Homemade Chicken Stock

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of Melbournefoodgeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge daring cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian master chef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

This homemade stock was a requirement for the above challenge. We used it to make the risotto base. It was easy and delicious. I will make it again and again since I use chicken stock often in my cooking. I won't be buying anymore stock. Here is the recipe i followed for the challenge,


1 Large Chicken, 2-3 lbs
2 Medium Onion, roughly diced
2 Celery Stalks, roughly diced
1 Leek, white part only, roughly diced
2 Garlic Cloves, halved
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Peppercorns
1/2 Lemon peel
1/4 tsp Allspice

Wash the chicken and place it in a 5 liter pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil.
Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface.
Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil.
Add the remaining ingredients and simmer gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours.
Carefully lift out chicken, and set aside. Chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded, and can be used for other things like soup. I put the bones back in the pot, and simmer the stock for another hour until I have about 2 liters left. carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve. The less the solids are disturbed, the clearer the stock will be. freeze what you don't need for later use.