Homemade Chicken Stock

It's no secret that Harry is the primary hunter when it comes to the meat in our kitchen. He has an eye for the bargains. Whenever he's in the store, he always checks the meat department and looks first for the orange markdown tags.

There is nothing wrong with the meat that has been marked down. By law, grocers have to sell fresh items by a certain date. To cut their losses, grocers will mark down the price, sometimes by as much as half. We've been stocking our freezer this way for years.

Last week, Harry found chicken leg quarters at a stupid low price. He even said later he should have bought more. But, he brought home 11 pounds of quarters for around $5.25 - that's a great deal. We stuck them in the freezer immediately until we could make chicken stock on Sunday.

All you need to make homemade chicken stock is time. Prepping the vegetables took him about five minutes. The time needed is inactive - you just have to let it simmer, skim it occasionally and add more water as needed. Whether we're using whole chicken or quarters, we always pull the meat out when it is cooked - usually after 45 minutes to an hour. Harry picks the meat from the bones and the bones go back into the pot.

For this batch, we used carrots, celery, shallots, a leek, bay leaves, kosher salt and crushed peppercorns. We like pepper, so you might not want as much in your chicken stock.

This stock pot - a gift from my mom - holds three gallons and the only time we use it is to make stock. The technique is simple - put the chicken in the pot, cover it with cold water and bring to a simmer. Add the vegetables and seasonings and let it cook over medium with a slow boil until the chicken meat is cooked. Usually, unless you're serving chicken salad with breast meat, you're going to cook the meat again. It isn't necessary for it to be "cooked" cooked.

After Harry picked the meat from the bones, we have about 3 1/2 pounds of dark chicken meat. In the bowl is the meat I'm going to use to make Chicken & Dumplings and the rest of it will go into the freezer for Chicken Pot Pies, stir-fry, soups or whatever I decide. The skin and the bones go back into the simmering broth.

In another pot, I've added the picked meat to about 4 cups of chicken stock to make the chicken and dumplings. We were running short on time so I didn't chop up any extra vegetables to saute for this batch. Our stock is generally very strong and flavorful, so I also add about 2 cups of water.

Harry will generally let the stock and bones simmer for about two hours to draw as much flavor as possible out of the bones. Sometimes, he needs to add more water and let it cook down. We probably use 4 to 5 gallons of water to make two gallons of stock. The slow cooking and evaporation helps create a sturdy stock that will kick the pants off of anything you buy on the shelf.

When the stock has cooled enough for Harry to handle the pot, he strains it into containers. We let it chill overnight in the fridge, allowing the fat to rise to the surface. Then, I scrape the fat off and put the chicken stock into the freezer for future use.

We made two gallons of chicken stock and the total cost - including pantry items - was about $6. A quart-size box of chicken stock costs around $3 on sale. Plus, we also have three pounds of picked chicken meat in the freezer. I'd say it's worthwhile to make your own.

And these are the Chicken and Slippery Dumplings I made while Harry was finishing the stock. More on that later.


Two Gallons of Chicken Stock
8 to 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters OR
one whole fryer chicken, thawed
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 leek
1 shallot
1-2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon cracked peppercorns
3-4 bay leaves


Clean and slice the vegetables in half. All you're trying to do is create a surface for the vegetable flavor to come out of - you don't have to be precise.

Place the chicken in a large stock pot, and cover with at least 2 gallons of water. Bring to a strong simmer over medium-high heat, then add the vegetables and seasonings. Continue to simmer over medium heat for 45-60 minutes until the chicken is cooked.

Remove the chicken to a plate and reduce the heat to low. When the chicken is cool enough, using your hands or forks, pull the meat from the bones, cleaning the skin away from the meat.

After the chicken is pulled, add the bones and skin back to the stock and increase the heat to medium. Continue to cook at a strong simmer for one to two hours, adding water as necessary to concentrate the stock. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

Allow the stock to cool at room temperature until you can safely strain it through a fine sieve or a colander layered with cheesecloth. Pour into containers the size you desire and refrigerate overnight. The next day, skim the chilled fat that has risen to the surface and freeze the containers. We've kept frozen chicken stock for nine months with no flavor issues.

Salt-Free Cajun Seasoning Made at Home

I fell in love with Cajun and Creole flavors during a long-term work assignment in Louisiana. This Midwest girl learned that Cajun didn't have to mean "light my face on fire" heat or that everything was blackened. Harry spent some time with a bayou family when I was about 6 or 7 years old - I'm sure it had nothing to do with the hottie in the short-shorts. I'd love to meet her - she and her family taught him about so many wonderful foods and she even gave him some recipes that we use today.

I made a trip to a few grocery stores just before my work assignment ended, stocking up on seasonings, crawfish and Community Coffee. Those items are long gone and I had to learn to make the seasonings myself. I don't criticize anyone for using the major label stuff that is available on the grocery shelves in central Ohio. My biggest problem with the commercial seasonings is that the first ingredient on the label is salt. While salt has its place in almost any cooking as a flavor enhancer, I want to taste the flavors, not the salt.

When we were starting The Wright Taste, we wanted to include a line of seasonings. We scoured the Internet, looking for recipes. We had the same problem as I had in the stores - every recipe had tons of salt. I tried making the recipe and just eliminating the salt but there was no balance of flavors, just some heat.

We had all these spices but couldn't find a good combination on the web. So, we started playing and the strangest thing happened. No salt and equal quantities of six spices gave us the balanced blend of flavors we loved in Cajun food. We labeled this as Cajun Kick and loved that we could tell our customers it contained no salt and they controlled the heat - from a little sprinkle for flavor to a light-you-up heat.

We sprinkle this salt-free Cajun seasoning on pork chops or boneless chicken breasts before cooking. I also use it in any recipe that calls for Cajun seasoning. You probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry!

Measure equal amounts - I suggest starting with 1 teaspoon of each - of these six spices: granulated garlic, granulated onion, ground white pepper, ground cayenne pepper, ground paprika, and ground black pepper. Mix together a store in an airtight container in a cool dark place. If you decide to go big and make a huge batch, store the bulk of it in the freezer, refilling your pantry container as needed.

Vinegar in the pantry...

Thanks to carofm over at sxc.hu

I'll admit that I might be kind of lame in the vinegar department - I know there are so many more out there that I haven't added to my pantry stash. But, I think we do OK with the small variety we have. I want more vinegar. I need more vinegar.

I'm trying a new, hopefully, regular feature topic called Stock-Your-Pantry Sundays. Let's be honest - in order to cook from scratch, you have to build up a well-stocked pantry. It can't be done overnight, but with a well-stocked pantry, if you get a hankering to search the web for a recipe on Sunday afternoon, you should have most of the ingredients on hand. I'm not an extreme-couponer or a bat-shit crazy hoarder, but I think our pantry is pretty well-stocked for just about any last-minute recipe find.

So, for today, I want to talk about vinegar. A splash of vinegar can change just about any dish from "there's something missing, I just don't know what" to "WOW." We have our go-to vinegar sitting on the stove and while it's not the recommended storage method, our red wine vinegar doesn't last long enough to go bad.

Yes, vinegar can go bad. You're thinking "it's fermented - how can it go bad?" Trust me. An old bottle of vinegar can develop a smell - and taste - that is similar to a combination of rotten fruit and a soured wash-mop. Over-exposure to light and heat can cause vinegar to go bad. You'll know it when you smell it.

Like I said, our go-to vinegar is red wine vinegar. We prefer one that is made from chianti because it just seems to have a more smooth taste than a non-defined red wine vinegar. When I take a spoonful of something on the stove to Harry for a taste, his answer is almost always "needs a splash of vinegar." And he's right. Vinegar adds a brightness to dishes that you don't realize is missing until you actually add it.

I don't use as much balsamic vinegar as I used to, but I've found others that work very well. I still use the balsamic to make a vinaigrette for Caprese salad and it's my favorite when I'm marinading rib-eye steaks.

I use rice vinegar in almost all of my Asian sauces. I can't label the flavor as anything, but it adds a boldness without masking the other flavors in the sauce.

I really want to add a champagne vinegar to my pantry. I've read so many recipes for a variety of things, including salad dressings, that use champagne vinegar. It's on my shopping list.

Apple cider vinegar is my choice when I need buttermilk. I can't justify the cost of buttermilk when I use it so rarely, so I always make soured milk instead. In a one-cup measure, I pour in one tablespoon of cider vinegar. Then, I add milk until I have one cup and let it rest about five minutes or so until it has thickened. It's perfect substitute for buttermilk.

Do you have more than one kind of vinegar in your pantry? What is your favorite vinegar to cook with?