No fancy ingredient list here. Basically, whenever you peel an onion, save the peels and ends. When you chop a carrot, save the top and bottom that you cut off. When you chop celery, save the bottom and leaves that you cut off. When you don't want to use those teeny cloves of garlic, save 'em. Keep a large ziplock bag in your freezer and dump them in there every time. Now, if you are vegetarian, you are set to make veggie broth if you follow my instructions without the chicken part.
Doesn't that look yummy already??
If you eat chicken, then get another ziplock bag and put all the bones, peels, and other parts you don't use in that one. Keep it in your freezer too. We buy our chicken in bulk from the wonderful, organic and SPCA approved Rockweld Farms. We get six chickens in a "cut case", which means all the breasts, thighs, legs, and wings are cut and packaged, and they also put in the leftover carcasses for stock. So we're usually set with a good chicken base for stock. I'll spare you the photo, vegetarian friends.
When both bags are full, it's stock day. Put it all in the largest pot or two you have, fill it up with as much water as you can, add a couple of bay leaves to each pot, and turn it on. I don't add any other seasoning. Especially salt, because if you plan to use your stock with some beans, the salt will keep them from getting soft. You can always add whatever seasoning later when you use your stock. Let it simmer for a good two to three hours. This pot was full when I started, but it boiled down a lot. That makes for good flavour.
Yummy, right? Whenever I make this, my husband says, "What smells so amazing?" and then he looks in the pot an gags.
Once it's cooled down, scoop out as much of the chicken and veggies as you can with a slotted spoon and chuck it out. Then put a sieve over a freezer container and pour the stock into it that way, so you can filter out the rest of the chunks.
Now, you can freeze it right away, or use it right away, or, you can refrigerate it until the fat rises to the top and hardens there. That's what I do, then I can skim off the fat easily with a spoon for a lower-fat version.
You're done. Freeze it for the next time you need a good stock. I got these three containers from my 2 ziplock bags and two biggest cooking pots full. And don't forget to wash and reuse the ziplock bags!
