How to cook clear chicken stock

There are legends about real chicken stock. This dish can no doubt be taken to the hospital to a sick relative, without fear that the doctor will not allow you to drink a healing broth. Chicken broth perfectly restores strength, is able to suppress the onset of a cold. Chicken broth perfectly eliminates the hangover syndrome, it is indicated for diabetics and patients with gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, chicken broth is not only very healthy, but also incredibly tasty. According to statistics, chicken broth is one of the most common dishes in many families. But often the broth is not perfect. Today you will learn the recipe for making transparent, tasty and rich broth.

Traditional Chicken Broth Recipe

1. First you need to choose the meat from which a transparent broth will be prepared. A pure fillet or breast is not suitable for the broth - it will be a very lean dish. It’s best to take ham or a whole chicken carcass. Pay attention to the color and smell of meat before buying - they should be perfect. If something bothers you, it is better to refuse such a chicken.
2. Rinse the meat thoroughly and wipe it with a dry cloth. The broth will turn out to be more dense and rich if you cook it from fresh, rather than frozen meat. If the chicken is broiler, it is better to remove the skin and unnecessary pieces of fat from it. You shouldn’t undress the home chicken - its skin contains special useful substances that not only add a special taste to the broth, but also make it appetizingly yellow.
3. After that, place the finished chicken in a pan, and pour clean cold water so that the carcass is completely covered with liquid. To make the broth more rich and thick, there should be little water.
4. Place the pot on medium heat and wait for it to boil. In the meantime, you can add vegetables to the broth for taste. It’s best to add carrots and onions to the chicken stock. The onion can be cut into small pieces and put in a pan. After long cooking, it will almost completely dissolve. If you prefer pure broth, it is better to cook the onion whole so that it can be completely removed. If you want to achieve a golden color in the broth, cook the onions directly in the husk, but do not forget to rinse the vegetable first.
5. If you are preparing a broiler chicken and want to get a more dietary and pure broth, then you need to do this. Fill the carcass not with cold, but with hot water, and immediately after boiling, drain the first water. It will contain all carcinogens and unnecessary substances that can ruin the taste of the future broth. Then again fill the chicken with water and set it to simmer on a slow fire.
6. When the water in the pan boils, you need to carefully remove the foam using a slotted spoon. If you do not have time to do this, pour a little cold water into the pan and the foam will rise again. The foam will need to be removed several times - this is the key to the transparency of the broth. When the water in the pan boils, reduce the heat so that the chicken does not boil, but languishes.
7. Cook chicken stock for about two to three hours. In this case, the broth is rich, with a deep chicken flavor.
8. When to salt chicken stock? If you want to get a delicious broth, salt must be added almost at the very beginning of cooking. If you focus on tasty and soft meat, salt should be broth at the end.
9. When the chicken stock is almost ready, you can add spices to it. It is very important not to overdo it - odorous spices can interrupt the taste of chicken broth. Do not add a lot of parsley - it will give the broth a special smell, which will be difficult to get rid of. If you prefer a light taste of bay leaf - add no more than one small leaf to the broth.In the broth, you can also add a little pepper peas, a slice of bell pepper for flavor (fresh or frozen).
10. Serve the broth to the second hot dishes, for example, potatoes with meat. You can serve the broth to pies with various fillings. Crackers are usually served on the table.
11. If you want to cook pasta, noodles or potatoes in a broth, then you will get soup, not broth. To preserve the crystal transparency of the broth, you need to boil all the ingredients separately, and pour chicken ingredients before serving.

In fact, boiling chicken broth is not difficult. However, only knowledge of some tricks and nuances will help you prepare a truly rich and crystal clear chicken broth.

Useful Tips

Here are a few secrets that will come in handy when cooking chicken broth.

1. If you cook the broth not from the whole carcass, but from cut pieces of chicken, pieces of fat, small bones, and skin residues may remain in the broth. In addition, after cooking in the broth there may be leftover spices, peppercorns. In this case, the broth will need to be filtered. To do this, you can use a strainer or simple gauze, folded several times.
2. If you cook soup with pearl barley, it will need to be soaked and cooked separately, and only then pour the prepared broth. Otherwise, the broth will turn slimy and lose its transparency.
3. To give the chicken broth a special aroma and taste, you can add a little greenery to it, preferably dill. So that it does not lose color, add it literally a minute before the end of cooking the broth. If someone from the household does not like the greens floating in the plate, dip a small bundle in a pan that can be easily removed before serving.
4. If the broth, in spite of all efforts, is not transparent, the next trick will help. Beat egg white in a cup and pour it into the broth. When it coagulates, just strain the liquid. After such manipulations, you will notice that the broth has become much more transparent.
5. To get the deep taste of the broth, do not use tap water. Prefer filtered or bottled liquids.
6. To make the broth more saturated, you need to cook it not only with chicken, but also from other types of meat. The best tastes are broths with two and three kinds of meat. In this case, beef, pork and lamb need to be cooked longer, and chicken components should be added in the middle of the cooking process.
7. Pouring water into the pan, pour the liquid “with a margin”. Indeed, after cooking the broth, a significant amount of liquid will evaporate.
8. So that after cooking, the broth remains transparent, it needs to be cooled quickly. Professional chefs recommend dipping the pan in a container of cold water or ice.

These useful tips will help to prepare a transparent and rich broth even for the most inexperienced housewife.

Chicken broth is the basis of many dishes. In addition to the fact that various soups (borsch, solyanka, kharcho) can be prepared from chicken broth, dumplings and side dishes can be boiled in the broth - the second dishes will get a more rich taste. From chicken stock you can cook jelly, porridge, sauce, risotto. Variety is limited only by your imagination. Prepare the chicken broth correctly and treat homemade delicious and healthy dishes from chicken broth.

Video: the secret to making the right broth