Chicken Stock

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken
• 7-10 cups water (cover chicken)
• 1 large onion, halved peel included
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• salt to taste

• Place the chicken in a large pot over high heat. Add water to cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 1 hour.

• Remove chicken from pot. Leave water in pot. Cool chicken. Remove skin and bones from meat. Return bones and skin to pot. Add onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, ginger, and salt. Continue simmering for 3 to 4 hours.

• Strain and cool the stock, uncovered.

• Use the meat for soups, salads, sandwiches, or other dishes where cooked chicken is needed. After stock has been defatted, use or freeze immediately. I freeze the stock in one-cup amounts and use instead of water for cooking rice or vegetables or making gravy.

**Best chicken stock i have ever made! The smell of your chicken in the winter time is amazing. We put them in muffin pan's and freeze them. When they are frozen we pop them out and put them in a ziplock bag. They will stay fresh for 6 months and you can easily add them to other recipes.

You can add or take away ingredients depending on your tastes. Sometimes I add a leek to add flavor to the broth. All of the flavor of the stock is definatley from returning the bones to the pot.

***I also added a few whole peppercorns