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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Chicken Stock from Scratch into Ice Cube Measurements

We just butchered some chickens and had to eat one. Put it in the smoker and then I had a leftover carcass. I have always just thrown it away because I'm a lazy cooker and anything that requires me watching a boiling pot for over ten minutes is not on my list of fun. But the smoked free-range carcass--I had a hard time throwing away, so I thought I'd look to see if anyone had a crockpot recipe, that I could handle.

I found this one at Nourishing Days. She has no salt in it, I threw some in, but not enough so I'll have to add more salt when I use it, but this was so easy. My crockpot cooks way fast so I only had it on for 16 hours before the smell permeating my whole entire house drove me crazy, but it was done probably before that time. Very easy! I will do this again.

But, how was I going to store it? They said either keep in fridge and take out as needed (I use it so infrequently, I doubted I could use it before it went bad) or freeze it in jars (but when I do use it, I tend to only use 1/2 cup to 1 cup increments.)

So, I decided to measure my ice cube tray. One ice cube filled to the brim was only slightly more than 1/8 cup. Perfect! So 8 cubes equals a cup.


So, I froze the stock in the ice cube trays and stored them in a ziploc bag. I'll pull out just enough for my recipe. I've heard anything calling for water can be replaced with stock to make it more nutritious and I've also heard old chickens make the best stock, so when my layers are ready to be culled I think I'll be making lots of this and using it instead of water.

7 comments:

Lynn Nasir said...

hi!

very good idea, thanks for sharing :)

Anonymous said...

Funny that you post this--I JUST tried the ice cube storage a few days ago! I'm really excited about it, but I have to say I had a really hard time getting the chicken stock cubes out of the ice trays. Did that happen to you?

Melissa Jagears said...

Jaimie: Nope, came out easy. Hmmm.

Donna said...

That was a super great idea! I will have to do that next time. I hate saving the broth in big bags!

PS. Your blog looks fantastic! I love it!

Melissa Jagears said...

Thanks, Donna. I noticed the new blogger templates and decided to play. I think all of my blogs got a makeover. :)

Anonymous said...

I'd never get around to making stock if I had to do it in a pan. It's pretty much the only thing I use my small crockpot/slow cooker for these days but it's definitely worth it.

I like your ice cube idea - while it defeats our not-standing-at-the-stove thing, if you reduce it down to a concentrate, it'll take up less freezer space too.

A Woman that Fears the Lord said...

Great idea about freezing the broth in ice cube trays. I'm currently saving veggie scraps (carrot peelings, ends of onions,etc.) in the freezer until I have a chicken carcass. I will definitely try your idea! I was trying to figure out how to store it since I'm limited on space.