Chicken Bone Broth (On Stove Top)
The homemade chicken bone broth is the key to many soups and sauces in Vietnamese cuisine. Take the phở broth as example! It is made using chicken and beef bones as base.
Chicken Bone Broth (On Stove Top)
The homemade chicken bone broth is the key to many soups and sauces in Vietnamese cuisine. Take the phở broth as example! It is made using chicken and beef bones as base.
Chicken bone broth tastes sweet, and this is not something you can obtain using solely grocery-bought stock powders, cubes or liquids. Additionally, it is SO EASY and cheap to make…it just takes a bit of time. The good thing is that you don’t need to constantly keep an eye on it while it simmers!
3 Mistakes to Avoid:
1) Using meat carcasses with few bones!
I’m mentioning this as it has happened to me. We asked a butcher for chicken bones in order to make a broth, and that’s what he gave us. The result? The broth tasted like…hot chicken gravy sauce and was EXTREMELY FATTY (because of the chicken meat). You should be able to find chicken bones at Asian markets. At least, make sure they have as little meat as possible.
2) Not getting rid of the scum and fat
Skimming off the scum and the fat will help you get a healthier and tastier liquid. The result should be a clear broth. Don’t skip this step! You could use a slice of bread and run it over the hot broth: the fat will easily get absorbed by the bread (I learned that from one of Gordon Ramsay’s videos). Additionally, you could remove more fat after refrigerating or freezing the broth. In fact, the fat will condense on top and will be easy to remove from the rest.
3) Not leaving your broth simmer long enough
You want to get the sweet juice out of the bones as much as possible (yes, the bone makes sweet juice, that’s where most of the taste comes from!). For this, you will need to let the broth simmer for at least 12 hours. The trick to know when your chicken bone broth is ready is to check if the bones start to fall apart. In fact, when the bone starts to fall apart, it indicates that you’ve extracted much of the bones. You can squeeze one in between your fingers to verify how soft they are.
How much chicken bones should you use? I usually add enough bones so that it fills most of the pot. While making bone broth can take time, you can just make a big batch and simply freeze what you are not using! It should last a few months when kept in an air-tight container. I personally always need chicken bone broth for my recipes. For example, I use a chicken bone broth to make the sauce for the Crispy Noodles with Chicken and Seafood. I also use it to make my healthier version of poutine sauce, for which you can find the recipe here! =p It may sound strange to be using the phở base for a poutine sauce but, trust me, it does magic for so many dishes.
Chicken Bone Broth (On Stove Top)
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Ingredients
- Chicken Bones quantity as needed
- Vinegar
- Salt
Instructions
Step 1: Clean Bones and Rid the Scum
- In a large stock pot, entirely cover the bones with water and add a bit of vinegar and salt.
- Bring the water to boil over high heat.
- When the water starts boiling, throw away the water and fill the pot with new water.
- Boil the new water over high heat a second time.
- When the water starts boiling, remove the scum that float at the top using a ladle.
Step 2: Let the Broth Simmer
- Reduce the heat to medium-low when you see that you’ve removed most of the scum and let it slightly simmer for 1 hour with the lid on.
- After 1 hour, reduce the heat to the minimum and let it simmer with the lid on, but not completely, for at least 12 hours, and up to 24 hours. The longer you let it simmer, the better the broth will taste. Add more water when necessary so that the bones are always fully submerged.
- Your broth is ready when the bone starts to fall apart as it indicates that you’ve extracted much out of them. You can squeeze one with your fingers to check how soft they are.
Step 3: Strain the Broth
- Strain the broth over a fine mesh strainer. The result should be a translucent liquid. If you obtain an opaque broth, it may be that there was too much meat in your broth or that you didn’t clean it enough during step 1.