Chicken Stock - HELP

murbar1360

Ok,

So last night I attempted to make chicken stock for the first time - as you can probably gather I am not an experienced cook but want to try and improve my cooking.

Anyhow, I put the chicken carcass in a pot, covered it with water and added 2 carrots and an onion. I simmered for about 1 & 1/2 hours and left overnight on the hob.

I put in the pot in the fridge this morning because I had to go to work today.

This evening I took out the carcass and strained the veg with a sieve into another pot.

I only had about 2 cups of stock (approx 500mls). Does this seem right - i thought I would have had more.

Also, what do you do with the onion and carrots. I was going to use the stock to make a soup - could these go into it or would you just throw them out.

Any advice please. Thanks.

the beer revolu

You've probably lost a lot of the stock cause it was cold and a bit jellified when you strained it.
Next time, strain it when it is hot.
I usually throw out the veg as they really have most of their goodness extracted from them - they won't do you any harm, though.

Homemade stock is fantastic, do try it again.

nosietoes

the other thing that may have happened is evaporation in which case your stock will taste amazing but you might want to have a little more. I work as a chef and we never fully boil our stock - you bring it up to just about a simmer and let it stay there for a couple of hours that way you get all the flavour, lose much less liquid and you don't melt as much as the fat in the chicken so your stock is clearer and less oily.

Making stock is a great thing to get in the habit of, and so economical especially if you keep roast chicken carcasses or we sometimes buy chicken wings or thighs when they're on special offer just to make stocks.

Good Luck and keep experimenting