Chicken Stock xo Caldo de Pollo
Homemade chicken stock is a lovely staple food to have in your inventory. I enjoyed making chicken stock for my father, it was my way of saying, “I love you”. The wonderful thing about making stock from scratch is that you know you are adding fresh ingredients, getting the best nutrition out of it, and prepping a base to use in many recipes when cooking meals throughout the week.
Ingredients
12-15 drumsticks (skin on)
4 quarts water
4 white onions
4 carrots
4 celery stalks
1 head of garlic
Salt to taste (optional)
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
Aromatics
12 cilantro stems (may substitute with parsley)
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 rosemary stems (optional)
Directions
Start by adding cold water in a 6-quart stockpot. Add your drumsticks with skin on. Bring to a low boil, skim off the foam on the surface and discard.
Roughly chop onions, carrots, garlic, and celery stalks. No need to cut your vegetables perfectly because you will discard these at the end. Add them to the stockpot with your aromatics.
Once you bring it back to a boil, cover the pot partially with a lid and reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove all the cooked drumsticks and carefully remove the meat from the bones. Cover the meat with some of the stock in a separate container. You may use the chicken right away or let it cool and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Put the bones and skin back into the simmering pot with the remaining ingredients. Add salt and vinegar and cook an additional 2 hours on low with a partial lid on.
Strain the stock into a container and discard the bones and the vegetables. You may freeze the stock for future use or store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
