The Secret to Perfect Chicken Stock: Restaurant Tips and Tricks

Listen, one of the main reasons restaurants are able to make a great tasting food is because they understand the power of a really good chicken stock. You’re gonna need chicken scraps. I’ve been butchering my own chickens today, so I have some carcasses here, some wings I match. Clocked one so I got a spine. I also found these chicken necks for five bucks. You can also talk to your butcher. Sometimes they’ll give you chicken bones for free. And what I’ll do is lightly oil and salt straight into a 400 degree oven. After an hour of roasting, take all your parts and throw it in a pot. Always, always, always take some boiling water and scrape up all that delicious fond. Get that in the pot, top it all off with water. Another trick I Learned in restaurants to max out your flavors. To sear some onions over super high heat until they’re black like this, and then get them in the chicken stock along with some carrots, peppercorns, thyme and parsley. Celery is not invited. Simmer on low heat for 3 hours and finally strain. I then bag it and freeze it in 1 cup portions because I use it mostly for pan sauces.