Really Sneaky Chicken Stock from the Fat Cat Chef

:: The Fat Cat Skinny ::
This simple chicken broth recipe is a great substitute for chicken stock, especially that overpriced canned bilge water you buy in the grocery store.

With only 10 minutes of manual labor (something we avoid like an e-coli outbreak around here) and one hour of lovingly simmering a whole chicken, you'll have a rich broth for soups, sauces and other recipes that call for chicken broth or stock. Plus, you'll end up with soft tasty chicken meat for your other recipes.

You'll find tips on turbo-charging your broth at the end of this recipe.
:: :: :: ::

Does tasty chicken stock need to be a chore? Few other words strike fear into the hearts of newbie and veteran home cooks alike than the dreaded instruction "add chicken stock".

Sure, you could spend some of your hard-earned Fat Cat Cash to buy some of that canned stuff, but... yuck. Or you could make some, but who has the time?

A Simple Chicken Broth That Is a Surefire Chicken Stock Stand-in
Well, fear no more. (Well, fear the French, but don't fear chicken stock).

This really simple chicken broth has the depth of flavor of chicken stock, and is a lot easier to make.

First of all, if there’s one thing we avoid here in the Fat Cat Kitchen, it’s work. We believe cooking should be fun... and cheap. That’s another reason we don’t buy canned chicken stock – it’s way too expensive – and besides, slurp for slurp it simply doesn’t taste as good as this really simple chicken broth recipe.

First Some Background: Chicken Stock 101
A quick search for chicken stock recipes illustrates the heavy muscle required to make homemade stock:

1. Hack up chicken parts
2. Add carrots, celery and onions (sometimes sautéed, sometimes not)
3. Add a tied bundle of fresh herbs (Huh? A tied bundle?)
4. Simmer for 3-6 hours, periodically skimming the fat that rises to the surface

No wonder people avoid making their own homemade chicken stock:

You need to find chicken parts.

You need a cleaver to hack up the chicken.

You need a big ass pot to throw everything in.

You need to dice vegetables AND sauté them.

You need to bundle herbs (what? we’re talking about herbs here, not babies)

You need to hover near the stove for 3-6 hours.

Well, here's some good news: all you really need to do is...

1. Throw a whole chicken into 2 quarts of water, along with carrots, celery, onions and a head of garlic, all chopped into really big chunks, and hey, toss in 2 bay leaves and some black peppercorns for good measure.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Walk away for 1 hour (well, it's never good to leave a stove untended, but you get the picture: poke your head into the kitchen once and a while and make sure your bird is gently simmering away).
4. Strain through a fine sieve.

This simple method will give you a rich, tasty chicken broth. Will it be as rich as those 6 hour stock jobbies with the hacked chicken parts?

Nope. But it WILL be better than anything you’ll ever buy in the store.

And you want to know another secret? You can even get rid of the veggies and just boil the chicken with a couple of bay leaves, and you'll have a first-rate chicken broth that can confidently stand up to any store bought stock.

Recipe: Really Simple Chicken Broth

Fat Hardware:
8 quart stockpot
Your trusty chef's knife
Cutting board
Fine sieve
Container to pour broth into, such as a large mixing bowl
Tongs to turn your bird over at 30 mins

Fat Ingredients:
2-1/2 qts water
1 whole 5 lb chicken
2 medium carrots
2 medium celery
2 medium onions
1 head of garlic
3 shallots (optional)
Fresh parsley
5 black peppercorns

1. Give your favorite yard bird a nice washing inside and out. We prefer Dines Farm birds, but Bell & Evans is our favorite supermarket chicken.
2. Chop the veggies into large chunks and cut the head of garlic in half.
3. Throw everything into the pot and cover with 2-1/2 qts of water.
4. Once your bird reaches a boil, turn it down to a gentle simmer.
5. Simmer for 30 mins. Turn chicken over. Simmer another 30 mins.
6. Remove chicken and put in your large container (the chicken will ooze some broth, you don't want to lose this)
7. Remove chicken from container and strain broth thru a fine sieve.
8. Before putting your broth in the fridge overnight, cool it down in a sink icebath, or drop frozen water bottles into the container.
9. Next day, scrape away the fat will hardens on top. Freeze in ice cube trays, freezer bags, or keep in fridge for 3 days.

:: Fat Tips ::
Do NOT dice, mince, peel or do anything fancy with your veggies. Remember, you're going for poultry flavor, not veggie flavor, so keep your chunks BIG (plus you'll save time).

And leave the skins on the head of garlic, the onions and shallots! This seems odd, but it will add more flavor to your stock and give it a darker, golden color. (thanks to Suzanne Brown for the tip)

Oh, and no need to wash your celery or carrots, unless of course they're dirty.

If there is a farmer's market near you, try to by a free range, organic chicken. I use Dines Farm de-ranged chicken, and it gives me a dark broth with lots of fat after a night in the fridge.

And speaking of fat (our favorite topic around here), when you scrape the solidified fat off your broth, save it in a plastic container. You can use it later on when you need to saute something.

Don’t stir your broth and don't allow it to boil for too long, the fat will churn in on itself… that's not good.

After the chicken cools, transfer to a cutting board and pick clean. Use in soups, salads or sandwiches.

When straining the broth, squeeze all the juice from the veggies with the back of a spoon or ladle.