Taking Stock
It’s true. It’s soup time.
When cubicle dwellers are roaming around, spreading cubicle ick by showing up to work and hacking and sniffling their way through meetings, you will inevitably come down with something.
Your best bet is to take some time off, take it easy, and sip some warm chicken stock.
Heat chicken stock in the microwave (pshaw) or on the stove top. Homemade chicken stock should be boiled for 2 minutes to ensure against any little microbial critters.
Pour your chicken stock into a coffee mug, and add a squeeze of lime juice.
Cures what ails you.
But how do you make chicken stock? Glad you asked.
The next time you buy a whole chicken and cut it up for parts (saves much $$) keep the carcass for stock (the ribs, back, bones, etc)
You’ll need a big pot, preferably a taller, thinner pot. A skinny tall pot circulates heat better and less water will evaporate due to the smaller surface area.
(Vegetables don’t need to be diced, as they’ll just be strained out later.)
Place the chicken bits on top of the vegetables, and add just enough cold water to cover.
Add a few generous pinches of salt, a few whole black pepper corns, and a couple of bay leaves.
Ideally, you don’t want all this homey goodness floating to the top, as that will slow the stock production. So flip a metal colander upside down and slide into the pot. This will keep the goodies weighted down, and submerged while cooking.
Bring this to a boil, then lower the temperature until the pot comes to a steady simmer.
Let this simmer for about 4 hours, or until the chicken bones snap easily (and don’t bend).
Carefully strain out all the bits and pieces, then chill over night in the refrigerator. On the next day, spoon out the congealed fat and discard.
The stock should be somewhat thick in consistency, but not gloopy.
Spoon stock into freezer bags or small plastic containers (about two cups per bag works nicely) and freeze for emergency use later.