Nicole's Chicken Broth Recipe

We had our first light frost last week and tonight a hard freeze is forecast. The weather has finally turned cold more or less (despite yesterday’s temps in the 70’s!) and I’ve also been a little under the weather. It’s time to break out those pints of chicken broth in the freezer. If you have never made homemade broth, it’s nothing like the store bought stuff. For one thing, it’s not so salty. For a second thing, it’s much better and much better for you.
All you have to do is fill a big pot about 2/3 with water and turn on the heat. Add bits and pieces of chicken bones, skin, leftovers and any parts you won’t eat. (You’ve been saving those in a bag in the freezer, right?) Necks and feet make great brother. If the chicken parts weren’t already seasoned, add about 1 tsp of salt to the water. Simmer, covered, on the back of the stove for about a day or at least through the afternoon, adding water as needed. Strain, let cool, and then skim off the fat. You should have a gelatinous glob after it’s cooled. This is exactly what you want: to extract the nutritious gelatin from the bones and other nutrients from the rest of the carcass. Don’t worry, it liquefies when you heat it up.
I prefer to store the broth unseasoned, so I can use it as a soup starter. Then I season to the appropriate dish. If drinking it straight, I sometimes steep a spring of fresh herbs in it or some garlic or just add some fresh black pepper. If you prefer to season it while cooking, go ahead, that will work, too. Or if you have bits and bones of beef, make beef broth. You can also save the ends of carrots and other vegetable parts for a nice vegetable broth, but the vegetable broth won’t thicken.
Chicken soup really IS good medicine, as any good grandmother or medical scientist will tell you. It’s an anti-inflammatory and thins mucus, improving breathing and often soothing sore throats. (Other common ingredients of chicken soup besides the chicken are also helpful and may work better in conjunction with each other, but the chicken extract alone is beneficial by itself.)
When I feel a little less like the flu coming on, it’ll be time to fire up that first pot of chili for the season. Yum!