With around third of food in the UK ending up as waste (a figure that always shocks me) we need to be doing more to make the most out of the food we cook. Celebrity TV chefs like Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and many others are often seen on our TV screens trying to promote getting "less waste" and "more food" from your dinner, especially when it comes to chickens! It seems suprising when you consider the amount of families that don't buy free range organic fed chickens because of price, but then go on to cook a sunday roast and throw the entire carcus away which could feed a family with chicken sarnies the next day!

Being English, naturally I am prone to the occasionally roast dinner myself, so I though I would challenge myself next time I cooked a whole bird to try to get the most out of it.

Preparing to Make your Stock

So firstly here are some tips I came across:

  1. If you are cooking a whole chicken, try to get one from a local butcher (or a good premium one from a supermarket that is both organic and free range). This way you are more likely to get a bird with the "giblets" and off cuts, which obviously you wouldn't want to eat on their own but are fantastic for making chicken stock. You can use cooked meat for stock but the more meat the more full and hearty the taste you will get from your stock. If in doubt ask the butcher!
  2. Most people will only cook one chicken for a roast dinner. This often leaves you with a problem as one chickens left-overs might not be enough meat to give you a tasty stock, so here was the lightning moment for me - freeze the leftovers! Rather than binning all the off cuts and leftover food, put it in a bag and stick it in the freezer. The next time you come to make a roast, just defrost the leftovers as we'll and you'll be good to go! (or repeat this process until you can be bothered to make the stock!)

Stock is one of those things that always sound incredibly complicated or time consuming to make. The fact of the matter is it's neither complicated nor time consuming (you are literally just sticking a load of stuff in a pot, boiling it, then coming back to it at the end of the day).

Of course you'll get hundreds of recipes on the internet that tell you how to do fancy stock with specialist ingredients, but from my experience you can't go far wrong by sticking a load of meat, vegtables, and water in a pot of water and simmering down all day.

For those people who like recipie lists though, here is a list of common vegetables and herbs that folk normally put into chicken stock (this is by no means exhaustive). All ingredients below should be roughly chopped or quartered (it all boils down in the end so you don't need to be fussy about measurements... which is half the beauty of making stock as you can just roughly chop anything and throw it in!)

Vegetables

  • Celery
  • Onion
  • Carrots
  • Leek

Herbs & Spcies

  • Peppercorns (whole)
  • Bay leaves (1-3 depending on size of stock)
  • Parsley (the stalks will do fine too)
  • Thyme
  • Rosemary
  • Garlic (crush the cloves with the back of the knive and throw the whole thing in with skins)

... And of course if you have any other leftovers from your meal just throw that in as well! You can't really go far wrong (I threw in 2 halves of a lemon I used and some left over courgettes including the ends). The aim of the game is to not throw anything in the bin!  

How to Make the Stock

Again, you will see a variety of recipies that tell you to make good stock you have to do this - then do that - then dance around on one leg and then if its a Wednesday you'll create a good stock. I am of the other camp that stock is not complicated at all (and this myth is partly the reason why no-one seems to ever "have the time" to make fresh stock and would prefer to chuck stuff in the bin).

So here is the method.. get ready...

1) Chuck all vegetables, herbs and spices and left-over chicken (raw or cooked) into a big pot
2) Fill up with a good amount of cold water. Should be around double the height of all of the ingredients (so everything gets fully emmersed)
3) Bring to the boill
4) Turn down to a simmer and leave it alone all day

If you really want to be a fancy pants then you can keep checking the stock and "skim" the surface (eg taking the scum away from the top layer with fine mesh strainer or spoon) but I personally never bother with that.

Ideally if you can, leave the stock on very very low overnight (you tend to get a thicker more flavoursome stock if you leave it on low for a longer time). The beauty of that is you can just leave it on low all day (or overnight) until you have the time to come back to it and sort it out (and they say making stock is complicated - pah!)

Straining and Keeping the Stock

When the stock has boiled down enough to make a thick-ish juice, you are ready to strain it. Use a sieve, collender (or whatever works for you) and sieve the liquid out. (keep the leftover "gunk" to one side, we'll come back to that later!).

sieving chicken stock

You can either put the stock in the fridge (it'll keep for around 4 days) or a nice trick is to use some ice cube trays and pour the stock into the mini compartments to freeze. That way you can use a couple of blocks whenever you need some stock and it'll keep in the freezer for a good 3 months at least.

pouring chicken stock

What to do with that Leftover "Gunk?"

Thought you'd never ask.

a) Put it on your compost pile

b) Give it to your cat (minus the big bones!), he or she will be eternally grateful

my cat eating my stock!

In the words of Gordon Ramsey... Chicken Stock from Leftovers... Done.