Chicken Broth

The basis of many soups is a broth (or stock) of meat and vegetables (or vegetables alone), which provides a foundation of body and flavor. A sufficiently rich and fragrant broth makes a wonderful soup all by itself. I love a bowl of chicken broth garnished with a bit of pasta and parsley or a poached egg. Broth is not only easy to make, it’s one of the few things I freeze so as to have the makings of a soup or a risotto always at hand. I use a whole chicken to make broth, which may seem extravagant, but it produces lots of sweet, fragrant, and full-bodied broth. (After an hour of cooking you can lift the chicken out of the pot, remove the breasts, and then return the rest to the pot. The poached breasts make a great meal, especially with a little salsa verde.) It is the meat that makes the difference in the broth. If you use bones, choose meaty ones, such as necks, backs, and wings. Meatless bones yield a thin broth. The leftover carcass of a roast chicken can also be added to the broth. The roasted meat adds depth of flavor. (Leftover grilled chicken bones are not recommended; they make an acrid, smoky-tasting broth.) When making broth from a whole chicken, include the neck from inside the cavity. Also, remove and unwrap the giblets (usually the heart, gizzard, and liver). Put the gizzard and heart in the broth, but save the liver for some other purpose. Always start the broth with cold water; the flavor is drawn out of the meat and bones as it heats up to a boil. The amount of water you use will determine the intensity of your broth. A chicken barely submerged in water will produce a very rich, fragrant soup. Adding more water will make a lighter, more delicate broth. Bring the broth to a full rolling boil and then turn it down right away. The boil causes all the blood and extra proteins to coagulate into a foam that rises and collects at the top where you can skim it off, ensuring a clearer broth. If the broth is allowed to boil for long it will turn cloudy and the fat may emulsify, bonding with the water and making the stock murky and greasy. When skimming the broth, use a ladle and remove only the foam, not the fat. The fat contributes lots of flavor as the broth cooks and it can all be removed at the end. Add the vegetables after you have skimmed off the foam; that way they don’t get in the way. Add the vegetables either whole or in large pieces so they don’t fall apart and cloud the broth. Salt helps develop the flavor as the broth cooks and makes a much more flavorful stock than if you were to add all the salt at the end. Don’t add too much, though. The stock will lose volume to evaporation as it cooks, so it should start out under-seasoned. Cook the broth at a simmer, which means at a very gentle boil with bubbles just breaking the surface of the liquid at irregular intervals. If by accident the broth is cooking too quickly and has reduced, add some more water and return to a simmer. Broth should cook long enough to extract all the flavor from the meat and bones, but not so long that it starts to lose its delicacy and freshness. For chicken broth allow 4 to 5 hours. Taste the stock often as it cooks and turn it off when it is full of flavor. When you taste, spoon out a little and salt it to get a better idea of how it will taste when it is fully seasoned. Try this at different times throughout the cooking process to discover how the flavors develop. Strain the broth when it is finished cooking. Ladle it out of the pot and pass it through a strainer into a nonreactive container. For a very clear broth, strain it again through a clean wet cotton towel or cheesecloth. If you plan to use the broth right away, skim the fat. I only do this if I am using the broth right away. Otherwise, allow the broth to cool and refrigerate it with its fat, which solidifies on top, helping to preserve the broth and its flavor. The cold, hard fat is easy to lift off. Do not cover the broth until it’s cool o...