Quick Chicken Stock Question

I made stock last night - the usual carcasses, roasted with some tomato paste at 400, then submerged in water with wedged onion, carrot, celery, garlic cloves and boquet garni. I skimmed a time or two, and it simmered for about 7 hours. I cooled it in an icewater sink with two frozen water bottles in the liquid after straining.

Today I go to put the liquid in some cube trays to freeze Julia style except...it's not really liquid. It's like chicken jelly.

I know gelatin is a good thing, but this seems over the top - I had to use a butter knife to skim my ice trays so they would fill evenly.

I'm wondering if my water-to-bones ratio was low - about 1.5 or 2 gallons to a 2 gallon bag of chicken parts. Did I do something wrong? I've made stock 5 or 6 times before but it was never this...gelatinous.

DeathByOrca wrote:I'm wondering if my water-to-bones ratio was low - about 1.5 or 2 gallons to a 2 gallon bag of chicken parts. Did I do something wrong? I've made stock 5 or 6 times before but it was never this...gelatinous.

Sounds to me like you did something right.

I think it happens some times. Warm it up a little and it will un-gel.

I'm with eatchicago: the more gelatin, the better your stock. It will have a better mouthfeel and richer flavor - I do everything I can to get as much gelatin out of the bones as possible. Gelatin comes from the collagen in the bones, and (according to various sources on the 'net, some of which may be suspect) in a long-cooked stock also brings out bone-building minerals like calcium and magnesium.

Especially if I'm doing "soup cubes" as they're known at Chez Hays, I try to reduce my stock to the point that it gels. It does make it a little challenging to get out of the ice cube tray sometimes (there are times when it creates mush instead of a block - this is due to the colloidial properties of gelatin.) I find if you freeze it overnight and then dip the bottom of the ice cube tray in hot water before removal, it works just fine.

Thank you three for the replies- I feel a lot better. My best as always to the twins, EC.

Mhays wrote:I I do everything I can to get as much gelatin out of the bones as possible..

Michelle, does this include roasting the bones first?

Often, I use the bones left from a chicken dinner, so I guess they've been roasted - but my best successes have been simmering a whole chicken with aromatics for most of the day, sometimes in a crock-pot, sometimes in a dutch oven in a 200 degree oven, sometimes on the stove (I haven't had success with the pressure cooker.) When the thin bones start to get bendy, it's done. (I remove the meat after about 20 minutes, but put all the skin, and fat back in with the bones. I find that I get a very rich stock without having to sacrifice the meat) In an emergency once, I did roast some turkey necks and backs and then made a very nice broth from them - I like the flavor of a roasted broth, but I think you get more gelatin from the whole bird, the skin in particular being important.

Most often, though, stock is made from leftovers - I've got a carcass right now that's waiting in the freezer for another chilly, rainy day...

Orca,

Remember carefully what you did, and then do it exactly the same next time!

Typically I reduce 5-7 pounds of meat+bones in 3 gals of water down to two ice-cube trays. As M notes, you have to keep this stuff *hot* to even get it poured into the trays. Put the frozen tray bottoms into hot water, insert a paring knife all along the cube's perimeter, and then pop the cube out. It'll come out clean, and ready for storage in the freezer.

Geo

Whenever I cook chicken on the bone, which I do often ( tonight was jerk chicken on the grill ), I always cook more than I am going to eat. The excess meat is sliced and put into a freezer zip lock for future lunches.

However, I throw away the bones. I have always assumed that cooked bones have little flavor value left to add to a stock.

As I think about it though, many people recommend taking the turkey carcass and using it to make stock. So, is there any value to taking my cooked chicken bones and freezing them and when I have a large amount using them to make stock?

YES!

I pretty much only buy whole birds and fill a ziplok bag when I breakdown the bird, neck, back, wing tips and some time the wings too. These are all saved for stock.

Any cooked chicken bones that do not make it onto a plate are also saved. Typically, I make a mixed stock of cooked and uncooked bird parts. Since all the parts are frozen I do not thaw and roast the uncooked parts, they just go into the pressure cooker with the roasted bits.

The only recent changes are that I've got a BGE and smoke chickens pretty often and the extra bits off the smoked birds get their OWN stock as I do not wish to have mildly smoky stock for general use.

lougord99 wrote:As I think about it though, many people recommend taking the turkey carcass and using it to make stock. So, is there any value to taking my cooked chicken bones and freezing them and when I have a large amount using them to make stock?

Yes, definitely. My freezer is full of ziplock bags of stuff that will eventually be used for stock: cooked chicken bones, raw chicken necks and backs, the tops of leeks, fibrous parts of fennel, etc.

So, is there any value to taking my cooked chicken bones and freezing them and when I have a large amount using them to make stock?

This is what I do. Cooked bones have plenty left to give. Just save up until you have a critical mass and then have a stock-making day.

Your results are good, there no such thing as a stock that's too gelatinous. I would also chop the thicker leg and thigh bones in half with a cleaver. This seems to aid in gelatin extraction (But don't do this if you want a clear stock. I seldom care about clarity though). Also, I was taught to add a dash of vinegar right at the beginning, which supposedly helps leach nutrients out of the bone. I don't know if that's actually true, but what's undeniable is that the slight sourness of the vinegar works as a flavor enhancer for all the other ingredients.

I use grape pruners to chop chicken and turkey bones. Opening up the bones--and especially the end caps--does indeed release more gelatin during cooking.

Geo

Hi,

A second run is another way to extract more gelatin. This only takes a few minutes and doubles your output of stock.

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Transfer the liquid to a second stockpot, with a strainer, in your sink.
(This takes on minute if you use a cooling rack to hold the bones; then tip the pot into the second pot)
Add cold water to cover the bones.
Bring to a simmer and continue.

T