccoli since it can add a very bitter taste when cooked for a long time.
Do not let the stock boil! The fat will emulsify and make the stock cloudy. Maintain a gentle simmer for the whole cooking process.
1 whole chicken (roasted if desired) cut into parts or 1 whole chicken plus one roasted carcass or 2
herbed bird carcasses (skin, bones, fond, meat scraps and any leftover chicken from last week's bird)
2 carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into half moons
2 stalks celery, cut into 2" pieces, including the leaves
2 medium onions, with skins, quartered
1 medium leek, cut into 2" pieces, then sliced lengthwise and cleaned thoroughly
1 head of garlic, with skins, each clove crushed
About 10-15 whole peppercorns
A couple of stems each of Italian parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (you can tie this into cheesecloth to make bouquet garni but I don't -- it's all getting strained in the end anyway)
Enough fresh cold water to just cover the ingredients in the pot
Combine all of the above ingredients in a stock pot over high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and bring down to a bare simmer. Skim any impurities off of the top for the first 30 minutes.
Simmer for at least 4 hours until the chicken and vegetables no longer have any flavor.
Cool the stock in an ice water bath (or Alaskans can just put the pot outside!). If desired, put the stockpot in the fridge for a day or two so that any additional flavor can get leeched out of the bones.
Strain the stock using a cheesecloth-lined colander (reheating beforehand if you chose to leech the stock), reserving the chicken for another use (like a soup). If you won't be using the stock immediately do not skim the fat as it will help protect against bacteria growing in the stock. Leave in the fridge for no longer than a week and freeze for up to three months.
Raw chicken parts can be used as well. The vegetable and aromatics used will do great things, but the flavor will not be as intense because the chicken was not roasted previously. On the plus side, your yield will be much bigger.
stacey . smoore . the staceyfish . 
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