Homemade chicken stock

One of the ingredients for the upcoming carnival squash risotto with Argentinian pink shrimp (I have a reason for changing plans, promise!) is stock which I don't have any at hand. Fortunately, I still have more celery in the fridge, and organic carrots were surprisingly cheap at Fresh Thyme. Moreover, Costco rotisserie chicken still stands the test of time against inflation at $4.99 each.

Store-bought stock (with no salt) is fine, but homemade stock is easy and amazing and makes my dog look at me with unmet expectations.

Here's my general understanding of bone stock.

• The larger the bones, the longer it takes to simmer. Chicken stock is probably 3-12 hours. Roast the bones and vegetables if you're looking for brown stock. If you do roast, deglaze the fond (brown sticky bits) in your roasting pan with boiling water and add that too.
• Onion, carrot, celery in 2-1-1 ratio. Maybe some thyme, bay leaf, garlic.
• Simmer and skim the scum if you want a clear broth. Vigorous boil if you're looking for something milky (still skim the scum which makes the broth brownish/grayish.).
• Add any vegetable scraps (stalk, peel, skin, root, tip of most things) you have in the freezer. If you don't, start saving them today!
• Hold the salt. Stock goes in different recipes which may or may not involve reducing the stock. Adding salt now makes life harder.
• Without salt, the stock doesn't keep very long even in the fridge, so we really need to minimize the time window for bacteria growth. Cool the stock as fast as possible after it's made.

Ingredients:

• Bones from one chicken
• 1 large onion (or two if yours are smaller like mine), roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
• 2-3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-3 cloves of garlic

Instructions:

1. Toss all the ingredients in a pot and add enough cold water to cover the bones and vegetables.
2. Bring to simmer (not rolling boil) over medium heat, then reduce to low and skim off as much scum as you can. Simmer for at least 3-6 hours, up to 12 hours for maximum extraction of all the goodness in the pot. Add more water as needed to keep the water level even.
3. Strain through fine sieve.
4. Cool bowl of stock in a larger bowl of ice water before transferring to smaller container. 
5. The stock keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days, so freeze what you don't plan to use in the next few days!