Making Chicken Stock from Carcass and Wings

Why a butcher's chicken stock is worth the effort

The best stock you will ever make begins with something most people throw away. A roast chicken carcass, stripped of its meat and left with its bones, knuckles and scraps of skin, holds an extraordinary amount of flavour. Add a couple of raw wings and you have enough collagen and gelatine to give the finished stock body — that gentle wobble when it sets in the fridge which tells you it is a proper stock rather than salty brown water. A butcher will often sell wings cheaply by the dozen, and many will bag up carcasses for you if you ask. It costs very little and makes the difference between a decent soup and a memorable one.

What to save, and what to leave out

Keep the frame from any roast or poached chicken. Raw bones give a cleaner, lighter stock, while roasted ones bring a deeper colour and a slightly nutty note. Both work well; just don't mix the two if you want consistency. Alongside the carcass, wings are ideal because they are rich in connective tissue, so they thicken the stock as they simmer.

Leave out a few things, though. Chicken livers and kidneys turn a stock bitter and cloudy, and if your bird was stuffed, discard the stuffing rather than simmering it. Strongly flavoured vegetables also overpower the pot: no cabbage, broccoli or turnip, no potato (it goes gluey), and no thick skins from onions that have been stored a long time. Salt is best added when you cook with the stock, not while it is reducing.

The method: a gentle simmer, never a rolling boil

Put your bones into a stockpot deep enough to hold them comfortably — a 5-litre pan is about right for one carcass and three or four wings. Add cold water to cover by about 5cm, roughly 2 litres for that quantity. Bring it slowly to a bare simmer over a low heat, and as the first bubbles break the surface, skim off the grey foam that rises. This is coagulated protein, and leaving it in gives you a cloudy stock with a slightly muddy taste.

Once skimmed, add your aromatics: 1 large onion, peeled and halved; 2 carrots, roughly chopped; 2 celery sticks with their leaves if you have them; 2 bay leaves; and 6 black peppercorns. Some cooks add a few parsley stalks or a sprig of thyme. Keep the heat low — you want a lazy bubble every second or two, not a boil, which agitates the fat and clouds the liquid.

Simmer uncovered for 2 to 3 hours. Any longer and the stock starts to taste stewed, and the bones can turn it bitter. Top up with a little boiling water if the level drops below the bones.

Straining, cooling and storing

Set a colander over a large bowl, line it with a clean tea towel or a double layer of muslin, and ladle the stock through it. Don't press down on the solids — squeeze them and you release fine particles and fat that cloud the finished stock. Discard the bones and vegetables; they have given all they have.

Cool the stock quickly rather than leaving it on the hob. Sit the bowl in a sink of cold water and stir occasionally, then transfer it to the fridge within 90 minutes. Once completely cold, the fat will have set in a solid layer on top and can be lifted off in one piece. Keep a spoonful of it — chicken fat is superb for roasting potatoes.

• Fridge: 4 to 5 days in a sealed container.
• Freezer: up to 3 months; freeze in 250ml portions so you defrost only what you need.
• Ice cube trays: ideal for the two-tablespoon splashes that lift a sauce.

Putting the stock to work

A light chicken stock is the quiet backbone of a great deal of British cooking. Use it in place of water in leek and potato soup, chicken and barley broth, or a spring minestrone. A risotto made with real stock tastes rounder and less aggressively salty — keep it warm in a separate pan and add it a ladle at a time. For a quick pan sauce, reduce stock with a splash of white wine and finish with a knob of butter.

Simmer 1 litre down to about 150ml and you have a glace de volaille in all but name: sticky, deep and savoury, it keeps for a week in the fridge and a spoonful will rescue almost any gravy. It is worth asking your butcher whether they can put aside a bag of bones for you each week.

Common mistakes and small refinements

Nearly every fault in a homemade stock comes down to impatience.

• Don't boil. A hard boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and you can never fully get it out.
• Don't over-vegetable it. The bones should lead; the vegetables are seasoning, not the main event.
• Don't add salt. Reduction concentrates whatever you put in, and you will season the finished dish anyway.
• Don't stir. Agitation muddies the stock; leave it be.

For a darker, more robust stock, roast raw bones and wings at 200°C for 40 minutes with the onion halves until everything is well browned, then proceed as above. That version suits gravies and braises; the pale, clean version is the one for soups and risottos.