Frugal Friday: How to make stock and what to do with it

Thanks, Emily for the request on stock how-to and uses.

Making homemade stock seems to be one of the cheapest, easiest ways to get great nutrients into our bodies.  Buying whole chickens is cheap, roasting them is (relatively) easy, and making stock is really easy. Plus, having it on hand can make simple healthy cooking so much more convenient.

You can find great directions and recipes at most any cooking website.  All I do is this:

Chicken:

• Thaw a whole chicken, rinse. Cut slits in skin and stuff chopped garlic underneath. Stuff chicken with onions, fresh rosemary, any other herbs that are handy and sound good. Drizzle olive oil over the whole bird. Roast until done (based on weight of bird: 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Use a meat thermometer.) Let rest 10 minutes or so before cutting so juices soak in.
• Be a barbarian and get all the meat off. Dutch loves eating chicken off the bone, so I let him join me and get him little scraps.  It is gross or fun depending upon how you look at it.  Try to tell yourself it’s fun. 🙂
• I shred all the chicken, leave out what we will use in the next few days, and freeze the rest in 1 cup portions in ziplock baggies. This makes it SO easy to add protein to any meal, soup, stirfry, sandwiches, whatever.  I love pre-measuring everything I freeze so it’s easy to add the right amount.

Stock:

• Dump everything–carcass, skin, all the fat and drippings and everything, scrape it all out of the roasting pan into a big pot.  Add roughly chopped vegetables (I use carrots, onion, garlic, but celery is good too).  Cover completely with water.
• Cook on low. When I tried this years ago I think I cooked it too fast and it turned out cloudy and greasy and gross. I guess cooking it slowly draws the nutrients out of the bones.  (Experts out there? Correct me if I’m wrong.)
• Bring to low boil and skim off the “scum” that rises to the top.  You can cook it for 4 hours or 24 hours, however long you want. Cooking it down will obviously make it more concentrated. I usually just roast the chicken first thing in the morning, eat some for lunch, and cook stock all afternoon and have it cooled enough to put in freezer by the time I go to bed.
• After it cooks, just pour it through a colander into another pot or jars or however you’re going to store it. I just freeze it in small portions (about the size of a 14 oz. can) and that way I can just add it to rice, barley, soup, pasta, whatever. Last night for dinner I was in a pinch and just cooked barley in chicken stock (right in the rice-cooker) and served that with Parmesan cheese on top and carrot sticks. Not fancy but at least it was nutritious!

What to do with it?

So, you have all this stock. What to do with it?  Here are some of my favorite ways to use it up. It’ll go fast!

Quick  ideas and simple substitutions:

• My kids love just simple whole-wheat pasta and chopped carrots cooked in chicken stock.  It makes a quick and easy soup, but Dutch just calls it “noodles”.
• Cook your rice or barley in chicken stock instead of water.
• Cook your dried beans in the crockpot in chicken stock instead of water.

Favorite Recipes:

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings (Just use the shredded chicken (from above) and this comes together in a flash.

Tarragon Chicken-in-a-pot Pies (With or without tarragon this is delicious. This is also a great way to use that frozen zucchini from last summer!)

Chicken Vegetable Soup (I skip the parsnips and turnips. The leeks make this delicious!  Just use shredded chicken (from above) and your homemade stock.)

Winter Lentil Soup (You can tweak this soup to use anything. I don’t usually use tomatoes, and often substitute frozen spinach if I don’t have kale on hand–and who usually has kale on hand? I always add chopped carrots or carrot puree.)

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Do you have any secret ways for making delicious stock, or favorite recipes for using it? Let us know!