This is my go-to weekly made broth. Easy, healthy and delicious.
There is a difference between stock and broth in my writing and recipes.
Stock is made with mostly bone, joints and some meat such as necks and backs.
Broth is made with the whole chicken.
This chicken stock has a more deep flavoring and I use it most often than the broth.
Chicken stock or chicken soup is known as the Jewish penicillin for its ability to fight infections. Poultry fat is rich in monousaturated palmitoleic acid, the technical way of saying 'an antimicrobial fatty acid,' or good for you fatty acid.
There is no need to remove the skin before making stock, there are important properties in it. If the fat is something you wish to remove, chill the stock and skim the layer of fat off the broth after making it.
You can freeze stock in small containers and use it to moisten rice, thin out a sauce, to sautee vegetables, as a cup in the morning, or have it available when you need stock for soup.
Mine is usually fresh in the fridge; I make a big pot and drink a lot of flavored broth when it's around. I use my slow cooker for my broths, that way I don't worry about what is on the stove top. I also keep the lid on the slow cooker.
Recipe for a Classic Chicken Stock
Use backs, necks, and legs (all with the skin on & I use locally raised chicken),
a carrot or two (I don't peel mine as they are from a local farm or straight out of your garden - washed),
a stalk of celery,
a peeled onion cut in half (use both halves if medium or small and use only half if large),
1/2 - 1 tsp of sea salt or kosher salt, you can add more after the broth is fully made,
one large bay leaf or two small bay leaves,
three - four allspice berries.
Pour cold water over the meat and aromatics (*your veggies). until about an inch or two of water is covering them.
Simmer, but do not boil, for up to 6-12 hours.
*Boiling the broth will break down all the much wanted collagen.
Skim off the foam when it appears, mostly at the begging of the simmer. The foam is the blood and impurities.
I LOVE fresh garlic in my broth, usually I place it in the broth during the last hour as it can become bitter when over cooked. If it is local garlic, I will add one large peeled, smashed clove. If it is Chinese garlic which is at many grocery store garlic options, add two - three large, peeled, smashed cloves.
Often I will add a sprig or two of fresh parsley. It must be fresh if you add this. Just as the garlic, i will add it during the last hour of cooking time.
TASTE YOUR BROTH - this is where you will want to add a bit more salt. Remember to add it sparingly, once it is added there is no going back. Keep tasting it.
ONCE FINISHED drain in a colander with another pot underneath or a big bowl. I then take that strained broth and drain it through a fine mesh sieve to take out all the tiny bits. Let sit to become room temperature.
It’s highly desired for your slow cooker bone broth to gel when cooled. This is a sign that it’s got plenty of great collagen and gelatin going on – those goodies that make your skin plump, coat your digestive tract, and cushion your joints.
However, don’t worry if your bone broth doesn’t gel, it’s still got minerals and nutrition galore. It could simply mean that your ratio of water to bones is too great, or the quality of your bones may not be up to par.
HOW TO STORE YOUR BROTH
I like to store my broth in mason jars, I never liked plastic even before the now common knowledge of plastic containers or water bottles. If you are going to freeze your broth, be sure it is room temperature and you leave a minimum of two inches from the top.
It will expand and bust the jars as it freezes if you do not.
*Important: only AFTER the broth is frozen do i put the lid on the mason jar.
THE OTHER PARTS: BROTH IS TO ME
This recipe is placed in the Winter, Solstice and Wolf Moon categories as it is the base of many recipes and holds properties needed for those titles.
Each word embodies the hunger our ancestors may have used but they also refer to a time where food was scarce and we would have used every bit of every food source available. So if you are on a budget or worry about food waste, this is a recipe that contributes to the solution.
Now if you are metaphorically hungry for connection and insight, just make a batch of homemade soup and invite over friends and family. Sit down at the kitchen table with no television, smart phone, or radio going and let the conversations begin. You will be surprised how nourished you will feel after.
You will be surprised how much you inner wolf howled for the interpersonal longing of that connection.
Ok, that may be to deep of a topic for your first week of the Market Gypsy Newsletter series, but trust me... that is where it is going. It will be fun and satisfying.
* Also, if you would like to take a class on how to make bone broth, please leave a comment below. I can set one up for all of us here in Alberta, even in the Northwest Territories if that is where you are reading from.
Enjoy and be healthy, happy and kind. You are worth it and this world needs you.
~xo Sharlyn