Poe Boy’s Chicken Stock

When I was a chef at one of the restaurants in the Niagara Region, we use to keep a stock bag in the freezer.  In this stock bag, we would put all our chicken bones (roasted & raw) along with our onion, carrot, celery and garlic peelings.  Once the bag was full, we would make a stock from the contents of this bag and just top it up by ‘eye’ with required ingredients to bring it closet to the proper ratios.  Now don’t get me wrong, if your going to make a consommé  this isn’t the best stock for such a task.  However, with the Poe Boy’s Chicken Stock, you can still get it pretty clear if you really want to put the time and effort into it.  However for me, this is my goto quick stock for my small household. Remember, my ingredients are organic and the chicken carcasses are from free-range chickens, thus keeping my stock higher in quality than that box stuff in the supermarket.  All you have to do is fill the bag and when it’s full make a stock!

Yield: 3 to 4 Litres

Freezer (Grocery) Bag Ingredients:

• Chicken Carcasses, whole or partial, raw or cooked
• Garlic ends and/or skins
• Carrot Peelings (washed)
• Onion Peeling (washed) (no red onion skins)
• Celery Peelings & Remains (washed)

Sachet (tied in cheesecloth) Ingredients:

• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 sprig Thyme, fresh
• 1/8 tsp Peppercorns
• 2 Parsley Stems
• 1 Whole Clove

Instructions:

1. In your standard size grocery bag, start collecting carcasses, onion & celery & carrot & garlic peelings.
2. Keep the bag in your freezer and fill when these items become available during your cooking.
3. The night before making the stock, transfer bag from freezer into the fridge.
4. Place all items in a large pot and cover with cold water (make sure the water covers all bones and vegetables.
5. Bring to a boil, drain and rinse.
6. Return the bones to the pot
7. Roughly by eye, top up your stock with more ingredients as needed. Ideally for every 5 lb. of chicken bones, you’re looking for a vegetable ratio of 1/2 lb. of onion skins, 1/4 lb. of carrot skins, 1/4 lb. of celery parts, and a 1/4 bulbs worth of garlic (see notes).
8. Cover with water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
9. Add the sachet to the stock and continue to simmer for 3-4 hours.
10. During the simmering process skim the surface of any impurities that float to the top.
11. After simmering process, pour through a strainer lined with cheesecloth.
12. Discard the solids and let the stock cool.
13. Use immediately or cool and refrigerate or freeze.

I know I break down the approximate ratios of what you should find in the freezer kept grocery bag, but this isn’t law for the Poe Boy’s Chicken Stock. This chicken stock does not follow these strict stock guidelines. I tell you those amounts, so you can ‘eye’ what’s in the bag and when the time comes to make the stock, you can top it up by guestimation (guessing & estimation)!

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