Helpful Techniques: Homemade Stocks

I know I am repeating myself when I say that I am a sucker for a good soup. There is just something so comforting and homey about them and we are indeed right in the thick of it when it comes to soup season. If you read our last post, we made a delicious Honey Lemon Roasted Chicken and as promised, I’m back to discuss how you can transform the leftover bones from that dish to create beautiful homemade stock that will take your soups and so many more dishes to a whole new level.

What is stock and why make your own?

The direct definition of what a stock is to slowly cook bones, meat, fish, or vegetables in water to yield a liquid that can be used in soups, sauces, and gravies. Generally, stocks are a thicker, more deeply flavored product than a standard broth and are also often feature various herbs and spices to create a richer end product.

At this point, there are probably dozens of pre-made options for stocks and broths in your local markets and a lot of them are really good quality products honestly. I often utilize store bought stocks because they are super convenient, however there are some major advantages to taking the time to making your own.

Economical/Eco-friendly: Often we pay for convenience and stocks are no different. Taking the time to make your own stocks in bulk is a very good way to save a few bucks. Repurposing the bones from a meal such as a whole chicken, turkey, or beef roast for a stock allows for you to live a bit more “no waste” in your kitchen, which is great for your wallet and better for the planet as well!

Versatility: Creating your own home-made stocks is a wonderful way to play around with new and interesting flavors you like or want to incorporate into your cooking. Beyond that, you can easily customize a stock to fit your preferences and since you know every ingredient going into it, making your own is especially helpful if you are concerned about allergens or other health issues.

Intentional Cooking: Just as with other long cooking methods, the simmering of your own stocks at home allows you the opportunity to truly pour your intention into your food. Stocks easily support a lot of variety when it comes to the types of ingredients you chose to put into them, so they lend themselves well to kitchen spellcraft. Furthermore, once your stock is made, you can very simply freeze it for use whenever you need a boost for a particular spell and can also keep several stocks handy for different intentions.

The Method

One of the best things about stock making at home is that once you know the method for how to create one, the sky is the limit on the varieties you can make. The steps are fairly simple and for the most part the hardware and ingredients are all things you probably have already or if not, are easy to get. The most important thing to remember is to be patient; stocks take a bit of time but the result is well worth it!

Step one: Prepping the ingredients

Prep is almost always the first step in any cooking endeavor and a good, flavorful stock can have quite a few ingredients. That being said, stocks are actually pretty unfussy; the flavors actually benefit from you not peeling or finely chopping your ingredients like you would in a soup or stew. As always, you will still want to inspect and wash your vegetables thoroughly and cut any very large pieces down to be manageable, but otherwise, you are good to go! Also, at this stage, you can decide to have a little fun and experiment with adding out of the ordinary ingredients, such as citrus fruits, ginger, or chilis to your stock for an interesting intentional or flavorful twist.

If you are using leftover bones for your stock, as long as you have space in your pot, they can also go in whole. Alternatively, you can absolutely use meat such as bone in, skin on chicken pieces or bone in beef or pork, though you will need to pre roast the meat for about 30-45 minutes in your oven to expedite the cooking process and develop some extra richness and flavor.

Step two: Build Your Stock

Once your ingredients are all prepped and ready to go, you can start building up the components of your stock. For this, you are going to want to have your largest pot handy. I personally use a 12 quart pot because I make big batches of a lot of recipes often, but you can absolutely cut the recipe down to make smaller batches to fit the hardware you have available. Once you have your pot ready, you can start adding your meats/bones (if you’re using them), vegetables, herbs, and spices. I tend to layer my ingredients in the pot as I personally enjoy the opportunity to add in each with an intention as I go along. It’s also at this point where you optionally can add salt to the mix. I generally do add some salt as I like the flavor, however you can absolutely make your stock salt free if you so chose.

Once you’ve added all of the ingredients, now it is time to add your water. You will want plenty of cool water to completely cover all of the ingredients. This stock will be cooking for several hours and will reduce down but you don’t want to skimp on the liquid at the start.

Step Three: Simmer and Skim

Now comes the part where your patience will be rewarded; You’re going to start heating the stock and letting the magic happen! You will want to be sure to let your stock come up to and stay at a steady simmer, which might take a bit if you are making a large batch. As tempting as it might be, don’t let your stock come to a rapid boil since you want this to reduce and infuse slowly for maximum flavor and intentional power. Also, you will want to leave the pot uncovered for this step. At this point, you can pretty much walk away and let the stock do it’s thing, however you will want to come back periodically and check the simmer and skim off any excess fat or “scum” that tends to float to the top. Doing this will yield a far tastier and clearer finished product.

So how long do you simmer your stock? That is up for debate a bit. Some recipes will tell you that it should simmer for up to 8 (!) hours, which if you have the time, would be awesome. For the batch I made, I let it go for about 3 and it came out wonderfully flavorful. As a rule of thumb, I would recommend tasting the stock as you go along and use your best judgement on how intense you’d like the overall flavor to be.

Step Four: Strain and Cool

Once your stock is to your liking, you are going to want to to strain out all of the solids. They have fulfilled their glorious purpose (insert Loki gif here) and at this point have given up all of their nutrients and flavor to your stock. If you have a fine mesh strainer, you can absolutely use that or you can use some cheese cloth over a larger strainer; just be sure to be careful as the liquid is still going to be very hot at this point.

Once the stock is strained of solids, you will want to begin to cool it. It is very important to do this properly since stocks, soups, and stews can easily grow bacteria if not cooled quickly and safely. The method I found most effective to achieve this is to submerge the vessel I strained my stock into in a larger bowl full of ice and water (i.e. an ice bath). I changed the ice in the bath several times and stirred the stock often to allow to cool quickly and evenly until it reached below 40 degrees F. You can also separate out your strained stock into several smaller containers and cool them in the same way; just be sure your containers are heat and cold tolerant. Depending on how much stock you made, you can chose whichever method works best for you. Once cooled, you can separate some of the stock into jars for more immediate use (about 4-5 days) and some in containers for freezing (3 months).

Quick Recipe: All Purpose Chicken Stock

Below, I am including my go-to recipe for an all around great chicken stock that holds energy for imparting general health and protection to your kitchen spellwork. However, now that you know the methods behind stock making, feel free to experiment with all kinds of different flavor and intentional combinations.

All Purpose Chicken Stock

Author: Elizabeth Johnson

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 3 H & 30 MTotal time: 3 H & 40 M

This richly flavored homemade chicken stock is an easy, versatile and economical way infuse soups, stews, sauces, and more with energy towards healing and protection.

Ingredients

Leftover bones from 2 whole roasting chickens or 4 lbs. bone in, skin on chicken thighs (healing, protection, fortification)
1 lb whole unpeeled carrots, cut into fourths (strength, protection)
1 lb whole celery, broken or cut into fourths (promotes rest)
2 medium unpeeled onions, cut into fourths (healing, protection)
1 head of garlic, cut in half or 20 cloves of whole garlic (health, warding)
8 oz. whole mushrooms, cut in half if large (strength, healing)
2 unpeeled shallots, cut in half (health, protection)
2 lemons, cut in half (cleansing)
3 bay leaves (protection)
2 Tbsp whole black peppercorns (banishing negativity)
2 Tbsp salt, optional (purification)
2 sprigs fresh sage (warding, longevity)
6 sprigs fresh thyme (healing, fortification)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary (protection, strength)
1 oz. fresh dill (protection, positive energy)
1 oz. fresh parsley (cleansing, health)
6 qt. water (healing, renewal)

Instructions

If you are choosing to use chicken thighs, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and place the chicken into a deep roasting pan along with the prepared vegetables. Allow to roast for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken and vegetables start to color.
In a large pot, layer bones or meat, along with vegetables, herbs, and peppercorns. If you used the roasted meat method, be sure to add in all the roasting juices from the pan as well. If you are choosing to add salt, you may do so now.
Add the water into the pot, being sure all of the ingredients are covered completely, adding more if necessary.
Heat the pot over low to medium-low heat and let the stock come up to a steady simmer.
Allow the stock to simmer uncovered for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, periodically skimming off excess fat and foam that rises to the surface.
Once the flavor is to your liking, strain your stock into another large vessel (or several smaller vessels) and discard the solids.
Place the strained stock into an ice bath and allow the liquid to cool to 40 degrees F., stirring occasionally to ensure even cooling.
Once cooled, you may portion out your stock containers and store in the refrigerator for more immediate use; up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

The vegetables and herbs/spices in this recipe are a personal preference of mine and my family. You can absolutely adjust the ingredients to fit your likes or dietary requirements.