Chicken Stock - The Basics

Stock (beef, chicken, fish) is a flavored water preparation which forms the basis of many dishes, and in this case...I am making the base for chicken soup. When I make any stock at home I don't just make it on the spur of the moment. I plan for it for days or even weeks ahead of it. Every time I cook I save any vegetable or chicken parts. I don't save chicken liver, heart, and gizzards and I do throw them out. I do save the wings, back, and neck. I freeze them and take them out a few hours prior to using them.

This time, though, I didn't have any saved chicken parts and I went to our favorite supermarket, Adams Fairacre Farms, in Newburgh, NY and I bought two packages of chicken parts.

I have a plastic bag that I save the vegetable parts that I will use in my stock. For example, the top part of the leeks is a perfect example. Please think before throwing a piece of food in the garbage.

We do go to the supermarket twice a week and I always pay attention to the area in the vegetable section because they have an rack where they drastically reduce vegetables to get rid of them. So, I go there and grab whatever I can use, but always I have to use these vegetables the same day or the next.

Here are the ingredients:

• two table spoons of olive oil
• two medium onions
• tops from two leeks
• 3-4 carrots
• one pepper
• one zucchini
• parley
• three bay leaves

I also add:

• fresh ground pepper

The list is separated in two parts because after the first full boil you should skim the top of the pot and if you do that you will remove most of the pepper. For this reason I add the pepper after I skim the top.

Planning time!

Today I met with my son, and he told me that he wants to eat Boston pork butt. As soon as I heard that I literally froze for a short period of time because I knew I had a challenge at hand. He wants to come this Saturday for lunch and today is Tuesday. OMG!!!!!! WHAT AM I GONNA DO?????? I NEED MORE TIME! Shiver my timbers! So much to plan, buy and prepare. My reputation as a grill master is jeopardized.

My wife and I went to our favorite supermarket, Adams Fairacre Farms, because I wanted to see the size of their Boston pork butts. Here is some history that explains the strange name, courtesy of Wikipedia.

Some pork cuts were packed into barrels (also known as "butts") for storage and shipment. In the Boston area the way the hog shoulder was cut became known in other regions as "Boston butt".

The pork butt was about 6.5 lbs but it looked rather large to me. I have seen pork buts the size of New Jersey but 6.5 lbs seem very large to me.