Tastes Like Chicken: Make your Own Stock

I spent today making chicken stock. It took 8 hours, but yielded 11 cups of stock, which I will freeze mostly in 8oz portions. Here is how I do it:

When whole chickens are on sale (I've found them for $.79/lb, but this time it wasn't that good.), I buy 3. On the day I buy them, I cut them up to save the meat. I can cut up a whole chicken pretty quickly, but it is an art (or sorts) and the first time takes a while.

Some tips about chicken day - it helps to make sure that everything is ready to go before I pick up my boning knife so I don't have to wash my hands thirty times to keep from getting chicken goo on everything. I like to have my hair pulled back and I always have a pot of water to put anything I'm not keeping (i.e. skin and organs) into so I can quickly boil it before throwing it away. If I don't boil it, it gets awfully rank in the garage before trash day!

I cut off the wings and freeze them whole - removing the wingtips for the stockpot.
yield = 12 wing pieces about half of what we'd like if we were making hot wings.

Then I remove the wishbone (stick it in the stockpot) and skin the breast. I slice the breast carefully off of the ribcage and line a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment. I place each breast half on the cookie sheet making sure none touch. Then I freeze them overnight. The next day, I toss them all in a zip top bag and can use them as needed without having to chip the apart.
yield = 6 boneless skinless chicken breast - with the tenderloin attached - you could remove the tenderloin and have a ziptop bag of them too for making chicken fingers

Next I dislocate the thighs and cut them away from the body. Sometimes I remove the skin while I'm at it. I package them 2 quarters together and freeze them wrapped in plastic wrap and a top layer of freezer paper.
yield = 3 packs of dark chicken quarters (2 legs, 2 thighs)

P.S. Here are 3 recipes that you can make using a pack of quarters and make enough to feed 3-4 people

Alphabet Chicken Soup
Chicken Curry Pot Pie
Alfredo Chicken Lasagna

With all of these, you'll need to roast or boil the chicken, then remove the meat and chop it up.

Now with all the desirable parts removed, I break the carcass into 3 or so pieces and store them in my biggest pot. Then I stick the pot in the fridge and get started making stock the next day.

I cover the pieces in water and bring it to a rolling boil. The water will foam with a icky grey mass of bubbles, which needs to be scooped off and discarded. Once it's gone, I lower the heat to a low simmer, add a quartered onion, 2 carrots (broken up, nothing fancy, I don't even wash them), 3 celery stalks (same treatment as the carrots), and some whole black peppercorns (2 tbsp or so, I just dump some in my hand). I let it simmer for EIGHT hours - just checking on it throughout the day and adding water when too much evaporates. The amount of water isn't important, what's important is that the bones are totally underwater.

After 8 hours, I let it cool down some before I strain it into a big container and cool it overnight in the fridge so that the fat will all rise to the top and solidify. The next day I peel off the fat and portion the stock (it's jello like now, unless I didn't do it right) into old yogurt and sour cream containers. Then I freeze it and use as needed.

Obviously bouillon is cheap, but I was throwing all these bones away before! Now I get something out of them first and have total control over how much salt goes into my recipes. I do think it tastes better than using cubes.