Homemade Stock (Chicken or Vegetable) and What to Do With It

Ingredients

• 4 lbs chicken bones, backs, wings, and carcasses (for chicken stock)
• 2 lbs mixed vegetable trim such as leek tops, mushroom stems, and fennel scraps (for vegetable stock, in place of the bones)
• 2 large yellow onions, quartered, skins left on
• 3 large carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley, stems included
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 5 quarts cold water

Method

1. For chicken stock, spread the bones on a rimmed sheet pan and roast at 450°F (230°C) for 40 minutes, until deep brown. Roasting is optional but it is the difference between pale stock and stock with a backbone. For vegetable stock, skip this step.
2. Put the bones (or the vegetable trim) in a tall stockpot and cover with the 5 quarts of cold water. Cold water, never hot — it draws the proteins out slowly and gives you clear stock instead of cloudy.
3. Bring it up over medium heat to a bare simmer: one or two lazy bubbles breaking the surface per second, no more. Never let it boil. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat back into the liquid and you end up with something cloudy and greasy that no amount of straining will fix.
4. Skim the gray foam off the top with a ladle for the first 20 minutes, as often as it appears. This is the step most people skip. Do it anyway — it is ten minutes of attention that decides how the finished stock looks and tastes.
5. Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Push them under the surface.
6. For chicken stock, hold that bare simmer uncovered for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, adding water if the bones ever poke above the liquid. For vegetable stock, simmer 45 to 60 minutes only — go longer and the vegetables turn bitter and muddy. Different ingredient, different clock.
7. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into a clean pot or bowl. Do not press on the solids. Pressing forces fine particles through and clouds what you just spent four hours keeping clear.
8. Cool it fast. Set the container in an ice bath and stir occasionally until it drops below 70°F (21°C) within two hours, then refrigerate. Stock left to cool slowly on the counter is a food safety problem, not a shortcut.
9. The next day, lift the solid fat cap off the top in one piece. Save it — that is schmaltz, and it roasts potatoes better than any oil you own.
10. Leave it unsalted. Stock gets seasoned when you use it, so it can reduce down into a sauce without turning into a salt lick.
11. Store 5 days in the refrigerator or 6 months frozen. Freeze in 2-cup portions for soups and in an ice cube tray for pan sauces — a frozen cube of real stock beats a bouillon cube every night of the week.
12. What to do with it: this is the stock the French Onion Soup from Scratch in this collection is built on, and the difference is not subtle. It is also the liquid for the Risotto Master Method, the braising liquid for short ribs, and the base of every pan reduction you make from here on.