With winters in full flow, viruses are creeping up all over the place. Most of the time, all you need is something hot to drink + a nice cozy blanket, so that you can just fold yourself over your couch and not move around for anything! Hehe… Even though I prefer winters to summers over here, I hate the laziness that comes in along with this climate. The days are shorter and even if you plan out to sleep fast, somehow when the alarm rings in the morning, even 8 hours of sleep does not feel enough. I am trying to increase our dependence on soups and salads more this time. Just like I mentioned before, HD and B are totally fine with it, though the kids are not liking it. And I can’t expect them to like it – after all, they are my kids! 😉
Coming to the point, actually speaking there is no need to make chicken stock when you get stock cubes at very reasonable prices and even packaged chicken stock as such. But if you consider the preservatives that go into it, then I guess the best option is to make you own and stock it in the fridge. I never knew I could get chicken carcasses, till I saw it in the fresh frozen section in the supermarket chain close-by. I immediately picked it up and cooked up some chicken stock by referring to all resources I can. 🙂 First of all, the aroma of the spices is amazing. Not only that, there is nothing going into it, which can spoil your health, and also you get to control the salt in it! Aren’t they all advantages? 🙂 I just finished off this batch by using them up in soups and hoping to make another batch again. The stock stays good for two weeks in the fridge – provided that you store them in sterilized glass bottles and do not allow any fluid to touch it, though I haven’t tried freezing them up. I have read that frozen stock stays good for 2 months, though I can’t guarantee it. Another thing you could do, is to take out whatever chicken is on the carcasses and use it in a salad or soup! Sounds good, right? 🙂 Off to the recipe…
Home-made Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken carcasses
- 1.5 ltr water
- 2 bay leaf
- 1 big stick cinnamon
- 1 whole garlic unpeeled and crushed
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 tbsp black peppercorn
- Salt to taste
- 1 large carrot peeled and chopped
- 2 big celery chopped
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a pressure cooker.
- Pressure cook for one whistle on high flame and then leave for 15 minutes on simmer. Switch off and allow to cool completely.
- Once cool, drain to separate the stock.
- Keep stored in sterilized glass bottles in the fridge and use within two weeks.
Notes
You can add more spices if you want. Adding some cloves, paprika, parsley, etc. will add more flavor.
I always make my veg and chicken stock. But how did you manage to get it out of the bottle? I keep them in a container, because it solidifies. Does this stay liquid even after it in the fridge for few days?
I keep the bottle out in room temperature for sometime, or else just keep it dipped into hot water, if I am in a hurry… 🙂 It does solidify in the fridge but not so much, just becomes a bit gloppy, you can actually scoop it out and take… Thanks a lot Fami…
Great idea to stock up on chicken stock! Perfect for this cold climate!
Thank you so much Beulah…
Good post Rafeetha
Thanks a lot Beena…
Nice. Chicken stock is my house? Well, the half-half is chicken free. Still, its really flavourful and I think does stay for around 2 months if frozen.
Thank you so much Nava…
Scotch and I love making our own chicken stock too although he does his the Scottish way and I make mine the Chinese way 🙂
Thank you for stopping by my FB page and entering my giveaway!
Wow… it’s good to know there are so many ways of making a simple chicken stock! 🙂 Thank you so much for coming by…
Perfect for the climate!I never use to store it!Will o next time!
Thank you so much Shazia…
Being s vegetarian I m not familiar with it but looking bebtge idea of stocking. BTW nice hand writing
Thank you so much Vidya… That is the best in handwriting I could do! Hehe…
When we make stock we also add crushed cardamom pods and mastic as well, try them and I bet you’ll not regret it. I’ve heard that drinking a cup of stock each day increases your collagen a lot. So I’ll go grab a chicken carcass and start your recipe right in the morning, not only warming in this sub-zero weather we live in , but for beauty purposes as well :).
I love the idea of cardamom, I don’t know if we get mastic here, must check out. If that’s the case I guess every woman should be drinking it… 🙂 Thanks a lot for coming by Amira…