Keeping cooking simple is always my objective in the kitchen. Which means I’m not above using store-bought stock in recipes
and for soups. But I always taste the difference between boxed stock and a homemade one. Plain and simple, there’s just more flavor, comfort and love in a homemade stock. For the longest time, I used Alice Waters’ stock recipe, which is easy enough, until I read Ruhlman’s Twenty. I admit that I have a culinary crush on Michael Ruhlman, but why shouldn’t I? He’s insightful, humorous, and inquisitive in his food writing, and thorough, simple, and concise in his cookbooks; that’s hot. And even hotter is his recipe for “Easy Chicken Stock” in which he cooks his stock in the oven overnight—so easy it’s dreamy, literally. When I first tried it, I flipped out. The color of the stock was so much darker and richer than letting it simmer on a back burner for a couple of hours. And the flavor was so comforting I considered playing hooky from teaching for the week and pretending I was sick, just so I could snuggle on the couch in one of my Grandma Rita’s afghans and sip Ruhlman’s stock while watching a Law and Order marathon. When I used Ruhlman’s stock in Nigel Slater’s Sunchoke Soup with Ginger and Walnuts, it was unadulterated ecstasy. Seriously, double this recipe and freeze it in BPA-free plastic containers or freezer-safe plastic bags, which freeze flat to save space.
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Homemade Chicken Stock
(adapted from Michael Ruhlman)
Ingredients
1 roasted chicken carcass (whole)
1 large onion
2 carrots
1 celery rib
1 garlic bulb, halved
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Preparation
Put chicken carcass in a 3-quart ovenproof dutch oven and add water to cover, about 6 cups. Uncovered, put the pan in an oven preheated to 200 degrees and cook at least 4 hours or overnight. Add the remaining ingredients, put pan on stove top, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour longer. Strain the stock through cheesecloth. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze up to 3 months.
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On Learning to Butcher a ChickenBy Sarah Lenz
I was five the first time I saw my mother kill a chicken. She pinched its head between her fingers like a vice grip and stretched its neck back. The thin curve of the blade she held glinted in the August sun. Dull, black flies buzzed. With a deft stroke, she slit its neck. As soon as she let the chicken go, it squawked, throaty and desperate, wings flapping—a bundle of white feathers and fading neurological impulses—until finally it was still. The death didn’t bothered me as much as the mess. My mother was covered in splatters of blood, even her white tennis-shoe laces were crusted with rust-brown blood. It was my job to pluck the chickens after they were scalded in a cauldron. I sat in a lawn chair with the sopping wet chicken across my lap. I pulled a fistful of feathers off, making a ripping sound like releasing Velcro. The feathers smelled like wet-dog and stuck to my bare legs. I also cleaned the gizzards, pulling the yellow membrane—full of gravel and cracked corn—out of that purplish-red digestive organ. Sometimes, I’d find strange things the chicken had eaten, a small scrap of blue plastic, or a tiny metal washer, round and shiny as a gift.
Bearing witness to this death taught me to respect food and to clean my plate. Wasting food was a sin in my family. With reverence, great-grandmother collected the chickens’ feet, peeled the skin and toenails off in one piece, then boiled them to make her special chicken claw soup. This is why, even now, whenever I roast a chicken I make sure to use every scrap even down to the bones.
Garlicky Lemon-Rosemary Chicken
The secret to this recipe is shoving a boiling-hot lemon into the chicken carcass right before it goes into the oven. Not only does this keep the meat incredibly moist and juicy, but it also helps the chicken cook quicker and more evenly.
Ingredients
1 lemon
¼ cup butter, at room temperature
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
A 4 to 5 lbs whole chicken
Olive oil
Preparation
Rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Zest lemon with a mircoplane, and place the de-zested lemon in small saucepan of water and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, mix lemon zest, butter, garlic rosemary, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Gently loosen the chicken skin, sliding fingers under the skin, around the breast, thighs, and legs. Using a small spoon and your fingers, slide the butter-herb mixture under the skin, smoothing evenly.
Remove lemon from boiling water. Let cool for a couple of minutes.
Rub olive oil over outside of chicken.
Slice the slightly-cooled lemon, carefully avoiding the spurting, hot juice, and stuff chicken cavity with the hot lemon.
Truss the chicken, if desired.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 1 hour, or until an instant read thermometer reads 170 degrees in thickest part of thigh.