Taste 12: Homemade Chicken Broth… My secret ingredient

I’ve been cooking a lot lately and often talk about my homemade chicken broth, but never seem to have any on hand.  It’s somewhat unacceptable, in my book, to live in a broth-free home because, since I do not purchase pre-made broth (why? that’s a tale for another day…), I don’t have it in my pantry. I have to plan ahead and make some (and then freeze a nice amount), and have been a bit lazy about it the last few months.

For my twelfth taste of how much I care, I decided it was time to make chicken broth so I can make my good meals even better.  It’s really easy.

Start by boiling a whole chicken in salted water until it’s cooked all the way through. Take it out of the water (keep the water… DON’T pour it down the drain) and let the bird cool to touch.  Next, remove all the skin (I definitely toss this out) and carve off the meat.  Then simmer the bones in the chicken water (add more water to fill your stock pot) with onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, bay leaves, and sea salt for 24 hours or so.  Cool it down, skim off the fat first, strain the broth, and pour it into jars.

Notice the golden hue from the sunlight in my broth.  That’s no bouillon cube, baby.