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Chicken Stock

Well made stocks are one of the foundations of classic French cuisine. A good stock is redolent with flavor, clear, not cloudy, and rich with the naturally occurring gelatin in the bones. Have you made roast chicken and refrigerated the leftovers? Then, the next day you look at the chicken and the juices have congealed into a kind of meat Jell-O? That’s the gelatin that gives stocks—and the soups and sauces made from them—their wonderful flavor.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes about 10 cups

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken wings or bones
14 cups water
3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
3 onions, preferably Vidalia, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves, preferably fresh
2 sprigs of parsley
2 springs of thyme
4 to 6 whole black peppercorns

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a large soup pot, combine the chicken wings, water, celery, onions, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, skimming the foam off the top as it rises. Strain through a colander, reserving the stock and discarding the chicken and vegetables.

    Step 2

    Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. Before using, skim off and discard any fat that has risen to the surface.

Cover of Bon Appetit, Yall by Virginia Willis featuring a serving of corn souffle.
From Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories From Three Generations of Southern Cooking, © 2008 by Virginia Willis. Reprinted by permission of Ten Speed Press. Buy the full book from Amazon or Abe Books.
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