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The easiest way to do stock is in a slow cooker. I just throw the carcass along with any uneaten shreds of dark meat into the crock pot with an onion and a couple of cloves of smashed garlic and any other veggies that might be left over from dinner. Let it cook overnight and drain in the morning and save in ziplocks. It's really easy, and I don't have room in my fridge to store old carcasses anyway.

I'm pretty unscientific with my stock. Every time I eat chicken, I throw the carcass in with a pot, barely cover it with water, and clip some herbs from my herb garden -- whatever I have handy -- and boil it until it reduces. Then I just freeze it in small containers. Super handy. I think you get it done more often when you don't make too big a production of it.

I make homemade chicken stock about once a month in large quantities. I buy necks, backs, and feet, plus add whatever carcasses I have saved up in the freezer - add parsnip, carrot, onion, parsley, and bay leaves - and cook slowly for about 4 hours. Cool, skim off fat the next day, and freeze in a variety of portions ranging from 1 cup to one quart. It's super easy, very cheap, makes the house smell great, and makes all my soups, stews, risottos and the like taste awesome. My big tip is to buy a few feet - they add lots of flavor and body!

Why on earth would you wait all day for stock? Cooks Illustrated has an amazing recipe that makes delicious stock in 40 minutes. Basically, they have you cook the chicken parts over low heat for 20 minutes to extract the juices before adding the water. It's divine and it can be done while you're cooking dinner one night with no fuss.

I make my stock in the slow cooker as well-- super easy and can cook for a long time or a shorter time-- and I just throw in an onion, old carrots, whatever I have. Then freeze it!

I cook whole chickens in the crock pot, so I just dump several cups of water in along with the salt, pepper, onion, lemon and whatever else I decide to add. After I'm done de-boning the chicken I just drain the liquid off into a container and freeze until needed.

I don't usually make meat stock as we're not big meat eaters. But if we're having shrimp, I throw the shells in a tupperware; and when I'm prepping veggies and herbs, I throw all of the scraps into another big tupperware. About once a month, while we're watching a movie on the weekend or not so busy, I throw whatever is in the freezer into a pot with water, peppercorns, and other aromatics, and simmer it for a few hours. I never made stock homemade until I started this "freeze the scraps" method.

Easy: poach a chicken. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo says, in his incredible Heirloom Beans cookbook, "when in doubt, poach a chicken."

Get a nice fryer chicken. Put it in a big pot. Cover it with water. Throw in a thinly sliced small onion, a bay leaf, some aromatics from the garden, some peppercorns, a few cloves of garlic (smushed). Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce the heat to a gentle, gentle simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let it hang out in the hot juices for 1 hr. Remove the chicken. Wait 20 minutes, strain the broth and save (WOHOO!!!), and then shred or cut up the chicken.

You get both a) AWESOME broth (I got about 10 C from a 4l lb chicken) and b) AWESOME juicy chicken to use in literally everything. Salads, tacos, stir fries, curries--whatever.

It's a 2-fer. Can't go wrong.

What keeps me from making chicken stock more often? Having to clean up big, greasy pots - stock pot, strainer, and the baking dish I use to roast the chicken parts before simmering them (necks, backs, wings etc) - and deal with the bones and whatnot afterwards.

I will occasionally make stock if I really, really want chicken soup, but mostly I look for recipes that don't rely on stock for their flavour. If I have an otherwise perfectly good recipe that already has lots of flavourful ingredients, but calls for a little stock, I just use water.

I recently discovered 3 chicken carcasses for $1 at the local Asian supermarket!!! So I made up a video on making really cheap and extremely yummy stock out of it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcqCJmEzcMs

I've done lots of stock over the years, and I agree completely that something just is not home made unless the stock you use is home made. It is the essential essence! I find that starting with raw chicken makes FAR better stock than boiling down the carcass leftover from a Thanksgiving turkey, for example.

I love homemade stock, but I'm not really a fan of roast chicken so I never really have the bones to make it with

p.s. pressure cooker == really fast way to make stock!

Love the slow cooker tip! Here's my stock routine:
http://sustainablediet.blogspot.com/2009/03/stocking-up-on-stock.html

I make chicken stock at least twice a month... sometimes in a slow cooker, but usually in my pressure cooker. I save carcasses from roasted chicken and veg scraps (onions, carrots, celery, etc) in the freezer. I don't have an exact recipe to follow, but to the chicken/veg I add a couple bay leaves and black peppercorns, and let it go. I store the stock in the freezer, in 2-cup portions, and it's always there when I need it. Nothing beats homemade!

I was intimidated by the idea of making my own stock. So I initiated myself by making the easiest type of stock: dashi.

Because dashi uses dry ingredients, prep work is minimal and it doesn't require you to simmer. Once the water comes to a boil, you turn the heat off, wait, and strain.

You can use this as a foundation for all kinds of dishes like miso soup, udon broth, hot pot, etc.

If you're interested, more about it at Humble Bean.

@annelynsey, I'm going to have to try that! I can't seem to roast a chicken to save my life so maybe poaching will be a good way to go.

I make stock because I have a couple of recipes that draw most of their flavor from it. I brown up an onion, some celery and carrots in a big pot, drop the carcass in and cover it all with water. I let it simmer while I'm doing other things, like dishes, playing video games, whatever. Once it's done, I pour it through a strainer covered with a clean dishtowel and then dump the strained broth into ice cube trays (they're about 1/8 C per cube) freeze it and I'm good to go for about a month.

My stock always ends up tasting less salty than I want it to...what am I doing wrong? Should I just add more salt or do I maybe need to reduce it down further?

When you guys make stock from a single chicken, how much do you usually end up with?

I looove vegetable soup, so I make my own veggie stock. Whenever I use vegetables for a meal (onions, garlic, celery, carrots, etc) I put the scraps (skins, ends, etc.) in a container and throw them in the freezer. Everytime I use something, I just add it until I have enough for stock. Then I boil it all, I may add more garlic and herbs, depending on what I had already. It's really easy and super super economical! Since you aren't spending any extra money and you aren't throwing out tons of scraps.

I'm a veg, so we make veg stock pretty regularly this time of year. I also do what taraht does. It works great. I freeze the stock in muffin tins, pop them out, and store them in resealable bags. Each muffin cup is about 1/4 cup.

I make my stock in the pressure cooker. Fast and easy! If I don't have carcasses on hand, I can almost always get chicken backs and necks really cheap at our local asian supermarket. I don't measure, just toss in the bones, 1-2 onions, a couple of celery stalks and a carrot or two, cover with water and cook under pressure for 30 minutes. It makes a great full-flavoured stock that is perfectly clear. I just dump thru a colander to strain out the solids.

@clampers

I can get as much as half a gallon of stock from a chicken, but that takes all day (I keep it at a low simmer and add water or white wine to the stockpot intermittently, so by the end of the day, the stockpot is still nearly full). I just prep everything Saturday afternoon and let it simmer away on the stove all day Sunday.

As for saltiness, the lack of saltiness in homemade stock is really one of the biggest advantages. You can always salt it later, when you're actually using it: but when you make it unsalted or with just a little salt, you can use it in more versatile ways (like reducing it to near-syrup) and then salt to taste.

@Bobolink: I'm with you, I hate washing all the stuff. (Silly, I know, but there it is.) I also generally avoid recipes that call for large amounts of stock, and just use white wine or water with a little Better'n'Bouillon (*slight shame*) mixed in. If I really need stock, I often buy Kitchen Basics brand (the ones in the brightly colored boxes). True, it doesn't taste nearly as good as homemade, but I've got enough going on that planning for regular stock-making is just not in the works. I wouldn't have it any other way, but between making my own yogurt and energy bars, bread six days a week, packing my lunch, and making dinner nearly every day, I figure I'm allowed some slack!

http://www.abreadaday.com

i don't think i've ever simmered a stock for more than an hour or two - the two is on the long side even. we, admittedly, make veg stocks only. saute our veggies for a bit and then simmer with water and a handful of fresh herbs.

After roasting the chicken, I eat the wings first (while hot) and let the rest of the chicken cool. The other various large parts are pulled off and refrigerated for lunches (drumsticks) or frozen for other meals (breasts).

The carcass goes into the stock pot, which goes into the fridge.

When the weekend rolls around and I do my two-hour tidy on the house, instead of starting with throwing a load of laundry in, I fill the stock pot with water, toss in my veggie bits from the freezer, add anything dying in the fridge (or close to) and a handful of herb leaves from my herb pot (from whatever needs a 'trim').

The stock pot goes onto the stove after filling with water, and the burner goes on. THEN, I throw in a load of laundry and tidy the house. Since the chicken was already in the stock pot and my veggie clippings were already ... er... clipped, it's basically an 'add water and voila' chore.

By the time my chores are through and I eat lunch and read the paper, the stock's done. I turn off the burner and let it cool to a more managable level, then strain, toss back into the fridge to separate, and then, as dinner's cooking, I separate it into smaller portions for use. If I only have a partial-portion (less than a pint), I freeze it in ice cube trays to toss into stir fries and such.

I have a weird thing with chicken... I prefer to handle it as little as possible and rarely cook with it. I do roast a chicken every once in a while, but cleaning up after it is just awful. And then making a stock just draws the whole thing out, and I'd rather get it over with as soon as possible.

annelynsey's tip about poaching the chicken sounds interesting though. I think I might give it a try, even though the idea of plopping a raw chicken in water totally freaks me out.

I love homemade veggie stock! and feel so good being able to use my veggie scraps to do so. Store bought just tastes wrong now that I've been making homemade.

http://veganyumyum.com/2008/10/homemade-vegetable-broth/

I need to figure out how to manage my freezer better so I can store it.

I actually have a chicken carcass in the slow cooker right now. I keep a bag for veggie scraps in the freezer and after I've roasted a chicken (this one I roasted on the grill - no pan to clean!) I throw the carcass in the slow cooker with whatever veggie scraps I have waiting and ready to go - it cooks while I sleep. In the morning I strain the stock and put it in the fridge for a few hours, then skim off the fat. I usually store it in 2 c. quantities. I love the frugal, sustainable feeling of using every bit of my food.

1) use your slow cooker, if you have one.

2) you don't have to follow stock recipes exactly-just use whatever leftover veggies hanging around, this lowers the cost/effort

3) whenever you have carrot tops or whatever leftover veg from cooking, chuck it into a bag/box in the freezer (I use an empty icecream tub)-then when you have a chicken carcass you can decant the contents of this box into the pot for extra flavour-then you're really being thrifty!

When ever I cook a whole chicken I make the stock that night after carving the pieces off. I throw the carcass and neck in the pot with water, veggies and whatever herbs we feel like. by the time I head to bed I throw it in the fridge. The next day I skim off the fat and then my favorite tip I freeze it in my cupcake pan which gives me 1/2 cup size portions. I love being able to throw those in to recipes and I feel some pride that it is my own creation.

Alright, you've convinced me. I'm going to start freezing my carcasses again. Viva la stock!

I found this article to offer some very basic, yet helpful methods:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/31/FD0JSAGEJ.DTL

I do it all the time. Usually I throw the carcass in the freezer along with the neck and heart and wait until I have two or three chickens, then pack them all done in the crockpot and let it cook, either all day or overnight. Oh, I throw other odds and ends in the bags as well - parsley stems, half an onion that would otherwise shrivel in the fridge, the leafy center from a bunch of celery. I usually freeze in small tupperware or freezer bags, but I am always happy with myself when I think to do some in ice cube trays.

I used to very careful to keep my chicken and meat stocks separate. Now, I generally have chicken stock on hand, but I'll run out of beef stock, and I only get enough bones to make up a decent beef stock when I get in a side of beef. I've started throwing the occasional chicken carcass in with odd meat bones to make an all-purpose meat stock that has a lot of flavor.

We called the stock pot in the professional kitchen I worked in the "landfill." Everyone contributed to it in the morning and as we were the lunch shift, it got stained and put in the walkin at 3 p.m. in large tubs, set in ice to cool quickly. Evening crew stirred it and replaced ice and covered it when they left.

Next morning, fresh stock for the daily soup and sauces. Worked then, works now. I still smile as a remember Bruce calling out "landfill closed" at about 10 a.m.

I used to love to make stock from scratch. These busy days, it's the frame from a rotisserie chicken (thanks, Costco!) and some herbs that get a gentle simmer for 1-4 hours. There's something calming about dismantling a warm chicken from the stockpot, and the dogs _love_ me. (They benefit from the softened cartilage bits.)

On days when I feel achy, a cup of bone broth makes me feel better, body and soul.

I just toss my carcass in the crock pot, w/ some scraps of vegetables I'd cooked previously. Whenever I get home from school/work, I strain it at that point and usually simmer or boil it to reduce it before storing.

Chicken stock for me starts out with a whole uncooked chicken. If I can get my hands on a head or two and a few feet (and I usually can) I put those into the pot, too.

I cook meat starting at room temperature, so I let the chicken sit in the pot until it warms up. I pour about a cup of raw apple cider vinegar (or a red wine vinegar or red wine) and lots of water to cover it whilst it sits. I commit the ultimate cooking sin (I think) by only cooking the meat--I don't add vegetables or aromatics or salt to it. Also, I let the stock simmer (on a very, very low flame), on the stove, for a very long time--always more than eight hours, and up to twelve! I allow the chicken to simmer on this very low flame with a cover on the pot. I never lose water this way, and I never have to add anymore during the slow, slow, slow simmer.

When it is done, there is nothing but chicken flavour in the pot. Yum.

I let it cool down, then pull out the chicken; pour the liquid through a sieve to catch any meat and bones that were missed. The chicken is delicious: I use it in other things, like pot pies. I put the strained liquid in the refrigerator, so that the fat will rise to the top and get hard, and I just skim that fat off. I keep the fat, use it to cook other things in such as eggs, onions, etc.

The defatted chicken stock is put into containers and goes into the freezer for later use.

When it comes to beef...well, I shall stop here, but I will let you know that I cook beef stock for twelve hours minimum.

The last time I made stock I ended up with a big gelatinous mess. Anybody know what I did wrong?