Chicken Stock

Chicken stock vs. Chicken Broth

So the difference between chicken broth and chicken stock is the bones. Chicken broth is made with only meat while stock incorporates bones and slow cooking times. The bones add a heavier mouth feel to the liquid due to the gelatinous properties that come out when you slow cook them. There's also a lot more flavor in stock then in broth. The fat is a little higher but not enough to worry about. I like to use chicken thighs for a couple of reasons. number one reason they are super cheap! You can get a four pack of chicken thighs for as low as $2.74. Another reason is they are full of flavor and I like to use the leftover meat for other things so the recipe does double duty. The ingredients are super simple for chicken stock.

Ingredients

8  cups water

4  chicken thighs (bone in, with skin)

2  bay leaf

5  peppercorns

3  cloves garlic

2  tsp. salt

What Do I Do With This?

Super simple! For your prep all you need to do is peel the garlic. I like to slam the garlic with the flat side of my knife against my cutting board. This makes it really easy to get the paper off and breaks up the garlic a bit which is great when you're trying to get flavor into liquids. 

Now just poor your water into a stock pot or large pot, add the peppercorns (you need to count them so you know how many you need to fish out), bay leaf, garlic, and salt and bring to a boil.

Once your pot comes to a boil turn down the flame until you get a slow simmer. Now leave it alone. In about an hour your stock will form a white foam on top.


Go ahead and skim this off with a spoon and discard. I like to simmer my stock for 2 hours. Once finished you will notice a layer of fat on the top. You can either skim it off now or pop the stock in the fridge. Once the stock is cold the fat will harden on the top and you can easily remove it. 

Once your stock is done you can strain it or fish out the bay leaf, peppercorns, and garlic. I like to fish mine out and leave the little bits in but its completely up to your preference. Now your stock is ready! You can use it right away or store in the freezer or fridge. You can keep stock in the freezer for 6 months to a year and in the fridge for up to four days.