Customizable Homemade Chicken Stock Recipe - Bessie Bakes (2024)

FAQs

How to jazz up chicken stock? ›

Add Whole Spices

Spice up store-bought stock with whole peppercorns, bay leaves, star anise, or a cinnamon stick. Whole spices can add tremendous flavor to a stock. You might not think that bay leaves do much, but those dried leaves add an herbal flavor that helps make your stock more complex.

Stock is generally made from bones, and broth is generally made from flesh. In both cases, they are often supported with aromatic vegetables, but in the case of stock, left unseasoned for maximum flexibility in recipes, whereas broth will usually contain at least salt and pepper.

Richer mouthfeel – Homemade chicken stock has abundant gelatin from the chicken bones and tissues, which gives it a full-bodied richness and mouthfeel when used in soups and stews. Store-bought stock lacks this quality. More versatile because it's unsalted – Store-bought stock is almost always salted.

Woody herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, tarragon, and marjoram release tons of flavor as they slowly simmer in stock. Give them a rinse and toss in a big handful of sprigs per quart of store-bought stock.

Use an appropriate-sized pot: too small a pot and the stock will be too heavy and even dense; too large, and it will be watered down. The correct balance is about one-third to one-half meat, bones and flavorings, the rest water, or water and a bit of wine.

Chicken bouillon is a concentrated flavor enhancer available in both powdered and cube form. Think of it as chicken stock condensed into a convenient package. Chicken bouillon is made by dehydrating chicken stock. It gives you a concentrated product that can be easily stored and used when needed.

And the Winner Is..

Stock! Whether homemade or store-bought it has more protein and usually less sodium per serving as compared to broth. Plus, the flavor is just better which means you'll start with something tastier and will hopefully use less salt to taste at the end.

Bone broth simmers for a much longer time than regular broth or stock, and has a higher ratio of meat and bones to liquid, producing a richer, more flavorful liquid.

Avoid bitter greens and members of the brassica family (kale, cabbage, Bok Choy). Other greens can be used in small quantities. Good in small quantities (no more than 1/5 of the stock ingredients). Foods in the Brassica family, such as kohlrabi, are too strong for stock/broth and can impart a bitter taste.

What is the most important ingredient in a stock? ›

Nourishing Element – The most important ingredient of a stock. This is where the flavor, nutrients, color, and most often gelatin come from. Gelatin is an essential part of a stock that is produced when the connective tissue in the bones break down. Gelatin is what gives a stock its body.

Standard seasoning includes parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and peppercorns. Other herbs and spices augment the flavors as desired. Vegetable stocks begin with a mirepoix of onions, celery, and carrots, enhanced by additional vegetables, leeks, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, fennel, and similar ingredients.

Cook it too long, though, and you get into a case of seriously diminishing returns. Throughout my testing, I tasted my stocks as they cooked, and I generally found about one and a half hours to be a reasonable endpoint—plenty of time for a flavorful, rich broth, but not so long that it's a major commitment to make it.

It makes your food taste like chef's food, bring depth of flavour and richness to soups, stews, sauces, gravies and all that jazz! 5. It optimises digestion and Brillant Savarin knew this – am thinking this is why the French traditionally always start with a soup.

On chicken broth ALONE probably not. If you use different types of broth, including vegetable broth, then probably yes. But you would have to be careful about vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids and amino acids.

A good stock isn't done until it's been strained, seasoned and cooled. Skimping on any of these steps can leave you with stock that's murky, bland or stale-tasting. To strain, pour the stock into a colander lined with at least two layers of cheesecloth.

A little salt and pepper can go such a long way towards creating a delicious, flavorful broth. Other popular seasonings include herbs like bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, parsley, savory, sage, and basil. Turmeric, cayenne pepper, and ginger can also be added for extra flavor and possibly even some nutritional benefits.

Store-bought stock especially tends to have a lot of added salt, so if you're switching to water you're probably going to have to add more salt than you're used to adding. Consider introducing flavor boosters, like a splash of white wine, an old Parm rind, a splash of soy sauce, or a dollop of miso paste into the mix.

I pour a box of stock into a saucepan. To that, I add a minced carrot, a minced celery stalk, some peppercorns, a chopped onion, and, if these flavors will work with the dish I'm eventually going to make, some garlic and herbs. And I just let that simmer for a while. There is really no recipe or specific timing.