The ups and downs of stock...

So I recently attempted to make my own chicken stock. I got the idea several months ago when CCL's Family Foundations magazine had an article about how to do it, and how much more nutritious it can be compared to store bought stock. Well, always wanting increase my "crunchiness" I decided to give it a go.

I combined two recipes, one from Nigella Lawson and one from the La Leche League cookbook. Here's what I did: When I first read the article, I started saving up chicken bones (when I remembered). So I ended up with three frozen carcasses, with some meat and skin left on them. I took these and threw them in a large pot. Then I added a sliced onion, some chopped carrots and celery, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, celery seed, a bay leaf and nine peppercorns. Then I put in enough water to cover, and set it to boil for about three hours. At that point I strained it and put it back on to boil down to about 6 cups of stock. After it cooled, I put it in the refrigerator to chill in a large bowl. Then the next day I skimmed the fat off the top and separated it into cup size portions to freeze for later use.

Now here are the problems that I had: I was interrupted several times in the beginning when I was chopping the veggies...first by Maria, then by Amelia. At one point I was frantically trying to get things into the pot and get it starting heating while I was holding Amelia and trying to nurse her. The books don't tell you how to deal with a situation like that.

Once it was on the stove, things went well, since you really don't have to watch it. It was only later, trying to decide where to put it (the downstairs fridge was the only place it would fit), how to skim the fat, and wondering why it looked like gello, that I began to question my sanity. I had to call my mom to find the answer to the last question. Apparently, if you want it to be a thin, non-gelatinous liquid, you have to strain it through a cheese-cloth. Ah, if only the recipe had mentioned that. Now I'll have to buy a cheese cloth and strain the stock before I use it. All-in-all though it was an interesting experiment, one worth trying again a I think.