Chicken Broth

Chicken broth is an essential for my kitchen.  I keep some in the fridge and some in the freezer and use it for more than chicken soup!  Just drinking it is great for the gut.  I use it in soups and stews and also in casseroles to keep things moist.

I cook at least one chicken a week, and when the carcass is bare, either because we ate it all, or because I boned it, I turn it into chicken broth.

This is how I do it:

First, I bake the chicken in a clay pot.  Hands down, this is the best way I have found to end up with moist and very flavorful chicken and a carcass that yields the most flavorful broth.  Baking does something to the bones that enhances the flavor.

Here's what I do:

Soak the clay pot according to manufacturers directions.
Add the chicken, giblets removed and the bird rinsed, to the clay pot.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add 2-3 cups of filtered or well water.
Bake at 375* for 2 - 2 1/4 hours.

Remove from oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
Carve for a meal, or drain off the juice in the clay pot (save it in a container), and then bone the chicken when it's cooled down enough to handle.

Add the bones and skin to the cooking juices and store in the fridge until you're ready to make the broth.

My Broth Recipe

I like a simple broth, so I don't add anything to it other than the chicken bones, skin and cooking juices.  If you've had it in the fridge overnight, it will have jelled up beautifully.

Put all of it into a 6-8 quart pan and add water to within a couple of inches of the top of the pan.

Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer basically all day.  I usually start mine after breakfast and take it off the heat around dinner time.

Pour the broth through a stainless steel strainer into a big bowl or another pot, and let it drip until most of the liquid has drained.

Let the broth cool and then either jar it for the fridge, or pour it into freezer containers, and freeze.

Not only does this make a marvelous base for soups and stews, it is one of the healthiest foods out there.

Chicken soup fed to those who are sick to aid in healing is not a myth!