ISO Chicken Stock help/advice

[coookies]

Good morning,

So that chicken that I roasted up last Friday came out beautifully (thank you all again for your advice and help!!!) and today, if I find the time, I'd like to make stock with the leftover carcass. I read somewhere (I think on that last thread, actually) that you should include the giblets in your stock to make it more flavorful. I still have the giblets, do I cook them before use? Also, how do I know which giblets to use? Any other stock advice?

Thanks!
Katie

 

[Selkie]

Use all of the giblets, and no, don't cook them before tossing them into your stock pot. (I suppose you could brown the neck if you wanted to.) Just boil (simmer) the heck out of everything! And please, go easy on the salt!

 

[Andy M.]

Use everything but the liver. They will cook in the water with the bones.

 

[Alix]

If you are putting in some raw stuff you will have to skim the scum off your stock. So don't add onions (unless they are fried first) or anything else that floats til after you do the skimming.

 

[Wyogal]

I add raw onions to my stock, it simmers with everything else (bones, water, carrot, celery). I leave things in big chunks (onions are just halved) and have no problem with skimming...

 

[jennyema]

Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I'd not put raw chicken innards in my stockpot if they have been sitting in the fridge for 5 days.

 

[Wyogal]

Nah, jennyema, I wouldn't put raw innards that have been sitting that long in , either. I find that the carcass (roasted) has enough flavor without having to deal with the innards, too. I usually fry them up when I am roasting the chicken, and give them to my cat.

 

[coookies]

Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I'd not put raw chicken innards in my stockpot if they have been sitting in the fridge for 5 days.

Guess I could have asked in a more specific manner but thanks, this was part of what I wanted to know I'll toss em.

Thanks guys!! I still have some meat on the chicken (it was big and BF and I got very tired of chicken after a few days lol) so that should make up for the lack of giblets.

 

[Selkie]

I missed the "...last Friday" part... sorry... and from one standing at the very back of the class frantically waving my hand... "No, don't use the giblets that are that old!" - I know, I should get a life!

 

[Jennilynn]

I would probably worry about using the raw stuff that's been sitting in the fridge for a few days, so maybe fry it up a bit in a tiny bit of butter in the pan you're going to make the stock in. Then when you add the water it will deglaze the pan a bit and add some more flavor to your stock.

If I'm in a mood to plan ahead I make my own stock and cooked chicken to freeze for later. I get whole cut up chicken parts with the neck and giblets and all the innards, everything raw and with the skin on. I boil it up with a couple whole onions chopped, a few carrots and some celery with the tops, and throw in a little poultry seasoning. Yes, you get the gunky looking stuff that sticks to the sides of the pan, but after it's cooked I strain it all through my pasta strainer with some cheese cloth laid in to catch the fine particles. I store the stock in glass canning jars in the freezer.

 

[Wyogal]

raw stuff gone bad doesn't get better by cooking it. So frying it "a bit" won't help.
Using FRESH raw giblets is a different matter than using raw giblets that have been in the fridge for 5 days.

 

[coookies]

Well the stock is done, waiting for it to cool a bit before I put it in the fridge. I skimmed a bunch off during cooking, its a greasy stock because the chicken was roasted with a crapload of herbed butter and I left the skin on, but I read that putting it in the fridge causes all the fat to come to the top for easy removal so far it looks *amazing*, tried a teensy bit and it tastes 100x better than the crap I've been buying in a box, and smells divine. Thanks for all the answers and help, very glad I did this!