From Sue Pakes:
So let me give you my chicken stock/broth recipe. This one has a little help from Heston Blumenthal.
I like to make mine in a slow cooker (crockpot) as follows:
Take a couple of kgs of chicken wings, put them in a roasting pan together with a couple of chicken frames (you can get chicken frames from your supermarket or chicken shop,) add a very small splash of olive oil over the chicken and mix. Next take 2 tablespoons of powdered milk, put it in a small sieve and sprinkle it over the chicken. The powdered milk helps to really bring out the flavour in your stock/broth as it boosts the Malliard reaction of what happens when sugars and protein are roasted (Heston’s idea). Roast the bones at 170 deg C for about 1 and half hours or until well browned turning the bones and wings every 25 min and don’t let them burn.
Meantime roughly chop up 1 large brown onion, 2 medium carrots and 2 stalks of well washed celery. Peel 3 cloves of garlic and 2 bay leaves plus 10 whole black peppercorns any vege scraps you have in the fridge that will cook ok for a long time Put the veg on the base of your crockpot and add the chicken wings and frames, pepper and bay leaves. Your will not need all the wings and frames so just freeze them for your next effort. I find it more economical to cook all the wings and frames in one go and use what I need each time. The vege and chicken should ¾ fill your pot, now top it up to the very top with filtered or spring water and add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar is most important as it brings out the collagen and marrow from the bones that is so good for you. Put your crockpot on LOW for 12 hrs checking occasionally to make sure the water is kept up to the top and it is barely simmering, feel free to cook it for another 8 hrs if you wish (I do). I don’t add salt until I actually use the stock to drink or make soup, everyone has different tastes where salt is concerned.
Once your stock is cooked, allow it to cool a little then line a fine sieve with clean muslin or fine clean cloth and strain the broth, allow it to cool in the fridge overnight covered, next day any fat will have settled on the top which you can easily remove it, but you should have almost none, particularly if you cooked your broth/stock very gently and did not allow it to boil (absolute no no). Your cold stock should be a little gelatinous until you reheat it. Divide it up into convenient containers and freeze. Great for sauces, soups, risottos, broths or just as it is with a pinch of salt and I like to add a tiny bit of ginger and sprinkle of fresh parsley. Throw out or compost the solids as they are now spent of any goodness.
Next time you have a roast chicken, save the bones etc and keep them in the freezer that way you will not need to buy chicken frames, also any vegetable peelings that are washed, freeze them also and throw them in with your stock as you make it. I often cook my wings and frames at the same time I am roasting a chicken as it saves on power to do it all at once if your oven is large enough, just freeze your wings etc till u are ready to make your stock/broth.
Beef stock is just the same, buy a few kg of beef bones and marrow bones ask your butcher to cut them into smallish pieces if they are large and cook the same as with the chicken but WITHOUT the powdered milk and add an extra spoon of apple cider vinegar to the filtered water. I have cooked this for 5 days, but you choose how long, but I do suggest at least 24 hours. I made a beautiful French Onion soup last night for my supper with my last lot of beef stock.
Both these stocks can be made in a large stock pot on the stove, but keep a careful eye on it so it does not boil and hardly simmers, gently, gently gently.
One more tip. Put some of your stock into ice cube containers, very handy when you just want to add a small amount of flavour or stock to your gravy or sauce.
My Nan was a country girl, she always had a pot of stock simmering away on the hob which she had a cup of every day, she was never ill and lived to 101 years Grandad lived to 98. You don’t need to have a cold or feel unwell to have a bowl of chicken soup eh?
Hope you try this Tom, give it to your grand kids as a warming drink, it does wonders for your gut.