Chicken Broth

There are a lot of recipes that call for a broth, or rather I can think of one or two off the top of my head and I'm trying to make it sound like this is an ingredient that is in high demand. Either way, a broth is really easy to make, but it always tends to produce a lot, more than what you can use in a single or even multiple recipes. Unless your feeding large groups of people that is.

The solution to that is to freeze the excess and thaw what you need for when you need it. However, freezing it as a whole block makes it hard to use in the future. Try thawing a brick and getting exactly what you want without thawing too much and you'll see what I mean. So to fix this, I freeze the broth in ice cup trays. Each cube is roughly two tablespoons or 30 mL, which is a convenient serving size. More importantly, all you need to do is pull out the number of cubes you need and leave the rest undisturbed in the freezer.

I honestly tried to find chicken parts or a stewing chicken which would have made this cheaper and easier, but the store was out of almost all chicken related meats. Alas this means that I got a roasting chicken, which, quite frankly would have been much better as a roasted chicken.












Anyway, I carved up the bird into its constituent parts and dropped them into the pot with water to cover. Then set it to simmer for 30 minutes.

While the chicken was simmering, I was chopping up some vegetables to toss in with the chicken. The nutrients and flavours get leeched off into the broth. The original recipe said to finely chop the vegetables in a food processor or blender. I could say that I like large chunks of vegetables but the truth of the matter is that I over looked that part and just chopped them up...

After the chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, I tossed in the vegetables and continued simmering for another 40 minutes.

Once everything was done simmering, I strained the chicken and vegetables from the broth. I kept the chicken for eating and chucked the vegetables. I found the vegetables had grown bland and that the chicken was a bit dry, which is kind of ironic because it was cooked in water... Let the broth sit until cooled to room temperature.







Chill the broth in either the fridge or the freezer. I chose the freezer as I don't have any space in my fridge right now. The reason for this is that the fat will have floated to the top and will solidify when chilled. This makes it really easy to scoop the fat off.








Once the fat is skimmed off, I placed the broth into my ice cube trays and started freezing them. After two hours they were frozen enough to remove without any problems. If the broth was chilled more before being placed into the trays, you might be able to cut that time in half. Each cube is roughly 30 mL or 2 tablespoons. A half cup of broth is four cubes, and a cup of broth is eight, etc.











As the broth was frozen and removed from the tray I placed it into an airtight bag and sucked as much air out as possible. When ever I need the broth for something, I can thaw as many cubes as I need and use them without worrying about making more or going to the store and buying some.







 The end result was 2.16 liters of chicken broth. Oh and some cooked chicken which we're slowly eating.

And now for the recipe as it is actually written in the Joy of Cooking


Chicken Broth
About 12 cups
Combine in a stockpot over medium heat:
One 3 1/2 to 4 pound chicken, cut into parts
Cold water to cover
Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 30 minutes, skimming often. Pulse in a food processor until finely chopped:
1 medium unpeeled onion, cut into eighths
1 carrot, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 celery rib, cut into 2-inch pieces
Add vegetables to the pot. Simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked, about 40 minutes longer. Remove the chicken and reserve. Strain and let cool uncovered, then refrigerate covered. Remove the fat when ready to use.

I had originally pegged the cost of the broth at just under $0.20 per cube. The bulk of the cost came from the chicken, which was still usable afterwards, so I removed it from the equation and came up with $0.03 per cube.