the pragmatic chef™

I've talked about how I like to make chicken stock a few times before, but I will say that I make my chicken stock at home more like a brown stock than the classic French white stock, because it gives more flavor. The classic French technique would never brown the chicken bones, because in so many French dishes that use chicken stock it would ruin the color of the finished dish, but I'm after the maximum flavor I can attain.

A lot of people make chicken stock by boiling entire chickens, but I strongly advise that you don't do this for a couple of reasons. First, it's much easier to extract flavor from chicken bones if the meat is already removed. Secondly, the flavor of any stock should come from the collagen in the bones, NOT from the cooked meat. If you've boiled the hell out of a chicken long enough to flavor the stock, your chicken will be a flavorless, rubbery mess. I'm absolutely sure you've had soup like this.

Trust me, take the time to roast the bird first. I actually like to pull most of the skin off before I start- then season the meat directly. I cooked 4 birds the other day, which made about 2 gallons of stock. Let it cool enough to pull the meat off the breasts, legs and thighs, then pop the bones back into the oven and brown them really well. Add the bones to about half a gallon of cold water, an onion, carrot and stalk of celery per bird, along with black peppercorns, fresh thyme, parsley stems, bay leaf and some garlic. Simmer, not boil, it for 5 or 6 hours if you've got the time, adding water as necessary to compensate for reduction. While it's simmering, put an individual bird's worth of chopped or shredded chicken into one quart freezer bags. Once your stock is done, strained well, and cooled, put 2 quarts of broth into individual gallon freezer bags. Basically, for about the same amount of time and effort, I now have enough chicken and stock for 4 great soups. Just add your chicken during the last 20 minutes or so, and you'll have great stock and flavorful roasted chicken.

Oh yeah, the tortilla soup. Easy. Sweat some onion and garlic, add 2Q of your homemade stock, along with a couple of small cans of diced tomatoes. Add chile powder, cumin, bay leaves, and Survival Spice™ to taste. Simmer a bit, then add a small bag of good frozen corn, (no freaky butter-polymer sauce, please), and a bird's worth of your pre-roasted and chopped chicken. Plate it up with shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro and lots of tortilla strips.