Homemade Chicken Stock

     Hey guys. Sissi has given me another recipe! She was also making it anyways, which is why she gave it to me, but she even included pictures! (I know, I'm supposed to be cooking my own recipes. But I will be able to do that a lot more when I move, because I'll have an oven and stove, which will allow me to do a lot more than electric plug-in cooking appliances.)

     She basically wrote everything, but she had to do so over text because of all of the pictures. Most of it is direct quotes, but I did change a little bit because the texts came in out of order and some of it was confusing to read because of that.

Ingredients:

-Half An Onion

-Celery

-Carrots

-Chicken Bones With No Meat (One Pound Per Gallon Of Water)

Directions:

Step One:

     Cut the onion into quarters and the celery and carrots into large pieces. To get the right amount of veggies, you have to do a little math. It's ratio is "2 units onion, 1 unit carrots, 1 unit celery". So if you had 16 ounces onion, you would have 8 ounces carrots and 8 ounces celery.

Step Two:

     Get a large pot (more than a gallon) with no particular measurement, but enough water to cover the chicken bones. Let the water boil, put the bones in, and boil for one minute. That will remove most of the fat from the bones.

Step Three:

     Remove the bones after one minute of boiling. Drain the water and refill the pot with one gallon (or sixteen cups) of water.

Step Four:

     Put everything into the pot and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer. Do not cover or stir. Simmer for four to six hours, at which point, the stock should be reduced by half. (Remember, the solid components will change the level of the liquid.)

Step Five:

     The stock will get darker and murkier. You'll be able to see a film forming on the surface of water.

Step Six:

     Skim the water occasionally. Basically, just drag a spoon across the top of the water and take out the bubbly filmy gross shit.

Step Seven:

     Remove all of the solids and let the stock drip back into the pot. Don't throw them away because if the stock is above two quarts, you can put it all back in and reduce it more.

Step Eight:

     Get a pot (large enough to hold two quarts) and cover it with a mesh strainer. Set cheese cloth or a few paper towels in the strainer and pour.

Step Nine:

     Pour stock into something that can be used to measure. (She uses her blender because it's seven cups and she needs eight cups. It doesn't have to be exact.)

Step Ten:

     Strain again and repeat as needed. You want a clean stock but you want to have enough, as well. Strain at least two or three times and if you still see shit floating around, strain again.

Step Eleven:

     And now you have eight cups of homemade, unaltered chicken stock that you can use in a lot of different soups (which she will probably leave up to me to show you later, but if you're using this, you probably have your own soup in mind anyways; she was making split pea and ham to which I have to say "Ewwww" haha). Remember do not salt the stock and put it in the fridge until it is used within two days. (Personally, after the second day, I throw out any leftovers.) (And by throw out, I mean, give to the outside cats.)

     You can also freeze it if you have too much or don't plan on using it right away. It's not suggested because it's better fresh, but this is what Sissi uses to hold it.