In the spirit of my other series, "The way grandma used to..." That I post on fridays, I wanted to include a post for homemade chicken broth or bone broth. This is so easy to make and when done this way it is why our grandmothers used to say that Chicken soup was good for sickness, but only when the bone marrow is in the broth like as with a method such as this.
First I take a chicken that has been well enjoyed...We had baked chicken for dinner the other night and this is all that was left after we vultures were done!
First I take a chicken that has been well enjoyed...We had baked chicken for dinner the other night and this is all that was left after we vultures were done!
If this is not a project you want to do immediately after dinner you can refrigerate it until the following day to start. I take the bones and then some carrots, onions and celery (I have actually made it without the veggie trio and it is still fine but tastes better with them) and chop the veggies.
I then take the chicken bones, the chopped veggies and put them in a large stock pot with at least 15-20 cups of water. I add a generous helping of salt and pepper, and then I bring the brew to a rolling boil and then turn to a simmer and cover. I do this for 24-36 hours and just let the pot simmer on the back burner all that time until the bone breaks down and is really soft which is where all the good stuff comes from. NOTE: just be sure to check your broth every little bit to be sure it still has plenty of water, if not, add more and salt and pepper as needed.
After at least 24 hours pull out a strainer and a bowl and prepare to strain the bones/mushy veggies out of the liquid.
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Then I freeze the broth and use as needed, You can use quart ziplock bags or plastic containers, even glass mason jars will work. But, hands down my favorite method is to use my silicone mini loaf pan and make chicken broth cubes.
 | When I use this method I put a cookie sheet under the silicone baking pan otherwise you cannot pick it up (I speak from a messy experience). :) |
After several hours you have nice chicken broth cubes. I like that they stack well in a freezer bag and I can pull 1-2 out to use as needed!
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