Chicken stock?

Question

Am I supposed to make stock with the pot's lid on or off?
And how the heck am I supposed to store 4 quarts of it when it's done. Advice?

Answer 1

Poopsie is right on the mark. It was a real epiphany for me when I realized you could store portions of anywhere from 1 or 2 cups to a quart in zipper-lock bags in the freezer--they take up hardly any space, because you can store tham flat, and as a bonus, the stock is pre-measured for you when it's time to use it. You do have to use high-quality bags, though, because a lot of the cheaper brands leak! Personally, I stick with Ziploc--the ones that need to be closed between your fingers, not the ones that have the little sliding plastic tab to close them (those just do not seal well enough).

My recipe for chicken stock calls for bringing the stock to a boil without the lid on, then partially covering it when you reduce the heat and leaving it that way for the length of the cooking time. I've always found that it reduces just right that way--enough to concentrate the flavors, but not enough that all your hard work evaporates away. If it's not reduced to your liking at the end of the cooking time, you can always turn up the heat for a few minutes and reduce it a bit more.

Don't forget to label the month and year you made the stock on the bags with a permanent marker, and have fun cooking with your homemade stock--it is so worth it!

Answer 2

You will end up with a protein foam on top after boiling for a short while. You'll want to skim that off. You'll want to boil it with the lid on so you don't have to keep adding liquid.

Many people even make stock in a pressure cooker. That also saves energy and time, and keeps the house from getting all steamy.

You can freeze it in mason jars, or if you have a pressure canner, you can use that.

But four quarts isn't much. I let it cool and put it in a empty gallon jug I bought water in. Typically, I use half of it within 24 hours, and the rest of it 2 or 3 days later.

Answer 3

surprised by the people who think it's ok to go with the lid on. I'll start off by saying don't ever boil your stock. if you boil it, the fat and scum all goes right back into the stock, the fat emulsifies, and you have this cloudy as hell stock that's only good for soups. You simply want a very gentle simmer. Now, as for the lid, the point of a stock is this intense flavor, if you keep your lid on, the evaporated water will just work right back into the pot, and your flavor won't intensify too much. Also, if you keep your lid on, this evaporated water will go right back into the stock, hitting the scum, and pulling it back into your stock, thus making it cloudy. Lid off, always.

As for storage, if you happen to have cryovac capabilities, it works extremely well.

Answer 4

Make chicken stock with the lid off. You are supposed to watch the stock carefully to ensure that it does not come to a boil at any point. Boiling the water will cause fat to churn in the pot rather than rise to the top where you can skim it off. When the stock appears to be about to come to a boil, reduce the heat to low. The stock should simmer at a very low heat. The goal is to have only 1 bubble rise to the surface per second, but a low simmer will suffice.

Some convenient methods of freezing stock are:
1. Pour the cooled stock into ice cube trays and freeze. Pop out of the trays and store in ziplock bags. Take out only as much as you need.

2. Line a bowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil with sufficient overhang to cover the top of the bowl. Pour the stock into the bowl and freeze. Bring the foil or wrap over the top to cover in full to close. Remove from bowl and return to freezer.

3. Simply store in plastic containers, ziplock bags, microwave-safe, can-freeze jars, or Food Saver bags. Microwave-safe containers, Food Saver bags and can-freeze jars are particularly convenient since food can also be microwaved or heated in the same container, saving on dishes.


This might have been too much information, but I hope it helps.

Happy Cooking!

Answer 5

It will cook faster if you leave the lid on and you won't lose as much liquid that would boil away. For storage, it freezes very well. You can freeze what you aren't going to use right away in quart size freezer bags you can buy at any super market. Be sure and leave enough room for expansion. You can also store them in plastic containers with lids on of course.

Answer 6

Chicken stock is usually made by boiling a whole chicken or prts of a chicken with seasoning and some veggies in water, so it does contain some protein/fats from the chicken.

Answer 7

1/2 in the freezer....after it has cooled and 1/2 in the refrigerator.

Keep the lid off...you want the liquid to reduce.

Answer 8

I make it with the lid on but i don't think it matters. Then defintely freeze it and when you need to use it just toss it in a pot and heat it up.

Answer 9

Lid on is ok. You can store it after it's cooled in ziploc bags, just stand them up in the freezer until the harden.

Answer 10

I don't think it matters if the lid is on or not
freeze the qts in a freezer safe container