Today's entry is a simple recipe, but will likely be among the most frequently cross-referenced blog posts from future cooking adventure entries.  Chicken stock comes in handy in lots of recipes.  Last weekend, for example, I used chicken stock in my chicken pot pie.  This weekend, I think I'll make a risotto, which also incorporates chicken stock.  And once you go homemade, it's hard to go back to store-bought.

Several days ago I blogged about How to Take Apart a Chicken and that's the starting point for today's entry.  So if you haven't read it, but you want to know how I make chicken stock, then give it a quick read.  I usually wait until I have bones from 4 or more chickens in my freezer before I make a batch of stock.  Given my ritual of buying a chicken at the farmers market every week, I can make stock about once a month and it generally meets all of my chicken stock needs.  If you followed my advice in the How to Take Apart a Chicken post about cutting the chicken bone pieces into about 1 inch segments before freezing, then your stock-making project is very easy.  The only ingredients you need are 4-5 lbs. of thawed chicken bones (mainly backs and wings).  The bones from 4 chickens normally weigh in the neighborhood of 4 lbs.  If you have more bones, just increase the other ingredients in rough proportion—and if you have less bones, then decrease the other ingredients in rough proportion.  There's no need to worry about "exactness" in making chicken stock.  If you're in the ballpark, you'll be fine . . . in fact, you'll be better than fine, because the stock you make will be light years ahead of the store-bought variety.

In addition to the chicken bones, you'll need a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1 medium-to-large onion chopped, 2 or 3 bay leaves, a few tablespoons of salt (I use sea salt for just about everything) and about 3 quarts of boiling water.

Begin by sautéing the onion in the vegetable oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot for 2-3 minutes and then transfer the onion to a large mixing bowl.  Add about half of the chicken bones to the pot and cook them on medium-high heat until they're no longer pink, which will take about 5 minutes if the bones were completely thawed before cooking.  Transfer the first batch of bones to the bowl with the onions and add the second half of the chicken bones to the pot, again cooking until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  When this second batch of bones is no longer pink, add the first batch of bones and the onions back into the pot with the second batch of bones.  Cover it, reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 20 minutes, allowing the bones to release their delicious juices.  While the bones are cooking, put about three quarts of water in a separate pot and put it on the stove to boil (you'll be adding this boiling water to the pot with the bones—dramatically reducing the cooking time of your stock by comparison to if you were to start the stock with cold water).

After cooking the bones for about 20 minutes, add the boiling water, bay leaves and salt to the pot-o-bones.  Simmer on low heat for another 20 minutes and you're nearly done.  All that's left to do is strain the stock, chill it, skim the fat and then freeze what you aren't going to use within 48 hrs. or so.  I strain using a two step process.  First, I pour the stock through a standard colander to remove the bones, then I pour the stock through a wire mesh strainer/sieve to remove smaller pieces of stuff.  I then chill the stock in a large mixing bowl in the refrigerator for a few hours to allow the fat to separate and migrate to the top.  You can then skim the fat off the top with a spoon and either toss it or save it for some other recipes that benefit from chicken fat (e.g., chicken soup).  The chilling also has the benefit of turning the stock into a somewhat gelatinous consistency, which makes my storage method easier.  I spoon the gelatinous stock into a 2-cup measuring cup, pour it into a zip lock freezer bag, write the contents and date on the bag with a sharpie, and freeze it.  (Of course you can portion it in any amount that makes sense for you.  Two cup portions work for me.)  Done!

[Sorry, no pics today, but I should be receiving a new camera that I've purchased in the mail today . . . so I'm promising dramatically improved photo quality in the weeks to come.]