Hey Helen. A slightly left-field tip for the viewers. If you have a compressor ice cream machine, you can dump your hot stock into that and cool it in about 15 minutes. Once it's cool-ish, let it sit so the fat settles, and then degrease. Over-reducing and the adding ice also works well, but wastes loads of time on the stove.
I'm salivating. A good chicken consommé is a forgotten and very elegant first course. Most people have never tasted what a real chicken broth should be.
Yesss!!! I love that you mentioned “washing off” the scraps with clean water! I recently started incorporating this step into my stocks just last month so I can capture all of the flavor and gelatin still clinging to them. In fact, I make my stocks in the pressure cooker with natural release, and I intentionally add less water to start than I want in the final product. Then I rinse everything off with fresh water and add it to the rest of the stock. Doing it this way means I don’t have to spend as much time reducing before freezing. Also, I too have struggled with determining the most efficient way to deal with the fat removal. I like your way here, and I do something sorta similar, but with different intentions. I found that waiting until the end of the stock process meant that the vegetables imparted a less-than-desirable odor into the fat (at least for blonde stocks), and that odor would also show through back into the liquid. The floating vegetables seemed to release their aromatic flavors into the air of the pot, and then the fat layer was absorbing those aromatics and preventing the liquid from really getting a clean flavor. So I will pressure cook with just the meat/bones and no veg for the first stint (75 minutes for blonde), then natural release. I’ll use the spider to take out meat and place into a bowl. Then pour fresh water into bowl to clean off bones, and strain back into stockpot. Then ladle out fat/liquid from the top of the stock (not worrying about capturing stock with the fat) and place it into one of those bottom spout fat separators. Let it settle, and then drain the separated stock liquid back into stock pot and reserve the fat. Then I will add the veg to the fat free stock and finish covered in the oven at 205°F for another 75 minutes (I found that pressure cooking veg actually made stock WAY cloudier than the meat was, and this oven method solves that). I find that I get a MUCH more usable chicken fat with a cleaner flavor and odor this way. As much as I hate using a fat separator, it really isn’t hard to clean, and I find it a necessary evil after trying so many other methods. I maybe waste at most 25ml of stock during the separating process and I can just add all of that liquid fat to my stores. Or, if I have a lot of cavity fat pieces that need rendering, I can just pour all of that liquid fat with the ≈25ml stock right into a pot, and set it in a low oven to render and evaporate.😮
Lovely "compilation" of concepts from previous videos from yours. I watch your videos until the end and I repeat and pause them a couple of times if I am following a recipe or using something you teach to cook anything similar... 😉 Thanks for the tutorial. Great optimization! I will try to use my new multicooker that's like an instant pot but also comes with an air fryer lid. I used it once to make pork with onions and palermo peppers. Really convenient as I can brown the onion with the air frying lid then sous vide everything after adding the pork tenderloin cubes. I will try to make caramelized onions using it one of these days.
I noticed that you have the exact same stone countertop that we have. Beautiful granite with the little purple spots! I’m making this stock right now. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Helen, Try the bounty paper towel put it inside the strainer then pour the sauce into it. If needed change the paper towel, because of the fat sticks to the paper towel.
Lord Thank You for letting me bump into this feed You are truly the over the top one. But can I call her a close Third??? I'm still seeing miracles and my stomach is feeling really great right now and I haven't even started cooking yet.
I love how precise you are with the measures and amounts. It allows me to make a clear relationship between process and results so I can understand how to make adjustments in taste, final quantity and quality.
You're amazing! As a former educator (and serious home cook), I really, really appreciate the time and discipline that goes into these videos. Thank you!!
Great video. I love to make stock on Sundays during football season. Roast the chicken before the 1:00 pm game; cut up onions, carrots & celery while chicken is roasting; place chicken in stockpot and add water during a commercial break; deglaze sheet tray during next commercial break; stock will have started to boil by half-time; cook stock until just before 8:30 pm game starts; ladle stock out at half-time; place in fridge at end of game. This worked great until NFL Red Zone started!
I quite literally roasted my first whole chicken last week, and I'm really wanting to find ways to use a whole chicken in as many ways as possible. It feels like FATE to have you come out with this video right as my life tells me it's time to start investing in home cooking and being a more sustainable person in general! Thank you so much for your dedication to researching processes and including notations for "convenience" and efficiency. I value your science-inspired approach to *why* something should be done a certain way, and when it's okay to step away from "tradition" to find a method that works best for each of us.
Rather than cut the 1cup portion of frozen stock into quarters for individual use, you can freeze the stock in ice cube trays, and take out 1-2 cubes as needed for single meals.
I generally pull the meat off the bone after the roasting and save it, use just the skins and the bones for the stock because that is where the vast majority of the collagen is. Heat is the enemy of gelatin and collagen, instead of simmering, putting the pot in a 200-205f oven to keep it just under a simmer will result in a lot more gelatin extraction without the heat breaking the chains down reducing the thickening power. This also comes in during the reduction phase, I generally keep the stock on warm in a pot but use a wide skillet on medium heat to quickly reduce the stock but with gentler heat because of the wider surface area, ladling the warmed stock in as needed as I go. Combining both these techniques GREATLY increases the gelatin that remains in tact, giving the luxurious mouthfeel, and retaining its sauce thickening capability.
When I make stock, often using chicken wings and legs/thighs, I always hated getting rid of the 'spent' chicken meat. My favourite ways to do it is to take it off and shred it, then use it as an add in for quick meals or snacky stuff like quesadillas or as part of like a potato hash. Another great thing to do with the spent whole pieces is to marinate them with just some soy sauce and sugar, and then bake them until browned, great with just some rice and steamed veggies for a quick weeknight meal. Are they ideal morsels? Nah, but they can still be pretty good!
I sometimes do a second extraction (I think it's called remoulage) with all the meat after I have strained out the stock. It is weaker but I reduce it way down, it's wonderful.
7:36 You can be braver on the washing process. Pressure cook stock, bones + skin, pan grease etc. from bulk cooking chickens after deboning meat for consumption. Alternative save and use frozen deboned cooked carcasses and bones. 'Cook' bones for three cycles in pressure cooker or until stock starts to look weak. Either blend output, or use different strengths for different purposes - Process yields high gelatine stock, and more than single boil. Top tip don't skim grease during cooking, it rises to the surface during storage/chilling. When set scrape off smaltz for frying.. Haven't used bouquet garni so can't speak to effect on carrots etc....
Can you provide a link to the containers? I assume you go through lots of the, or at least the lids if you're writing on them. However, I've been kniwn to be wrong.😊
I can't help thinking that you took a chicken and vegetables for about 4 meals, and turned them into 4 small cups of stock. A free-range chicken in the UK costs about £10 and the vegs take it up to, maybe, £12. Each cup of stock has cost you £3. I'm sure the stock is amazing but I would choose 4 meals over the stock. I have made stock out of a chicken carcass before and this would be my take on getting the goodness out of the bones etc. while still getting meals out of it.
Good cooking can be done economically, but great cooking sometimes require expensive ingredients. about every 3 to 6 months I make a batch of beef stock / demi glace; It costs about $40. I could use better than bullion and get very nice sauces, but with real demi glace they are mind blowing. Considering the price of a good steak, it seems a good trade-off to me; your mileage may vary.
it's not 4 cups, it's 16. I reduced it to 4 cups for storage. it's 4 cups of demi-glace that is a very expensive thing to buy. also, I didn't turn 4 meals into stock. We had 2 meals for my family of 4 out of the breasts. I don't believe 4 chicken legs and 4 wings quite make 4 meals for 4 people ;) it's ok to be outraged, but it's good to do the math.
I'm also from the UK; as with all cooking, adapt for your circumstances. Over here there's not really much point in using a good quality whole chicken in this, it will cost half as much to get the same weight of legs or wings (cheaper in the UK because breast meat is so popular) and they'll give the stock a little more flavour. And of course you can roast the chicken and shred any meat you want off the bone to use before the rest goes in the stock. When I do it I'll pick the meat off half the chicken to add to soups, stews or risotto. I'll make a batch almost exactly in this way a couple of times a year, only I reduce it down until it's very concentrated, freeze it in an ice cube tray and pop the cubes into a zip seal bag (massive freezers seem to be a bit rare in the UK than the US). When I want to use one I just put it in a jug with half a pint of boiling water. To get about 20 cubes (10 pints) of intense stock it costs about £6-8, less if there are offers on the chicken or I can sweet talk a butcher into providing some bones/carcasses for free/cheap. Also, try adding in a couple of star anise when the rest of the herbs go in - they won't make it taste aniseedy in any way, but they'll really intensify the savoury flavours.
By "most people leave comments without watching the video" you mean, that they're basically saying "After a minute of watching, here is what you didn't cover in the rest of the video, I didn't watch" :) did I get that correctly? Because, if yes, then that is wild!
Hey Helen, I think there might something wrong. I've set the bell to view of all your video, but this is the first time any of your videos appear in my feed in well over 6 months. 😢
youtube works in mysterious ways. we as creators don't have any control over it. I post new videos every other thursday. if you go to my channel once in a while and check for new ones to watch, youtube might start putting them in your feed again.
I like to buy a value package of drumsticks and roast them. Once roasted, I strip off the meat and use the skin and bones for broth. The meat becomes the base of meals.
I would be super lazy: bef/chicken boullion and a packet of unflavored gelatin (maybe flavored with cherry or lemon, depending on use). I have not gotten to try this method, but if the main aspects are: meat flavor and gelatin... this seems like an easy way to achieve that.
You can certainly use them. Great for gelatine. It's just that not everyone can easily buy them, so I don't use them in the recipe. For brown stock, you'd brown them.
Can you just use less water up front to make the initial stock (enough to still cover the chicken) so there is less to reduce later? What tips do you have to reduce cloudiness/scum? Some asian people wash the bones first, or do an initial blanching.. havent tried that personally
if you use less water, your stock will be very concentrated and a lot of it will be left in the chicken. You want it to be watery enough so that you can strain it effectively and get as much good liquid out as possible.
The brown meat is the best part of the chicken and I can't imagine throwing it all out. I break down a fresh chicken and roast every part of the carcass but the meat until golden brown. My family are not skin eaters so the skin goes in too. Makes great brown broth.
After about an hour (or closer to 2 hours for blonde stock), I take the dark meat off the bones and return the bones to the stock. Maybe the stock flavor suffers a little, but it's still very good and I don't have to throw out all that chicken.
Marco Pierre White uses Knorr "Stock Pot". It's got some of the herbs in it but I find, if I can't use my own, it's pretty good. It's packaged in small amounts, is full of gelatine and tastes great.
It never occurred to me to use the fat, I've always throw it out! so silly of me. I guess it could be use next time I need to cook veggies for my sofrito to add more chicken flavor.
A few questions as I watch, since I like to know the "why": Why 2 hours in the pressure cooker instead of one? Why add parsley, etc. later, rather than at the beginning (I know you said we CAN add it at the beginning, but I assume there's some benefit to adding it later?) Thanks!
2 hours in the pressure cooker is roughly equivalent to 6 hours of regular simmer. You can do less if you want. herbs are added for aroma. it's at its peak after about 1 hour. the longer you cook them, the more subdued the aroma becomes. But sometimes I am simply not around 1 hour before the stock is done. I like to get everything in and go about my day. it's also a pain to add herbs later if using a pressure cooker.
8:09 I use it dryness be damned; where I live chicken legs cost over $6+ per lb. What I normally end up doing is dicing it into small pieces and put in an otherwise vegetable soup for extra protein. Most of the flavour is gone from the chicken at that point but still adds nutritional value. Frankly I can't believe I've never thought about reducing my stock to freeze it though, so obvious now I've seen it! Thanks Helen
Doesn’t work, though. Helen points out in an earlier comment here that boiling to reduce the stock emulsifies the fat into the stock, which is why it is done that way for ramen stock.
Wait, did you say "I can't give you measurements for the veggies because all the carrots, celery sticks and onions are different"? What a surprising thing to hear on this channel. What happened to weight?
Personally, I'd grind the chicken and make meatballs out of it, but that's the 1950's 'children in china are starving' talking in my head. Thanks for the video!