I caught some kind of stomach flu from the grandkids the other day. Ugh. My stomach is still unhappy so I'm making a big pot of chicken stock right now. I'll use some of it to make plain chicken noodle soup to eat tonight and freeze the rest of it in containers for later use. I'm in survivor mode today because my stomach hurts.
Stock is easy to make. I put about 5 pounds of raw chicken parts I had saved in the freezer from spatch-cocking whole chickens, wing tips, trimmings from whole chicken breasts, etc. in my big stockpot. I added one large onion, 2 large carrots, three celery stalks and their leaves, a heaping teaspoon of whole black peppercorns, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, 5 or 6 garlic cloves cut in half, 4 bay leaves, and several large sprigs of thyme, dill and parsley from the garden. Then covered it generously with cold water, brought it to a boil, turned it down to simmer uncovered, skimmed off the foam that always appears when you make stock, and set the timer for 4 hours.
When the stock has reduced by about 2/3 in volume, I'll let it cool and then strain it with a colander - not a fine mesh sieve. I use a colander because the holes are larger which allows more of the tasty solids to remain in the stock.
Homemade stock is so much better than the canned or boxed stuff. The kitchen already smells great.
