Chicken stock?

[butterflygreen]

Ok two questions.
1.how long do i boil my chicken brest?
2.how do i make chicken stock?

[Buc-O-Mama]

Put your chicken in a pot, along with a little garlic, parsley (you can throw in some washed onion skins and celery leaves) and cover with water, usually about 3 inches above the chicken. Boil until the chicken falls apart, usually an hour or so. Bring to a boil, then simmer. I never cover. Then remove the chicken and veg, and strain through a very fine strainer, or an old piece of clean cloth. Then let it cool a bit, and put it in the fridge for the fat to rise to the top and harden so you can discard if you like. Your stock is ready, and you can freeze it if you like. If you freeze it in a freezer bag, be sure to thaw it in a container because it can be a mess. Oh, the addition of garlic and stuff to the stock isn't necessary, but it gives the stock a richer flavor.

[Denvergirlie]

What are you boiling the chicken breast for? To eat?

To make stock, I take my chicken bones, toss in some onions, celery and carrots and simmer (not boil, simmer) for 45mins - 1 hours. Cool, skim, strain, freeze.

[IntlMom]

I'll address the stock question:

Fill a big ole' pot of water

take whatever parts of chicken that you can get the cheapest (whole bird, hindquarters, whatever..), skin them and stick them in the pot of water

put whatever veggies you have in the house into the pot
(I use celery, onions, carrots, garlic - if I have it...if not, I don't - btw, this is a great way to use up veggies that are a bit past their prime)

simmer the heck out of the pot. I let mine simmer anywhere from 1-3 hours....I know some ppl even use their crockpots.

let cool

strain veggies and chicken parts

compost (ok, throw away) veggies

I pick apart the chicken and save the meat in 2 cup portions in freezer bags for casseroles

now put the pot with the remaining stock back in the fridge and let it sit overnite. In the morning, all the fat will have come to the top and hardened, take off the fat, and you now have yummy, homemade chicken stock/broth. I freeze mine in freezer baggies.

good luck (it;s not nearly as hard as it sounds.....trust me)

[butterflygreen]

I am making chicken salid and had some extra chicken brest i had to use. I am also going to use some of it in my veggie soup tonight. Thank you for the advice.

[Grainlady]

I don't consider chicken breast the optimal portion of the bird for making stock - it will basically be tasteless, other than the other ingredients you add (vegetables and herbs). Breast meat cooks quickly because it doesn't have a lot of connective tissue, and isn't helped by an type of long boiling/simmer cooking method - especially if you don't want the meat tough. I'd poach it instead, for using for chicken salad.

Poaching
To poach boneless, skinless chicken breasts, place them in a large skillet and add 1-2 cups of water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 9-14 minutes until chicken reaches 160 degrees F. about 15 minutes. You can also poach in the oven. Place chicken in a single layer in a roasting pan. You can add lemon slices, peppercorns, or any other spices or herbs. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and immediately pour over chicken. Cover and bake at 400 degrees F for 20-35 minutes, checking for an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.

You might enjoy reading this information about making broth/stock.

http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html

[Spirit Deer]

I don't simmer meats for hours, because it cooks all the flavor out. After all, that's what flavors the stock.

I use whatever would normally go into the trash after cooking poultry, usually turkey. I have a big vintage stock pot that holds over a gallon and has a strainer lid on it. We pick all the meat off the bones and save that for other uses, then put the bones and anything we don't want to eat in the stockpot along with whatever veggies need to be used up, some cracked black pepper, whatever sounds good. (You can save your veggie scraps such as carrot peelings, celery scraps, onion peels, etc, in the freezer to use for making stock, too.) I just fill the stockpot with water, cover, and let it simmer till I feel like doing something with it, a couple hours or so. Let it cool, then strain it through a strainer with a couple layers of cheesecloth in it. Since I don't use much of the meat, there's no fat to worry about, so I can get the whole thing over with immediately. If I have leftover gravy we won't be using, I might stir that into the stock, too. Then I ladle the stock into plastic frosting containers I recycle for this purpose, leaving an inch or so of head space to allow for expansion. The frosting containers work great because they stack nicely in the freezer. I freeze the stock and use it as needed. I microwave the stock in the plastic container one minute. Yes, I know the issues with heating plastic but one minute does not bring the container or the stock anywhere close to being warm, let alone hot. Heating it one minute allows the stock to slide out of the container and softens it so it's easier to break up for stirring, another advantage to using a container with straight sides.

I don't buy stock anymore at all. Too expensive, no flavor, and waaayyyyy too salty. If I'm running low, I make a turkey, freeze the meat for quick meals, and then make stock. Stock is so easy to make and doesn't need close supervision, so even though it has to simmer a while, it mostly takes care of itself while I do other things.

[Thevail]

Just my way of doing it..

I usually do a roasted chicken dinner..then pitch the carcass (minus the tail part..it's just fat) into a big pot with celery, onion, carrot and a few herbs (use your favorites). The chicken bones are what make a great stock since it's the marrow and tendons that give the stock it's body.

Bring to a rolling boil, turn down the heat and let it go for a few hours. Strain into a wide mouthed container (I use one of those pancake batter bowls with the handle and spout), it's easier to get the layer of fat off when it cools.

Then, pour into ice-cube trays and freeze. Then you can take the individual cubes and put them into a freezer bag. That way you can use a lot for a soup, or just a bit for gravy or sauce.

[scottVee]

Bones & whatever veggies are on hand (ok, celery, onion and parsley are "standard") ... throw them in a crockpot full of water, put it on low and forget about it until the whole house starts to smell like dinner. ;-)

[zakity]

Don't throw away that chicken fat if you have animals. Toss them in the freezer and use them as pet treats. Or, in the fall/winter when they need more calories (especially outdoor pets), add a few chunks over their food and microwave and let it melt into their dry food.

[Judi Dial]

I do bits and pieces of everything I see here, with this one exception. I used to cover the carcass etc. with a lot of water and cook like mad. These days, I follow the instructions I found in a veggie cookbook by the Krafts for what they called "kraft stock." The difference is that you just barely cover the solids and boil it less. This gives me rich stock and I don't have to cook it so long. (However, it also gives me a lot less too.)

Also, Amy D in Frugal Zealot 3 talks about taking the solids out of her stock and freezing it in icecube trays to use as dog treats. If I had a dog, I'd try this, but I don't!

My .02!
Judi

[old_lady_in_the_shoe]

I like to make "quick" chicken and noodles every once and a while and use chicken breast.

I take a large pot, fill it about 3/4 the way with water, add a couple of chicken boulion cubes, and the chicken breasts. I like to simmer it for about 1 hr...take out the breasts and put them out to cool, on a plate. I take a couple of the breasts, chop them up into small chunks and add it back to the broth, add onions, celery, parsley ,garlic, salt and pepper to taste, bring to a boil and add noodles (or rice) for a quick easy chicken noodle soup.

The rest of the chicken breasts will have a bit more seasoning from the boulion cubs (or granuals) and you can use that for chicken salad, or slice for on top of chef salad. You just don't want to cook the breast for to long, because you want them to be not mussy for chicken salad and such. Just make sure they are not pink.

If you don't want to use the broth right away, you can put it in the frig, or in the freezer for later use in soup, or to add to other recipes, like using it in mashed potatoes insted of milk, or to use in making gravy and such. You can freeze it up in 1 cup batches to make it easy to handle too. I use old sour cream containers, measure out 1 cup in each, let them freeze, them pop them out and put them up in a ziploc back labled 1 cup chicken soup stock. I can add to it any time and use just 1 cup at a time.

[Libby]

A co-worker makes broth all the time for her homemade version of Vietnamese Noodle Soup. To get clear broth, you must not cover the pot while its simmering. If you don't care and don't mind opaque broth, then by all means...cover it up.

Just a tip.

[wondergirl]

I keep a gallon size freezer bag in the freezer. Every time I peel carrots, or cut up onions, or celery I stick the peels and the ends in the bag. When the bag is about half full I have enough for stock. I cook a chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco. I pick all of the meat, skin, and fat off of the bones. I put the frozen veggie scraps and the chicken carcass in my crockpot and fill it with water. I add about a tablespoon of whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves and let it cook for 8-10 hours (overnight works well). then I strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer.

You can of course simmer it for a few hours in a stock pot, but I find that the crock pot is much easier and makes the best stock!