What you see in this lead photo is a stock pot containing 69 chicken and 3 capon carcasses (and 17 chicken feet). And while it resembles a scene from a variety of episodes of CSI, it’s actually me making chicken stock.

Good chicken stock is a great thing to have; use it as an ingredient, use it as a highlight, use it as a carrier – it’s got widespread applications. Though Campbell’s and Swanson’s make okay commercial stocks (about $3-4 per 900 mL carton), I prefer to make my own because I don’t salt it and I only use chicken (no aromatics) so that I can have as neutral a flavor and as versatile an ingredient as possible. That’s actually important because I do both Asian and Western dishes and the former is horrible with stocks flavored with herbs while the latter gets rather odd with star anise and ginger aromas.

Stock making is also an excellent exercise in teaching patience and managing stress.

Ingredients

• chicken trim (bones, skin, feet, wings)
• chicken, whole or pieces (optional)
• bouquet garni (optional)
• mirepoix of equal parts carrots, onion, celery and leeks (optional)

Preparation

If using mirepoix and the bouquet garni, line the bottom of the stock pot with the vegetables and the bouquet garni. Add the chicken trim to the pot. Add cold water to the pot until there is approximately 5-6 cm of liquid covering the solids.

Carefully bring the contents to boiling point, making sure to skim whatever foam comes to the surface of the pot. Turn back the heat until the pot stays at a gentle simmer. Continue to skim the surface, and add additional cold water as necessary to maintain the liquid level. Do not disturb the solids. Simmer for 3-7 hours (depending on volume) until stock is finished.

Ladle out as much of the liquid as possible into another pot. Transfer the remaining liquid into another container (tall and clear/semi-opaque if possible). Allow this liquid to settle so that the fine solids have dropped to the bottom. Transfer the top layer of liquid to another container and discard the remaining suspension.

Refrigerate the stock so that the fat will congeal. Remove the fat (it can be saved as this is “schmaltz”). If the underlying liquid is not slightly gelatinous, the stock can be condensed by a second simmering (skimming foam as required). Portion out finished stock, which should be a clear golden liquid.

Notes

The amount of chicken required should be the amount that will go at least half-way up the side of the pot (after the carcasses have been cut down so that they’re in flat-ish pieces). For mirepoix, I used to use 500 g of each vegetable for a 16 L pot.

Having actual chicken is nice since it gives additional depth of flavor and texture to the finished product but you will have to remember to fish it out part-way into the stock-making process if you want to eat it, otherwise it will be overcooked and not particularly palatable. One way to simplify this is to tie the chicken meat in some cheesecloth that can be removed after an hour or so of poaching.

If using only chicken (no vegetables) and there is a lot of it (e.g. my 72 total carcasses), you can do a “remouillage”, which is essentially a repeat of the entire process. The resultant stock will be cloudy and gelatinous; if necessary it can be clarified by syneresis (freeze filtration using either gelatin or agar) followed by re-concentrating by a second simmering.

By the way, my chicken parts gave up 14 L of clear stock and 10 L of “remouillage”.

Uses

The remouillage stock in any application where absolute clarity is not required, such as potage, or in potsticker fillings to give an extra-juicy boost (watch some of the gyoza episodes of the Dotch Cooking Show).

The clear broth can be used for anything, including the following simple soup (baby bok choy, Greenland shrimp, cuttlefish balls, onions, sesame oil, kombu for hidden flavor):

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