Dark Chicken Stock

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 500° or to its highest temperature setting.
• Wash the carrots and celery, and trim the root end from the onion.
• Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf together into a bouquet garni.
• Using poultry shears or a large knife, break each chicken thigh into 2-3 pieces.
• Quarter the onion and break the carrot and celery into 4-6-inch pieces.
• Arrange the chicken pieces and vegetables on a sheet pan.
• Roast until the chicken is very brown and the edges of the onion start to blacken and char. This can take anywhere from 5 -15 minutes.
• Fill a stock pot with 4 quarts of cold water. Transfer the chicken and vegetables from the sheet pan into the cold water.
• Carefully drain any chicken fat from the sheet pan before pouring 1 cups of water into the pan and using a steel spoon or spatula to scrape up as much of the ‘fond’ (the tasty brown bits) as possible. These little bits will truly make your stock more flavorful. Carefully pour the water from the sheet pan into your stock pot.
• Add the peppercorns and bouquet garni, bring the stock to a low simmer, and cook for 2-4 hours.
• If you are using additional gelatin, bloom it in ¼ cup of water for 10 minutes, and add the bloomed gelatin a few minutes after bringing the stock to a simmer.
• After 2-4 hours, reduce to the lowest possible heat setting and allow stock to settle. This will permit much of the sediment, etc. to settle to the bottom of the pot.
• Carefully ladle the stock from the pot and strain through several layers of cheesecloth or through a flour sack towel or butter muslin.