Homemade Chicken Stock

Everyone says how much better homemade chicken stock is, so I decided to see for myself. I used Ina Garten's recipe but tweaked it. Ina's recipe uses three chickens in a 16- to 20-quart stockpot. However, my stockpot is only 12-quarts, so I changed the recipe to do about 2/3 the recipe.

 

Ingredients

2 (5-pound) roasting chickens

2 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered

4 carrots, unpeeled and halved

3 stalks celery with leaves, cut into thirds

12 sprigs fresh parsley

10 sprigs fresh thyme

12 sprigs fresh dill

1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

 

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into stockpot (mine is a 12-quart stockpot).  Add about 4.5 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 4 hours. Strain the contents through a colander and discard the solids. Chill the stock overnight. The next day, remove the surface fat. Use immediately or pack in containers and freeze for up to 3 months

 

My recipe made about 4 or 5 quarts.  I used it in a mintestrone recipe and jambalaya recipe.  It's really good!  However, it seems kind of expensive to make.  I saw some reviews on food network that said Anne Burrell's recipe is just as good and is cheaper because it only uses chicken thighs - so I'll try that recipe next time to compare it to Ina's.