Making Liquid Gold (aka Delicious, Clear Chicken Stock)

We have been trying to incorporate more and more chicken stock into our diet, but it can be hard to keep up our supply. I came across a post by Jenny over at Nourished Kitchen in which she talked about her method for perpetual bone broth. She actually cooks the same set of bones for a week in her slow cooker removing broth each day and adding more water. She is able to get a half gallon of broth from one set of bones from a roasted chicken. That was amazing to me! We only have a small slow cooker and it seems to cook pretty hot even on the low setting, so I didn't think we could get a week out of it, but decided to try a couple of days.

Our slow cooker is so small that I couldn't fit the chicken carcass in at first (it was frozen). I put it on the stove for a few hours and then transferred it to the slow cooker. I cooked the first batch for 24 hours, removed most of the broth and  then added more water. I cooked the second batch another 24 hours. After the second batch, the bones easily crumbled when I pinched them, so I decided to call it quits. I was pleased that we were able to double our normal supply of chicken broth from one set of bones.

Another tip from Jenny that I thought was genius- straining the broth through a reusable coffee filter to create clear broth.  I first poured the broth through a colander to remove the large pieces of bones and cartilage. Then I used our travel drip coffee maker and a circle of cotton fabric (our reusable coffee filter) to filter out the fine particles. The results were a beautiful, clear chicken stock. By using the portable drip coffee maker, I was able to filter it right into glass jars to freeze.

How do you make chicken stock or bone broth? What tips do you have to pass along?

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Alphabe-Thursday, and Simple Lives Thursday.