Yang's Favourite Thing #9 - Homemade chicken stock
Learning to love myself ; Learning to cook from scratch ...
...with a golden stash of homemade chicken stock.
Golden in color, golden to my homemade dishes. Shimmery and simmering with a mother's love.
...with a golden stash of homemade chicken stock.
Golden in color, golden to my homemade dishes. Shimmery and simmering with a mother's love.
Homemade chicken stock
I started with stooping down to seek refuge when my wet hands brought water and a teaspoon of olive oil to the sizzling hot wok, kicking off a haphazard splatter. Maybe cooking just ain't meant for Yang, I thought. Naturally, I didn't venture on in cooking but got into a baking craze. Into my late pregnancy with 小雨, I got tired easily and stopped baking too.
For a period of time, 小雨 was a serious picky eater. She rejects basically everything, except for a plain bowl of fish or chicken congee. Not willing to go the easy way and get a commercial chicken stock from the supermart, I started an indepth googling on "how to cook a homemade chicken stock" and got into the business of cooking a big pot of it every weekend. Is it true that advice from many cooks spoil the broth? Not quite, as most recipes I found follow the general guide of getting chicken bones to boil in a big pot of water, throwing in roughly chopped carrots, celery, onion, garlic, whole black peppercorns and some herbs, then get it simmering for at least 6 to 8 hours.
That general guide didn't give me a perfect stock. It was rather scummy but the skimmed and strained stock was good enough for 小雨's congee. Nevertheless, as a perfectionist, I spent much time trying to wash away the blood from the chicken bones (so as to achieve a clearer stock) and became rather sick of the bloody stench. Once, I tried blanching the bones first before simmering (as advised by some cooks to remove the impurities), but that gave me a stock which tasted more of celery and carrots, i.e. a pot of vegetable stock rather than chicken stock.
It was after another round of googling that I found this recipe from The Smitten Kitchen by Deb, which uses purely chicken wings (in place of bones), onion and garlic, promising to give a clear, almost scum-free, great tasting stock.
I tried that, using chicken wings, and I waved goodbye to chicken bones for good.
As I cooked my nth chicken stock, I still added the vegetables, whole black peppercorns and herbs. I guess I simply like the wholesome taste you get from this harmonious combination of ingredients (it's up to individual preference, Deb had settled for just five ingredients to give a cleanly-flavoured chicken stock). Or rather, I didn't want a stock that tasted purely of chicken, which I reckon would bring me flashback memories of my hands submerged in bloody, murky waters of chicken bones.
So here I share with you my chicken stock recipe:
Homemade Chicken Stock
(Adapted from recipe by The Smitten Kitchen which uses chicken wings instead of bones)
Makes 8 to 9 cups
2 kg of uncooked chicken wings
18 cups of water
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 yellow onion, skin on, sliced into quarters
5 cloves of garlic, cut into halves horizontally
8 whole black peppercorns
Sprigs of rosemary, parsley, thyme
1. Rinse the chicken wings and layer them in a stockpot or big saucepan.
2. Add 18 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
3. Lower the heat to a simmer (you should see just a little gurgle of bubbles once in a while).
4. Add the carrots, onion, garlic, black peppercorns and herbs.
5. Simmer overnight, uncovered, for 21 to 22 hrs.*
6. Off heat. Strain stock to remove the wings, vegetables, peppercorns and herbs.
7. Strain a 2nd time through a fine mesh lined with cheesecloth, to remove fats and impurities.
8. Store the clear stock in an airtight container and refrigerate.
After making friends with Leibniz, Frey and Marigold for a day or two...
9. Skim off the layer of fats from the surface of the chilled stock. It should be like one big jiggly block of agar agar now, or aspic in culinary terms).
10. With a knife, slice the aspic into cubes, split into desired amount in separate containers and store in the freezer.
For a period of time, 小雨 was a serious picky eater. She rejects basically everything, except for a plain bowl of fish or chicken congee. Not willing to go the easy way and get a commercial chicken stock from the supermart, I started an indepth googling on "how to cook a homemade chicken stock" and got into the business of cooking a big pot of it every weekend. Is it true that advice from many cooks spoil the broth? Not quite, as most recipes I found follow the general guide of getting chicken bones to boil in a big pot of water, throwing in roughly chopped carrots, celery, onion, garlic, whole black peppercorns and some herbs, then get it simmering for at least 6 to 8 hours.
That general guide didn't give me a perfect stock. It was rather scummy but the skimmed and strained stock was good enough for 小雨's congee. Nevertheless, as a perfectionist, I spent much time trying to wash away the blood from the chicken bones (so as to achieve a clearer stock) and became rather sick of the bloody stench. Once, I tried blanching the bones first before simmering (as advised by some cooks to remove the impurities), but that gave me a stock which tasted more of celery and carrots, i.e. a pot of vegetable stock rather than chicken stock.
It was after another round of googling that I found this recipe from The Smitten Kitchen by Deb, which uses purely chicken wings (in place of bones), onion and garlic, promising to give a clear, almost scum-free, great tasting stock.
I tried that, using chicken wings, and I waved goodbye to chicken bones for good.
As I cooked my nth chicken stock, I still added the vegetables, whole black peppercorns and herbs. I guess I simply like the wholesome taste you get from this harmonious combination of ingredients (it's up to individual preference, Deb had settled for just five ingredients to give a cleanly-flavoured chicken stock). Or rather, I didn't want a stock that tasted purely of chicken, which I reckon would bring me flashback memories of my hands submerged in bloody, murky waters of chicken bones.
So here I share with you my chicken stock recipe:
Homemade Chicken Stock
(Adapted from recipe by The Smitten Kitchen which uses chicken wings instead of bones)
Makes 8 to 9 cups
2 kg of uncooked chicken wings
18 cups of water
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 yellow onion, skin on, sliced into quarters
5 cloves of garlic, cut into halves horizontally
8 whole black peppercorns
Sprigs of rosemary, parsley, thyme
1. Rinse the chicken wings and layer them in a stockpot or big saucepan.
2. Add 18 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
3. Lower the heat to a simmer (you should see just a little gurgle of bubbles once in a while).
4. Add the carrots, onion, garlic, black peppercorns and herbs.
5. Simmer overnight, uncovered, for 21 to 22 hrs.*
6. Off heat. Strain stock to remove the wings, vegetables, peppercorns and herbs.
7. Strain a 2nd time through a fine mesh lined with cheesecloth, to remove fats and impurities.
8. Store the clear stock in an airtight container and refrigerate.
After making friends with Leibniz, Frey and Marigold for a day or two...
9. Skim off the layer of fats from the surface of the chilled stock. It should be like one big jiggly block of agar agar now, or aspic in culinary terms).
10. With a knife, slice the aspic into cubes, split into desired amount in separate containers and store in the freezer.
Aspic cubes from chilled homemade chicken stock
Notes:
i. I skipped the usual bay leaf as I couldn't find it in the supermart when I made my very first chicken stock (I rummaged through the vegetable section then, not knowing that it's actually with the spice condiments). And I thought I'm fine with the flavour I achieve without it.
ii. * You can only simmer the stock that long if you managed to lower the heat to give just a slight gurgle of bubbles in your
pot. It's the long hours of simmer under low heat that extract the most collagen from the wings, resulting in a block of jelly-like stock or aspic, after chilling in the fridge.
iii. I cook a big pot of chicken stock each time in my big, deep Zebra saucepan as I don't have a big slow cooker. I don't really pay much attention to it as it simmers away too, just that I got Kirin to walk slower past it whenever he's in the kitchen, so as to keep the low fire burning. Sorry & thanks Kirin!
iv. I don't add salt to the chicken stock until I dethaw a portion of it and prepare to cook each dish. In this way, I feel a greater control of the overall salt content for each dish.
i. I skipped the usual bay leaf as I couldn't find it in the supermart when I made my very first chicken stock (I rummaged through the vegetable section then, not knowing that it's actually with the spice condiments). And I thought I'm fine with the flavour I achieve without it.
ii. * You can only simmer the stock that long if you managed to lower the heat to give just a slight gurgle of bubbles in your
pot. It's the long hours of simmer under low heat that extract the most collagen from the wings, resulting in a block of jelly-like stock or aspic, after chilling in the fridge.
iii. I cook a big pot of chicken stock each time in my big, deep Zebra saucepan as I don't have a big slow cooker. I don't really pay much attention to it as it simmers away too, just that I got Kirin to walk slower past it whenever he's in the kitchen, so as to keep the low fire burning. Sorry & thanks Kirin!
iv. I don't add salt to the chicken stock until I dethaw a portion of it and prepare to cook each dish. In this way, I feel a greater control of the overall salt content for each dish.
Now, my chicken stock is ready for a pot of slow cooker chicken stock congee for 小雨:
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock Congee
Makes 1 to 2 toddler servings
1 & 1/4 cup of chicken stock
1 oz of grains, washed and pre-soaked
15ml of water
1/2 of a garlic clove, crushed
1 thin old ginger round, peeled
2 pandan leaves, rinsed and knotted
1 lemon grass, rinsed (optional)
1. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for about 3 hrs.
Notes:
i. You may adjust the chicken stock : water ratio to suit your toddler's preference for a richer or lighter bowl of chicken stock congee.
ii. The lemon grass adds a refreshing, zesty flavour to the congee.
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock Congee
Makes 1 to 2 toddler servings
1 & 1/4 cup of chicken stock
1 oz of grains, washed and pre-soaked
15ml of water
1/2 of a garlic clove, crushed
1 thin old ginger round, peeled
2 pandan leaves, rinsed and knotted
1 lemon grass, rinsed (optional)
1. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for about 3 hrs.
Notes:
i. You may adjust the chicken stock : water ratio to suit your toddler's preference for a richer or lighter bowl of chicken stock congee.
ii. The lemon grass adds a refreshing, zesty flavour to the congee.
Chicken stock congee with shredded blanched spinach
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With time, 小雨 slowly exposed her taste buds to savoury meats and tender-crisp veggies. A bowl of steamed white rice became her new love, and I stopped cooking congee.
Motivated by a stash of homemade chicken stock in the freezer, Lefty Yang picked up cooking once again.
With time, 小雨 slowly exposed her taste buds to savoury meats and tender-crisp veggies. A bowl of steamed white rice became her new love, and I stopped cooking congee.
Motivated by a stash of homemade chicken stock in the freezer, Lefty Yang picked up cooking once again.
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