When the weather turns cold, our thoughts turn to comfort food. Soup is one of the most popular comfort foods all over the world. Every culture has their own version, and many of them use chicken stock.
Chicken stock is so versatile, you can add it to many homemade dishes such as soups, stews, stir-fries, rice (or risotto), noodle, sauces, casseroles and pies. You can make chicken stock from scratch. Just keep a bucket of leftover bones into a Ziploc and store in your freezer and you can make stock using those bones and veggies that might otherwise perish. This is one of the frugal ways of massively stretching your food budget. The main reason for making chicken stock is for its flavor, nutrition and convenience as you always have them come in handy, besides economic reason.
Making your own stock is actually very easy. Just add the chicken bones from last night’s roast chicken or add a whole raw chicken to a large pot of water. Let it slowly warm to a simmer and keep it going for about three hours. Strain the liquid and add some vegetables like carrots and celery to add some depth. Simmer for another hour or so, and then remove them. Your stock should be ready to cool. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, skim off the layer of fat that has solidified on the top.
Chicken stock can be made using two different methods resulting in either white or brown stock, which is also sometimes called roasted. The majority of recipes you will encounter call for brown chicken stock although there are quite a few that use the white variety.
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