Broth

Chicken Broth

I get 10 broilers through my CSA with Brookford Farm.  Once in a while I will get a stew hen or some beef stock bones too but the broilers are consistent.  I would say they are about four pounds give or take.  I use every single part of the chicken wasting nothing, like I said before, this animal gave it's life for this purpose so make it worth it.  I have a 7 1/4 quart  Le Cruset.  Place the rinsed chicken in the pot and fill with clean water.  I through some salt and tamari sauce in with the water and bring it to a soft boil.  A foam is created.  Skim the foam off the top and lower the heat to a simmer and cover.  Let the chicken simmer for about an hour and a half to two hours.  You should see the skin pulling away from the bone.  Pull the chicken out of the water and let cool enough to handle.  While you are waiting for the chicken to cool, throw in the savories.  This is where you can get creative.  My usual items are onions, carrots and celery with peppercorns and bay leaves.  Remember that herb garden I told you to plant?  Well this is where it comes in handy.  Go cut some sage, parsley, winter savory, tarragon, and thyme.  That is my usual but it differs depending on the season.  I sometimes add garlic scapes or ramps, dill flowers, cilantro flowers, celery seeds are good too.  It you happen to get some fresh garden celery, throw in the leaves.  I just cut the vegetables up into very large chunks.  The idea is to layer the flavors to give depth to the broth.   Well the chicken is probably cooled off by now.  Time to get dirty and pull the chicken apart and pick out the meat.  I put the plate with the chicken right next to the pot with the broth.  Once all the meat is removed, I usual get about 3 to four cups of meat.  Throw all the skin, bones and cartilage into the broth and just let it simmer.  I can honestly say that the amount of time I let it simmer purely depends on if I have time to pour it through the sieve.  I can say it is not under 8 hours.  I know this sounds weird but you can smell when it is ready.   If you are not going to use the broth right away for soup or risotto, I freeze mine.  How do you get the broth out of the pot with chicken carcass and mushy vegetables and wilted herbs, you ask?  Quite easily actually.  Place a large sieve over a large bowl and line the sieve with a single layer of paper towel and start ladling in the broth.  Pour the filtered broth into a freezer safe containers and freeze.  There you have your own homemade chicken broth without preservatives and you have control over the amount of sodium.  I know this looks like a fairly long description but it is really spread out and very worth it.  Enjoy