Chicken Stock

For the past several years I have been making a chicken casserole every other week for our church potlucks, which means I roast and bone a whole chicken 26 times every year!!  Recently I began to wonder if I have been throwing away valuable "garbage" into the trash all this time, as everyone knows, homemade chicken stock is supposed to be really really really good for you, AND it's supposed to ward off the common cold.  I have never made chicken stock before, but I use a fair amount of it in my cooking, but never really thought much about it as I kept buying it in the can.  So this weekend when I felt myself "coming down with something", I thought to myself, "what better time than now to learn how to make my own chicken stock".  I read about how to leach all those healthy minerals out of the chicken bones, and I am all for trying anything that's healthy.  So after picking all the meat off the bones for my casserole, I tossed my chicken garbage into my crockpot.  Skin, bones, cartilage, tendons......I wasn't going to let any part of that chicken go to waste!

It looked really gross so I had a hard time imagining myself consuming anything that would come from that.  But I proceeded, hoping to concoct a magical cure-all elixir, that I can also use in my every-day cooking.  I added enough water to cover it up, splashed a little bit of Apple Cider Vinegar into it (this is what is supposed to help leach all the minerals out of the bones), sloshed it around a bit to distribute the vinegar, and then let it just sit there for an hour or so.  (advice from the internet)

Before I went to bed, I set the crockpot on Low, and let it simmer all night long.  In the morning I used my tongs to fish out the big pieces which had all fallen apart, and then strained the rest through a cheesecloth.  This is what I ended up with:

A nice bowl of chicken stock, complete with the healthy tasty chicken fat floating on top.  I could tell already it was going to be way better than the canned stuff.  So I let it cool a little bit before spooning it into individual freezer containers.  And this is how much I got:

Three pint sized containers.  Is that all?  When I cook with it I will decide if it was worth it or not, but I think it was.  That is probably worth about $5 or $6 of the inferior canned stuff, but how much does it cost to keep the crockpot on Low all night long?  Oh well, if it doesn't bother Chuck, why should it bother me?

Now according to the internet, apparently "quality" stock is supposed to gel.  Mine did not gel.  I have no idea how important that is for nutritional value or taste.  Anyone out there know?  There is another method where you simmer it over the stove to help it gel, but I don't know if I feel good about running my stove all day long - it's supposed to simmer for a long long long long long long time, some websites say 14 to 24 hours!!!!  Really?  Would it take that long?  They also say that too much heat can break down the fats which would prevent it from gelling.  Perhaps even on Low, my crockpot gets too hot for this job.  Maybe next time I will try the stove top method so I can have better control of the heat.  Anyhoo, since my body is battling an army of foreign invaders right now, I did sit down and get cozy with a warm cut of this stuff.

It tasted just like......well,.............chicken broth...........with a bit of an aftertaste.  I think next time I will try adding some spices to it - that is supposed to make it even healthier, so they say.  But somehow it did seem kinda soothing, and am I already feeling better?  or is it just all in my head?  I will probably keep enough in the fridge for another cup or two (until I'm sure the battle is over), and then freeze the rest and use it for cooking.  I haven't decided yet if this is going to be a new bi-weekly ritual for me, but I do like the idea of using my own homemade stock vs. the canned stuff.

Do you see my kitty cat in the background?  I think she would agree.

If anyone out there knows how to make good chicken stock, please give me some suggestions!!