Chicken Stock

 I cook a lot of chicken and recently with the purchase of my new house and all the bills that come with that I am starting to see the value in being frugal. I use a lot of boxed chicken stock, this gets expensive, but it is a great way to impart flavor in any meal that requires water. I have committed to making chicken stock every time i make a whole chicken This is how I do it....


All left over parts of the chicken
8 cps of water
2 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
5 ribs of celery, chopped
1 tablespoon of basil
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of salt, you may need to be more depending on the seasoning of your chicken
1 tablespoon of pepper


Nothing special to do here...add it all to a big pot and watch it go...bring it to a boil then drop the temperature to medium for about 5-6 hours....You are going to want to separate the liquid from the fat. This is were this gets complicated.. Use a noodle strainer for all the big chucks of stuff...take the liquid and a mesh strainer, you can line the strainer with the paper towels and let the fat skim that way (my preferred method) or you can cool it completely in the fridge and skim it off the top. This recipe is good for Beef and Veggies, I would put more veggies in for the vegetable stock..For beef you can use any inexpensive part of beef...I found that a beef rib is pretty good, but I use neck.