Easy Overnight Chicken Stock

Basic stocks are one of the easiest and economical things to make, yet so many people only buy cartons, cans or dried package mixes of stock because they say they have no time to make a stock themselves.  Well this stock takes no time and basically no effort, so no excuses. 

Now I am not against the use of cartons, cans and packets of stock base, but to me if you have a chicken or turkey carcass or a ham bone or beef bones, why put them in the green bin when they can easily turn into something delicious.  I always make stock with my carcasses and then freeze the stock because you never know when sniffles and sneezes will require the medicinal properties of a homemade chicken noodle soup.

I made this recipe a few hours after we ate Jamie Oliver’s Perfect Roast Chicken for dinner.  It took me all of 5 minutes to assemble the ingredients and get the stock going.

What you need:

1 slow cooker

1 left over chicken carcass

1 red or white onion, quartered but unpeeled

2 carrots, washed but unpeeled, broken in to a few chunks

2-3 ribs of celery, broken into pieces

3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed but unpeeled

3 bay leaves

2 tsp. sea salt

½ tsp (or more if you like) ground pepper

4 sprigs of herbs of your choosing (parsley, thyme, tarragon and rosemary all work well)

6 cups of cold water or enough to just cover the chicken and other ingredients.

Instructions:

Set slow cooker to low.  Place chicken carcass, skin and any bits lying on the cutting board in the ceramic bowl of the cooker.  You can add any left over pan drippings or if there is just a small amount of gravy, put it in.  Add chopped onions, garlic, carrots, celery and seasonings.  Pour cold water over chicken and accompaniments – ensuring you have just enough to cover the bird.  Put on the lid and then leave to cook overnight.

In the morning, remove the ceramic liner and let cool slightly.  Pour the warm stock through a fine sieve or strainer to remove the large bits of bone, chicken, vegetables.  This will leave you more or less with a clean stock.  Place in a container and refrigerate.

When you come home from work, the fat will have separated from the stock and will appear as a thick yellowish slightly hard layer on top of the stock.  Using a spoon carefully remove the fat layer.  You can be really thrifty and drop the spoonfuls of fat into an ice-cube tray and freeze for future gravies and roux.  Or if that grosses you out, just put it in the green bin.

The super cost-conscious will sift through the chicken bones for scrap meat to use for a soup (if that is your plan) or you can use any left overs from the previous night’s dinner.

You can get fancier and roast the bones,  tie up your herbs and seasoning in a bouquet garni, but if that extra work will deter you, then why bother!  If you don’t have a chicken carcass lying around, I’d suggest buying a few packages of chicken or turkey backs, which you can usually get at the grocery store for $1-$2.  Alternatively, a chicken leg or two, a turkey drumstick or thigh will work equally well.