Chicken Stock

One thing that most good cooks know is that a delicious homemade chicken stock is always going to taste better than any store bought stock and can be the magic ingredient/flavor enhancer to many recipes. Since I've been carving up so many chickens for lunches, I am left with a lot of chicken bones. Rather than throw them away, I freeze the carcasses and leg bones until I have 3-4 chickens worth and then make stock.

For any basic chicken stock, you will need chicken bones, onion, carrot, and celery or fennel. I am not very fond of celery. I think it is rather bland, stringy, and never keep it in my kitchen. I have found that fennel bulbs can replace celery in almost every recipe (except maybe Thanksgiving stuffing where I tend to add both). Fennel has a mild licorice flavor that is slightly sweet and just as aromatic as celery, and tends to become even more subtle as it cooks. Don't be afraid. I use the white part of the bulb in most recipes and save fennel tops in the freezer to add to the stockpot when I have enough chicken bones.

So, the vegetables get chopped into quarters and added to a large stockpot with the chicken bones, about a teaspoon of salt, and enough water to just barely cover everything. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a very low simmer. When the stock comes to a boil, a brown scum starts to collect on the surface. I usually skim off most of it, but don't worry about getting it all. Once the stock up to temperature, cover and let it simmer for 3-4 hours. When it is done, the carrots have turned to mush and any meat left on the bones has no flavor left.

I use a large slotted spoon to remove all the bones and bigger pieces of vegetable from the stockpot, then bring to a boil to reduce the volume by about a third to make a more concentrated stock. You will have to taste it to determine if you need to do this. I usually like to use less stock in my recipes and dilute with water if necessary. When you have the volume and strength of stock that you desire, strain the stock through a sieve into clean canning jars and cap tightly. You should have a beautiful golden-brown stock with a little fat floating on top. The fat will harden, protect the stock from spoiling, and can easily be scooped out before using. Let the jars cool on the counter top overnight then refridgerate or freeze until you're ready to use them. If you add the stock to the jars while it is still almost boiling hot, it will sterilize the jars and create a small vacuum as it cools.

Now, in most recipes, I only want a couple tablespoons of stock as liquid (instead of adding water!) so I like to make a couple trays of ice cubes out of a portion of the stock and a couple jars for soups. The Danes have invented these insanely cool ice cube bags that are great for freezing stock. There is a self-sealing valve at the top of the bag that allows you to pour in liquid that won't seep out when you lay the bags on their sides. They're so awesome that I'm planning to bring a couple of them back to the States with me whenever I leave this country.

Oven Roasted Chicken Lunches

If there is one thing that I have learned to deal with here in Denmark, it's how expensive food is compared to California. Eating out can easily cost over $100 for two at one of the less expensive restaurants in town. Lunches are especially expensive. The average price for a hamburger is around 100 kroner (about $18)! It's ridiculous. Even a simple sandwich for lunch lunch at the local cafe runs 65 kroner (about $11). Grocery store options for sack lunches are not much better. Cold cuts for two sandwiches will run you around 35 kroner ($5.50) and will make a pretty wimpy sandwich by American standards. Needless to say, we had to figure out a cheaper way to eat a delicious lunch and luckily for me, my husband loves sandwiches.

Before we moved here, I had experimented a little bit with high-temperature roasting chicken in the oven with great results. Since my husband's favorite sandwich is the chicken club, now is the perfect time to hone my chicken carving skills and prepare some freshly roasted chicken breasts and thighs for lunches. A whole chicken runs about 60 kroner ($10) which is a great deal considering a whole chicken will make lunches for both of us for the entire week. Buying just the breasts is a bit more expensive (just like in the US) so learning how to easily fabricate (the fancy kitchen term for cutting up a raw bird) a chicken is crucial. Luckily youtube has some awesome tutorials. I particularly like these two by Chefs Martin Yan and Jaquecs Pepin.



Now, I am not as fast as either of these chefs, but I can fabricate a chicken in about 15 minutes, which isn't too bad in my book.

So, starting with my whole chicken and a small paring knife, I cut down one side of the sternum between the breasts then slide my knife underneath the breast at the tip and slowly work back up to the neck to remove the tender with the breast in one piece. You will have to cut along the wishbone at the neck to separate the breast entirely. Repeat on the other breast. Then remove the wings cutting into the back to include any medallions that might still be there to get a nice meaty wing. Next, I move on to the leg, cutting along the back to include the oyster like Chef Pepin demonstrates, and cutting down the spine to remove the whole thigh and drumstick together.

When I am done, I am left with two beautiful thick breasts, two legs, two wings, and a carcass for stock. These are great on their own, but for sandwiches, I really want boneless legs to slice. So, I follow Chef Pepin's suggestions and cut along the knuckle of the thigh and drumstick, and scrape along the bone to remove as much meat as possible. His trick with cutting along the bottom of the drumstick, then grasping the bone with a [paper]towel to remove the bones from the meat is an amazingly simple way to remove the bones. Don't worry too much about being neat, once you roast the thighs, the meat sort of sticks back together and nobody will know. You end up with these two perfect boneless legs of dark meat that also work great stuffed with spinach, rice, and swiss cheese as a different take on Chicken Kiev.

Then, with the wings, cut off the little nub sticking out at the "wrist" joint and fold the wing tip over the shoulder joint to create a neat little triangle that is perfect and compact for roasting.

Now I have these wonderful boneless chicken pieces for any meal I want. But, I want to roast them for sandwiches so they go into a small roasting pan with a little seasoning on both sides. For a club sandwich I like to use a little salt, black pepper, cumin, coriander, and chipotle chile. They go into the oven at 250°C or 450°F for 35 minutes and come out moist, perfectly cooked, and with delicious crispy skin. Even if you don't plan to eat the skin, roast the meat with the skin on as a protective layer to prevent drying out.

When done, I let them cool in the roasting pan then slice thin for sandwiches. Each breast or leg will make 2-3 good sandwiches (especially if you add a couple slices of bacon, cheddar cheese, and some lettuce). Yummy!

Of course, my favorite is the wings which make a great accompaniment to a small side salad for my lunches.