Real Chicken Stock

Nothing can beat real stock as a basis for soup or sauces. This one may take a little time to make but the results are well worth it.

The preparation is fairly quick because the veg can be left unpeeled and chopped quite roughly.
It is also a good way to use up any old root veg that is past it's, best even for soup.

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass
2 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 onion
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme, basil and/or sage
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns


Method

1. Break some of the chicken bones, this will allow the marrow to absorb in to the stock easily.
2. Chop (no need to peel) the carrots into large chunks.
3. Chop the celery, leaving the tops on and quarter the onion. The peel can be left on
4. Put all the ingredients in a slow cooker, you want one that will hold 4 litres or more
5. Add 3.5 litres of water then set for 10 hours on low.
6. After 10 hours, add salt if you wish, then turn the slow cooker off and let the broth cool for half an hour.
7. Strain out the meat and vegetables, discard the veg but put the carcass and meat to one side for half an hour.
8. Chill the stock in the fridge for a few hours.
   
9. Now pick over the chicken carcass and bones, taking off any meat and put into a dish. This is quite a time consuming job but you will be surprised how much meat that you can get that you would normally throw away. The pieces will be quite small (tiny almost) but it all adds up and will be great to use in a chicken soup.
10. Once the stock has set it will be quite gelatinous, skim off the fat ant divide into 1 litre/2 pint quantities. This can then be frozen until required.
    

Easy Chicken Soup

This is a really easy recipe. Once you've got the ingredients together, there are only 4 steps.
It's quite easy to remember too. If you use the imperial measures there are two of each item (except the chicken), 2 pints of stock, 2 oz of butter, 2 carrots etc.

The secret to a really good soup though is to use real home made stock.

Ingredients

1.2l/2 pint chicken stock
A handful of cooked chicken, shredded
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
55g/2oz butter
55g/2oz plain flour
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and gently sweat the onions, celery and carrots until starting to soften.
2. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock and bring to the boil, stirring as you do so. Season and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
3. Use a stick blender to blend the soup to a fine consistency.
   
4. Add the cooked chicken and heat through.

Serve with crusty bread, nothing could be finer for lunch on a cold winters day.