Chicken Stock Recipe inspired by Julia Child’s

It is Friday afternoon. Everyone is tired–INCLUDING ME! So, when everyone got home from school (having not touched their lunch) I made them some chicken soup. I keep small glass containers full of chicken stock in the freezer which I defrost in the microwave until the edges of the soup are defrosted and the soup slides easily out. Then, I finish heating the soup in a pan and pour the chicken stock over cooked rice noodles to make chicken noodle soup.

Making soup from scratch might seem daunting to those who don’t cook, but it is actually pretty easy if you get the hang of it–and practically free if you ever have whole chicken for dinner. You need the bones from two roast chickens. If you don’t usually cook, just save the bones from two rotisserie chickens in the freezer. Then when you want to cook the stock soup you will have the bones on hand for stock. This recipe is based on Julia Child’s stock recipe and the stock from Nourishing Traditions. Also, another thing we do at my house is to chop all the vegetables and put them in the freezer so everything is ready to go in the morning. That way it takes less than ten minutes in the morning to get the stock started. If you start it at 7 am it will be done by the end of school day! And you will have stock for soup for a month.

Chicken Stock Recipe (inspired by Julia Child’s recipe)

Remove:

from the freezer and put them in a large pot. Add water so the bones are covered with an inch of water.

Optional:

Bring to a boil and skim the white froth that comes to the top.

Add:

Add water so everything is covered by two inches of water. Bring just to a simmer. Cover and cook for 6-7 hours. Let cool. Strain through fine sieve. Discard bones and vegetables. Let cool. Freeze in small glass tumblers like these covered glass cylinder–make sure to leave an inch of space at the top as the liquid expands when frozen. Freeze until needed.