Chicken stock is one of those staple items I always have in my pantry. And though I buy some store bought cartons of stock to keep on hand, I most often just make my own and either can or freeze it in pints and quarts.

Every time I make chicken I save parts – necks, backbones, giblets – and put it all in a bag in the freezer. When the bag gets full I have enough to make stock. This was last weekends Sunday project. I had a really full gallon bag of spines, necks, wing tips and giblets in the freezer. No more room in the bag – so time to make stock.

And just think of the savings – I’m making something from nothing. Parts that could have been thrown away. And this time I made 6 quarts plus 1 pint of stock. In my area a 32 0z box of stock ( quart) are over $3.00. So I just made $20 worth of stock – for the cost of a couple carrots, an onion, a head of garlic, and 2 stalks of celery…plus the cost of the propane for my gas stove, as my husband reminds me. Still, I know exacts what’s in my canned stock, and no preservatives or excessive salt.

Using bones

I also will do it with bones after we’ve eaten a whole chicken or turkey. Put those bones on a sheet pan and roast for 30-60 minutes to get some color on them, then use the roasted bones as a base for stock. Color equals flavor, and roasted bones also provide a beautiful color to the stock.

Use vegetables for flavor

Vegetables provide flavor too, and onions skins also help color the stock a lovely gold. There are two options – pull out celery, carrots, onions and any other root vegetables you have from your pantry and add those, or, even more thrifty, keep a bag of vegetable scraps and peelings in your freezer and add those to the water and bones. I tend to just discard peelings and trimmings into my compost pile, but in winter, its easy enough to save in the freezer, use and then discard to the pile where they will decompose easier in spring.

I typically use 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, a head of garlic, 2 onions (leave the skins on since they help give the beautiful golden hue to stock, just cut n half), a parsnip if I have it, 2 or 3 bay leaves and some peppercorns. I do not usually add salt at this time. I wait until I cook with it to add salt.

Simmer the stock

So stock is water, with the meat or poultry bones added along with the vegetables and simmered. Add a little salt, if you like, and peppercorns or a bay leaf, and in about an hour or longer if you want to concentrate it more, you have stock. I will often cook it for an hour, then add more water and let it simmer away even longer to get all the goodness out of those bones. I had so many bones this time around that I made 2 pots of stock. I often put the bones and vegetables into a spaghetti pot strainer , so I can just lift it out. Before canning, you may let the stock cool to skim off fat. I most often do not, as I’m on a time crunch to just get it in the canner.

Boiling the stock for a bit will tend to make it more clear; at a simmer it may remain cloudy. Either way it’s still good. If needed, use a very fine strainer as you put it into the jars to remove peppercorns or debris.

Bones and skin get discarded; the now mushy vegetables I added go to the compost pile.

Canning Stock

I’m short on freezer space, so I decided to take the time to pull out the pressure canner and quart jars so the stock can be shelf stable. Jars must be clean and hot – I put them in the dishwasher on a fast wash. Or you can wash and cover with boiling water. The point is the jars must be hot to receive hot stock so they don’t break. Lids and rings should be in a hot bath as well.

Stock also must be hot. Jar it up quickly, leaving 1″ head space, wipe the rims with a soft cloth, add lids & tighten the rings, and then place into the canner. The Ball Blue Book, the food processing “bible” says process quarts at 11 pounds of pressure for 25 minutes (for my altitude). A pressure canner must be used for chicken stock; it cannot be done safely in a water ball canner. Use only new lids, as used lids may have damaged edges and the rubber ring area that creates the seal may not completely seal a second time. rings can be washed and reused dozens of times. Just discard if they become rusty.

Once the determined time has passed, turn off the heat and allow the pressure canner to totally cool on it’s own. do not release the pressure and open…unless you wants most of the stock to blow out of your jars, which deems the whole process useless. once the pressure has come down to zero, the canner can be opened and jars removed using a jar lifter. Actually I use it to put the jars into the canner as well. I love the Ball jar lifter as it’s spring hinge open on its own.