The Satisfaction of Making Chicken Stock

I've been recently purchasing rotisserie chickens from the Roli Roti truck when I'm at farmer's market. They're a little more expensive than the chickens at Safeway - but free-range, plump and packed with herbs. When the chicken is picked clean over the course of a few meals, nothing is more satisfying than making a bone broth from the remains. My imagination runs directly to equal parts Boxcar Children (the descriptions of the meals these orphaned children scavenged always made me hungry), French housewife and victory-garden patriot. A lovely sense of being prudent for something so easy to do.

My secret to a good chicken stock is to include onions (with skin for color), celery, garlic, bay leaf and carrots along with a bunch of miscellaneous veggie scraps such as kale stems, yellow beet stems, the tops of leeks, those last few small cloves from the center of a garlic, etc. 

The mixture goes into a large canning pot along with the chicken remains and water to simmer for a couple hours. 

When the stock is boiled down and cooled, I strain out everything and add back in any good pieces of chicken meat that fell off the bones. 

Last time, I had three chickens leftover from the Valentine's luncheon and made gallons of chicken soup for the freezer. One, a Mexican lime chicken soup with black beans, beet greens, ancho chili and leek. The other a classic chicken barley (cooked separately and rinsed before adding) with celery, carrot and greens. You don't need to cook the veggies added at this stage because they'll boil again when the soup is heated. 

The frozen chicken soup is one of the few things that can tempt Rob away from making a quick lunch of instant ramen or a burrito from down the street. Plus it is convenient to have on hand to give to sick friends!