Chicken Stock Simply Done!

Rich, golden, fabulous, dish-perfecting stock. This is the stock ingredients just before I covered with water. I wanted to be able to give you a birds-eye view (haa, no pun intended) of the mixture.

One 4 pound chicken, roasted, cleaned and meat removed

-I roasted the chicken in the morning, picked the meat off and saved for other meals. It was too sad to just toss that good pile of chicken bones, so I made a stock. It's so easy, it gets you another couple of meals out of that one chicken and the stock enhances your dishes nicely.

Rough chop:

Celery
Carrot
Onion

- Those 3 ingredients are called "Mirepoix" in French cooking. The holy trinity. In fact, many cuisines/cultures have a trinity. Like Greeks use olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. Chinese use scallions, ginger and garlic. There's too many to list! Don't be afraid to use celery leaves too, they are very flavorful.

Also add:

Flat-leaf parsley, fat chopped or torn
Garlic, fat chopped
Black Peppercorns, whole
Kosher Salt

Cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil, scrape any scum that comes to the top and then drop to a simmer. I let this one simmer about 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Turned off the heat and let it cool off somewhat. Poured the stock through a strainer catching the juices beneath. I let cool, refrigerated it for about 2 hours and removed the fat on top. I then froze in smaller containers. This made about 8 cups of stock.

I've made my own stock before but have always simmered much longer. This version came out a rich golden color and has a nice mild flavor. I think it will be queen in a few recipes!