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And because y'all can't live without an update on my life every two hours: after the two-day ordeal of stockmaking, I now have two ice trays and two 1.5-cup containers full of meat Jell-O chillin' in the freezer. And it is tasty indeed.
So: what I did this time around.
Bought 2 baking hens. Would have gone for roasting chickens instead, but they didn't have any. After a quick google, I have found that a broiler/fryer is a younger, smaller chicken; a roaster is a slightly older, much bigger chicken; and a stewing/baking hen is much older and tougher, and workes best when cooked with a lot of liquid. A roasting chicken is going to be much more expensive than the other two, but I've found the flavor is best with one, so it's worth the extra money to me when they're available.
Stockpot: Two onions, about half a bag of carrots in large chunks, five or six large cloves garlic, smashed, about half a package of celery in big chunks, and several quarter-size chunks of ginger (SEEKRIT INGREDIENT).
First, put entire chicken in pot, cover with water. Bring to boil and skim scum off the surface (this is minerals from the bones and you dont' *have* to skim it, but it's supposed to make it vaguely gritty if you don't). Then throw vegetables in, turn heat down so it's simmering, leave alone for several hours, until the chicken comes off the bone easily with just a fork. If the water gets a bit low, you can put more in. Take chicken off bones and put in bowl to make chicken salad, keep bones and whatever bits of meat that you couldn't capture simmering.
If you've got a flavorful chicken, the chicken in the bowl you have now should be OMG GOOD. In a stock, the meat adds the flavor and the bones add the gelatin that give it body - this is why making stock starting with a raw chicken will be more flavorful than one made starting with just bones or with cooked chicken. And if you start with a broiler/fryer, you won't have much flavor at all.
Make![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
telophase's chicken salad: in a small bowl, combine approximately 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1/2 cup Dijonnaise, add roughly a teaspoon of dill, add roughly a teaspoon of tarragon if you've got it, but I almost never do, chop half a bunch of green onions finely, including the green bits, and add it, mince about half a clove of garlic or use a garlic press and add it, then add about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (SEEKRIT INGREDIENT). Mix together. Ideally you'd let it sit for an hour or two to let the flavors blend and develop, but I'm always hungry and impatient at this point. Add it to the chicken, mix. Realize that you need more mayonnaise, add more until consistency is pleasing. Add some more Dijonnaise to even things up. Taste. At this point I usually end up adding some salt and pepper, and maybe more apple cider vinegar if needed. Strangely, the vinegar adds both a warm, smooth taste and a little bite. Take entire bowl to couch, turn on TV, eat directly out of mixing bowl. If feeling posh, take hunks of bread and spread it on the bread first. Put what's left over in fridge, end up eating it all within two days.
Stockpot again: Simmer stock until about 2 hours before you have to go to bed. Take pot off heat to cool a bit. If necessary, put pot in sink and run water around it to help transfer heat away from it. Put in fridge right before bed. If all you want is plain stock, you're done and can strain it and do whatever, but if you're like me and an addict to double stock, you're only halfway through. Normally you'd just repeat the above process the next day, using the stock instead of water (and adding a bit of water to get the level of liquid correct), but I wasn't going to have time to do that, so I used the crockpot instead. I tasted it throughout the process, too, once it was cooked enough that I didn't fear salmonella, because it smelled good and the flavor develops over time. There comes a point when enough chicken fat is melted and floating on the surface that you end up with more fat than stock in your tasting spoon and you no longer get a really good idea of the flavor, since the fat has had the flavor taken out of it, too.
Crockpot: Cut second chicken up, shove in crockpot. Cut up more of the same vegetables and pile on top. Add about a cup of water (This proved t be my undoing - it would ahve been fine with just a teeny little bit.) Cook on High for an hour or so, switch to Low. About three hours later, realize that the chicken and vegetable juices have combined with the water in the pot and caused it to boil over, so have to run and unplug it and clean it up before continuing. Realize that thighs, wings, and breast meat will probably be enough, so take rest of carcass out and throw away (well, at first intend to put it in the stock the next day, but discover that pot is not actually big enough, and *then* throw away). Plug back in, let cook on Low overnight.
Stockpot again: When wake up, take stockpot out of fridge and put on high heat. Add contents of crockpot to stockpot. Taste meat from crockpot and realize it's cooke dlong enough to leach all flavor out of it, so don't bother taking it off. (Cooking the traditional way, making the second chicken in the stockpot, I'd have been able to catch the chicken before the flavor completely left.) Once it hits a boil, turn down to medium-low and simmer until two hours before have to leave house, wihtout adding more water, because I wanted the flavors to be intense.
Once ready to take it off the heat, put colander in big bowl and pour contents of stockpot into bowl, *carefully*. Then clean bits of bone and meat that are stuck to the side of the pot off, put mesh strainer over pot, and pour bowl of stock back into pot. Clean off strainer by banging it agaisnt side of sink, put it on the bowl, pour stock back into bowl. If I'd had cheesecloth, this would be the point where I lined the strainer and poured a couple more times. But I didn't, and it didn't really matter.
Cool stock by sitting it in the sink and running water around the bowl (not getting water *in* the bowl, obviously). Once ready to leave house, stick bowl in fridge, sitting on top of paper towels to keep chicken grease form getting all over inside of fridge.
Next day, take bowl out. Skim of cup and a half of chicken fat that has risen to the surface, throw away. Taste meat Jell-O and swoon at chickeny goodness. Fill two ice trays with meat Jell-O, and two cup-and-a-half size plastic tubs, freeze all. Plan on putting meat Jell-O ice cubes into ziplock bag for long-term storage and eventual incorporation into quick pan sauces when frozen.
Post to Livejournal, and wonder what the hell one is going to do with frozen meat Jell-O, especially as finished off the chicken salad at breakfast, so now have no chicken left.
If I wanted to do a quick overnight stock, I think I'd throw a couple of legs and wings into a crockpot with vegetables and about half a cup of water, and let it do its thing overnight, adding more water (boiling, so the temperature in the crockpot wouldn't go down) if it seemed like it wasn't going to be enough liquid.
So: what I did this time around.
Bought 2 baking hens. Would have gone for roasting chickens instead, but they didn't have any. After a quick google, I have found that a broiler/fryer is a younger, smaller chicken; a roaster is a slightly older, much bigger chicken; and a stewing/baking hen is much older and tougher, and workes best when cooked with a lot of liquid. A roasting chicken is going to be much more expensive than the other two, but I've found the flavor is best with one, so it's worth the extra money to me when they're available.
Stockpot: Two onions, about half a bag of carrots in large chunks, five or six large cloves garlic, smashed, about half a package of celery in big chunks, and several quarter-size chunks of ginger (SEEKRIT INGREDIENT).
First, put entire chicken in pot, cover with water. Bring to boil and skim scum off the surface (this is minerals from the bones and you dont' *have* to skim it, but it's supposed to make it vaguely gritty if you don't). Then throw vegetables in, turn heat down so it's simmering, leave alone for several hours, until the chicken comes off the bone easily with just a fork. If the water gets a bit low, you can put more in. Take chicken off bones and put in bowl to make chicken salad, keep bones and whatever bits of meat that you couldn't capture simmering.
If you've got a flavorful chicken, the chicken in the bowl you have now should be OMG GOOD. In a stock, the meat adds the flavor and the bones add the gelatin that give it body - this is why making stock starting with a raw chicken will be more flavorful than one made starting with just bones or with cooked chicken. And if you start with a broiler/fryer, you won't have much flavor at all.
Make
telophase's chicken salad: in a small bowl, combine approximately 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1/2 cup Dijonnaise, add roughly a teaspoon of dill, add roughly a teaspoon of tarragon if you've got it, but I almost never do, chop half a bunch of green onions finely, including the green bits, and add it, mince about half a clove of garlic or use a garlic press and add it, then add about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (SEEKRIT INGREDIENT). Mix together. Ideally you'd let it sit for an hour or two to let the flavors blend and develop, but I'm always hungry and impatient at this point. Add it to the chicken, mix. Realize that you need more mayonnaise, add more until consistency is pleasing. Add some more Dijonnaise to even things up. Taste. At this point I usually end up adding some salt and pepper, and maybe more apple cider vinegar if needed. Strangely, the vinegar adds both a warm, smooth taste and a little bite. Take entire bowl to couch, turn on TV, eat directly out of mixing bowl. If feeling posh, take hunks of bread and spread it on the bread first. Put what's left over in fridge, end up eating it all within two days.Stockpot again: Simmer stock until about 2 hours before you have to go to bed. Take pot off heat to cool a bit. If necessary, put pot in sink and run water around it to help transfer heat away from it. Put in fridge right before bed. If all you want is plain stock, you're done and can strain it and do whatever, but if you're like me and an addict to double stock, you're only halfway through. Normally you'd just repeat the above process the next day, using the stock instead of water (and adding a bit of water to get the level of liquid correct), but I wasn't going to have time to do that, so I used the crockpot instead. I tasted it throughout the process, too, once it was cooked enough that I didn't fear salmonella, because it smelled good and the flavor develops over time. There comes a point when enough chicken fat is melted and floating on the surface that you end up with more fat than stock in your tasting spoon and you no longer get a really good idea of the flavor, since the fat has had the flavor taken out of it, too.
Crockpot: Cut second chicken up, shove in crockpot. Cut up more of the same vegetables and pile on top. Add about a cup of water (This proved t be my undoing - it would ahve been fine with just a teeny little bit.) Cook on High for an hour or so, switch to Low. About three hours later, realize that the chicken and vegetable juices have combined with the water in the pot and caused it to boil over, so have to run and unplug it and clean it up before continuing. Realize that thighs, wings, and breast meat will probably be enough, so take rest of carcass out and throw away (well, at first intend to put it in the stock the next day, but discover that pot is not actually big enough, and *then* throw away). Plug back in, let cook on Low overnight.
Stockpot again: When wake up, take stockpot out of fridge and put on high heat. Add contents of crockpot to stockpot. Taste meat from crockpot and realize it's cooke dlong enough to leach all flavor out of it, so don't bother taking it off. (Cooking the traditional way, making the second chicken in the stockpot, I'd have been able to catch the chicken before the flavor completely left.) Once it hits a boil, turn down to medium-low and simmer until two hours before have to leave house, wihtout adding more water, because I wanted the flavors to be intense.
Once ready to take it off the heat, put colander in big bowl and pour contents of stockpot into bowl, *carefully*. Then clean bits of bone and meat that are stuck to the side of the pot off, put mesh strainer over pot, and pour bowl of stock back into pot. Clean off strainer by banging it agaisnt side of sink, put it on the bowl, pour stock back into bowl. If I'd had cheesecloth, this would be the point where I lined the strainer and poured a couple more times. But I didn't, and it didn't really matter.
Cool stock by sitting it in the sink and running water around the bowl (not getting water *in* the bowl, obviously). Once ready to leave house, stick bowl in fridge, sitting on top of paper towels to keep chicken grease form getting all over inside of fridge.
Next day, take bowl out. Skim of cup and a half of chicken fat that has risen to the surface, throw away. Taste meat Jell-O and swoon at chickeny goodness. Fill two ice trays with meat Jell-O, and two cup-and-a-half size plastic tubs, freeze all. Plan on putting meat Jell-O ice cubes into ziplock bag for long-term storage and eventual incorporation into quick pan sauces when frozen.
Post to Livejournal, and wonder what the hell one is going to do with frozen meat Jell-O, especially as finished off the chicken salad at breakfast, so now have no chicken left.
If I wanted to do a quick overnight stock, I think I'd throw a couple of legs and wings into a crockpot with vegetables and about half a cup of water, and let it do its thing overnight, adding more water (boiling, so the temperature in the crockpot wouldn't go down) if it seemed like it wasn't going to be enough liquid.