Recipes | Chicken Broth…the.definitive.

I know, it sounds weird…and pompous…”the.definitive”.  PULLL-EEASE. It’s chicken broth, for God’s sake, not world peace.  But, it’s the words that I have written in my book that I consider the “recipe gospel, according to Kim”.  Recipes that I have tried, and tried, and tweaked, and tweaked, and FINALLY per-fec-ted, at least where *I* am concerned.  So, here it is, according to ME:

CHICKEN BROTH:  THE. DEFINITIVE.

Assumption #1:  You have started with my amazing Poached Chicken To Die For Recipe…

Assumption #2: You have put back all of your bones/carcass/badass into the pot of water that you started with.

If neither of these assumptions are true, then just throw a carcass in with a bunch of water, some Better Than Boullion, some peppercorns, an onion and some garlic, and call it a day!

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If the assumptions are true then…

We’re back to our huge pot full of water sans chicken meat, right?  Well, throw those leftover bones, skin, cartilage, etc. back into that water and bring it all to a nice boil.

Throw in a splash of vinegar, doesn’t really matter which kind, although I use Bragg’s Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, this helps leach all the chicken’s SOUL and other good stuff into your broth.  

1 Tbsp. “Better Than Boullion” chicken base (optional, but does add a good flavor).  Whatever you do, please don’t be sacrilegious and add a bouillon cube to this.  It will KILL THE CHICKEN’S SOUL, I swear it.  

UPDATED:  I no longer use this product because of this post.  It may be a knee jerk reaction, and GOD KNOWS we get plenty of other CRAP in our diets, but the final taste didn’t suffer AT ALL, so I say “WHATEVER” to Better Than Boullion.  

Salt mixture:  My “go-to” mixture is 1 tbsp. Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt, 1 tbsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, and 1tbsp. celery salt.  But, I have done all, none, and combinations of all three.  Basically, if it tastes like dishwater after cooking for a million hours, it just needs SOME KIND OF SALT.  Please don’t refer me to your cardiologist.  It STILL has less sodium than the crap in the can or the cube.  Also, a note from experience.  You can ALWAYS add more, but can’t take away, so, depending on how much water/broth you have here, you should adjust accordingly.  I use a SHITLOAD of water, and this amount of salt.  Granted, I usually add more when using the broth for cooking, but this is a good start for me.

I bring this magical mixture to a boil, and then simmer for as long as I can stand it.  I leave a lid halfway on the pot, just because I was told that’s how Good Jewish Mothers do it, and I cannot argue with them.  Your broth will cook down a bit, but still leave you with lots to use or store.  After several hours (no LESS than 3-4?), I take the broth off the heat, strain out the chicken and put the pot of broth into the fridge overnight (if I don’t need to use it, or drink it, right away.)  The next morning I take a slotted spoon, or whatever, and take the fat off the top and chuck it.  Now, seriously people, a little.bit.of.fat will NOT kill you, and actually tastes great.  I just don’t like a whole bunch of greasy broth, so I do this extra step. Sometimes there is hardly any fat at all, and sometimes, it’s like a box o’ chocolates.  You never know whatcha gonna get.

That’s IT.  Use it, save it, freeze it, drink it, look at it, worship it, bathe in it.  I don’t care, but KNOW that I am doing all of these things right there with you.  Broth RULES!

 

 

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