Chicken stock för beginners

Making "real" chicken stock takes hours and requires some prime produce: Fine, whole chickens and an assortment of suitable vegetables for the job. These, in turn, should preferably be roasted in the oven before simmering gently for hours to draw out all the flavors. Then comes filtering and reduction...

A simpler variety

But there is a simpler way for beginners – or for anyone who is in a bit of a hurry. It is a short cut, but it results in stock – or at least broth or bouillon – that is far superior to the dodgy, salty liquid you get out of the cubes you buy at the store.

How to make simple stock:

• Buy a perfectly ordinary pre-grilled chicken in your perfectly ordinary grocery store.

• Remove meat and skin from the hull. Save the meat for some other dish – or for the soup or casserole which you are about to make with the broth from the chicken. Put the skin to one side, since it is probably covered in grill spices.

• Pack the hull in the bottom of a cooking pot and cover with water. Throw in a clove of garlic, half a peeld onion, a small carrot and a stick of cellery – or whatever soup greens you happen to have at home.

• Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes – one hour if you have the time.

• Filter and remove the hull, impurities and the vegetables (but these you can put back in and blend if you want a liquid with more body). Salt to taste.

• Use the stock/broth to boost flavors in casseroles and soups. Not least vegetarian soups (apart from this ingredient, that is...) will benefit enermously from this "fake stock". If you take the time to reduce it to stock you can also bring about some great sauces.