Chicken Stock

Nothing beats home made chicken stock for soups and risottos. Some people are scared off from making their own stock, thinking that it's either too hard or too time consuming. Well, it's not hard (in fact it's bloody easy) but it is time consuming - a good stock needs to simmer for several hours to develop a good flavour. Luckily the time involved requires bugger all effort on your part - unless you really want to watch a pot boil!

4 chicken carcasses
2 carrots , roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
6 black peppercorns
2 onions, peeled and halved
5 - 6 Litres water
salt, to taste

Place all the ingredients in a large stockpot, except for the salt, and cover with the water. Bring to the boil, skimming off any gunk that forms on the surface. Turn the heat down to very low and simmer for approximately 5 hours to concentrate the flavour of the stock. Taste the stock while it's hot, and add salt to taste (this could end up being quite a bit of salt - don't panic!).

Strain the stock and place in the fridge overnight. This solidifies the fat on the surface of the stock, making it easy to remove. The next morning, skim off the fat and pour the stock into containers and freeze. I like to use 1 litre milk cartons to store the stock in the freezer for use in soups, risottos, etc. and little plastic bags to store half cup quantities for all those times when you need just a little stock.