Left Over Chicken Carcass - chicken stock 2

Well I have the stock pot on the go. Am not going to waste all those subtle flavourings which you can layer up layer by layer to get the maximum of flavour. Its a good way to use up all those veggies that are possibly past their best and starting to dry up. Its something for nothing again and I tend to use what I have around.

Today the carcass, bones, skin and fragments of meat left on the carcass together with some boiling water,(topped up to about an inch below the top of the pan - I use a pressure cooker base, white pepper (I tend to use a lot of pepper rather than salt)a couple of bay leaves, mixed herbs, some leek, carrot, celery (not too much of this as it can be overpowering) onion chopped and some of my Souper Mix (as per the recipe in the River Cottage Preserves book - this is a mixture of raw vegetables pulverised in the food processer and then liberally dosed with salt to preserve it. I use a lot of this as it helps make a very flavoursome stock but obviously if I use this I don't add any salt to whatever I am cooking. I use about 2 teaspoons per time.

I tend not to use much salt as OH has high blood pressure. I then leave this to simmer for about an hour and let cool then strain off the bones and veggies this leaves you with a clear light stock that you can use to make soups. If you are going to use this all up within a day or so ie. you are making batches of soup for the freezer store in stock in the fridge.

Now for long term storage how you store this is up to you. I tend to store mine in the freezer. I sort of custom package my stock as to what I am going to use it for - it saves a lot of messing around in the long run. I use the Lakeland Soup/Sauce bags for large quantities of stock, but for things like Gravy I use individual ice cube trays and then add one or two to the gravy pan when making my gravy. It all helps add flavour to your home cooking. I wish we had aroma sensations via the computer the mix I have on smells very yummy and very fragrant.


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Its well worth making this stock as it really is very useful and costs pennies to make yourself but pounds to buy in the supermarkets.

I like something for next to nothing. I shall use some of this stock to make some French Onion Soup for tomorrow night's tea. We all need something warming in weather like this to heat us up from the inside out and I find it is the traditional recipes that our mother's used to make which are the most satisfying.

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