There's nothing like the aroma of a pot of simmering chicken stock. You should see the customers in the store...people will come in from the mall, their heads tilted slightly back, their noses in the air, inhaling deeply. They eventually find their way back to the teaching kitchen where they immediately ask what we're cooking that smells so good. When I tell them that we're making chicken stock, quite often they ask if it's for sale. I think we've had more than a few students sign up for their first cooking class because they happened to be in the store on stock-making day.
One of the advantages of making your own stock is that you have complete control over the salt content. Most of the dishes that you'll cook using stock will require reducing the liquid in the dish. Reducing means allowing the pot of sauce/sauce/stew/soup to simmer without a lid, allowing the water to evaporate away. This concentrates the flavors, including the salt. Most store-bought stocks are very heavily salted. Just read the nutritional information printed on the side panel, many of them have 30% or more of the daily recommended sodium for just a single serving. Even the ones that are "low sodium" or "no salt added" can be 15 - 20%. By making it yourself, you can leave salt out completely.
So, what exactly is stock and how does it differ from broth? The simplest way to describe the difference is that stock is made from bones and broth is made from meat. Broth uses whole parts, like legs and thighs, even the whole chicken. It is usually only cooked for 1 to 1 ½ hours, and the meat is then picked from the bones and used. A lot of old-school chicken noodle soups are made this way, with the meat going right back into the broth to make the soup. Stock is usually simmered for 3 to 4 hours then strained, and only the liquid is retained. The longer simmering time allows the natural gelatin in the bones and joints to dissolve into the stock, and when stock is cooled to room temperature, it will have the texture of soft Jello.
When we make stock at work, we usually supplement the bones and carcasses in the freezer with chicken wings. Wings make a really nice stock. But, when I'm shopping at the local asian and latin american markets, I often see packages of other types of chicken parts--backs, necks, and feet. Yes, chicken feet. I've heard for years that feet make the best stock. They're all tendons, bones and connective tissue, very little meat, so a very gelatinous stock. A gelatinous stock is especially good for making sauces, it helps to thicken the sauce without need to reduce it as much.
I've had this idea for a while to make stock with different parts to see if I can see a discernable difference in the final product. When I was at the local latin market last week, I picked up packages of wings, necks, and feet, and I've had three pots of stock simmering away on my stove all afternoon.
My recipe for stock is more of a formula:
1 part mirepoix*, by weight
3 to 4 parts chicken parts/bones, by weight
1 to 2 quarts of water per pound of chicken parts/bones
a few stems of parsley and thyme, a bay leaf or two, and a sprinkling of black peppercorns
*Mirepoix is a classic mix of aromatic vegetables used in French cuisine---2 parts onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery.
Start by placing the chicken parts in a large stock pot and add the water. I had 2 ½ to 3 pounds of each of the different chicken parts, so I added about 4 to 6 quarts of water to each of the pots.
Bring the pot up to a full boil. You'll start to see foam forming on the top of the water. The foam is the result of the blood and other impurities in the chicken parts. Using a spoon or ladle, skim off this foam and discard.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the stock simmer for about 2 hours. At this point, add in the mirepoix, herbs and peppercorns. No need to peel the carrots or the onions, it can all just go right into the pot. The onions skins will even give a little golden color to the finished stock.
Continue to simmer the stock for another 2 hours or so. By now, the chicken parts will start to fall apart, and the vegetables will be very soft. Remove the stock from the heat and pass it through a fine mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Discard the chicken parts, vegetables,and other bits.
It's important at this point to cool off the stock relatively quickly in order to minimize bacterial contamination. Try to get the stock down to room temperature in about an hour, then place it in the refrigerator. Don't put the stock into the refrigerator while it is still hot--the refrigerator really won't cool it down that fast and you instead risk heating up the interior of the fridge too much. At work, we place the stock in a large container set into our prep sink filled with ice water to chill. At home, I split the stock into small, quart sized storage containers. The stock will cool more quickly once broken up into smaller portions.
After filtering the three stocks, I tried to see if I could determine any immediate difference between them. The wing stock was slightly darker in color, the feet stock was the lightest, and the neck stock was somewhere in between.
I tasted each of the stocks. Without salt, none of them taste like chicken soup, but the all had a slightly different flavor and mouthfeel. The wings stock had the best chicken flavor and the thinnest texture. The feet stock definitely had a thicker mouthfeel, but the flavor was a little less pronounced. As you might expect, the neck stock was somewhere in between.
All three of the stocks had a certain amount of fat. The best way to remove the fat is to chill the stock. The fat will rise to the top and solidify at which point it can be scraped off with a spoon.
After chilling the three stocks, I tasted them again. Once cooled, you can really tell the difference in the gelatin. The stock made with feet is thick, really noticeably so when you stir it with a spoon. The neck and wing stock also thickened up, the neck stock a bit more than the wing. Pretty much the results you would expect.
Now I have a freezer full of chicken stock...time to make soup! But that's for another blog posting....
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