Making Stock at Home: Why It’s Worth It and How to Make It Easy

Stock has a place in more recipes than you’d think. Swap the water in a braise, soup, or stew for real stock and the whole dish improves. A glazed pan of pasta, a quick pan sauce, a proper risotto, all of it depends on decent stock. Water, beer, or a stock cube will get you through in a pinch, but none of them come close in flavour or body, and stock cubes especially tend to be salty with very little nutrition or depth behind them.

Why it’s worth making

Real stock made from animal bones is loaded with gelatin from all that collagen. That’s not just flavour, it’s texture: the kind of mouthfeel that makes your lips stick together slightly, the same effect behind the best French sauces and jus reductions. Vegetable stock brings plenty of flavour too, just without that same body.

It also turns what would otherwise be kitchen waste into something worth having. Vegetable scraps and bones pile up over a week of cooking. I’ll break down a whole chicken and save the bones, or roast one whole and do the same after. Even cooked bones make good stock, as long as nobody’s been gnawing on them. Roasting the bones first also renders off a genuinely useful amount of chicken fat, just pour it off the tray into a container. Free, and excellent to cook with.

“I never have enough bones for a full batch”

Neither do I, most of the time. Keep a sealed container in the freezer and toss in spare bones as they come up. Once it’s full, thaw it in the fridge overnight, rinse the bones the next day, and roast them. Rinsing clears out any blood or organ bits for a cleaner-tasting stock. Roasting adds flavour and rendered fat, but you can skip it if you’d rather a more neutral stock.

From there it’s just bones, water, and aromatics simmered for a few hours, then strained. I don’t bother with the meticulous skimming and degreasing restaurant kitchens do. Simmer gently and the proteins strain out easily. Chill the stock afterward and the fat separates on its own, much easier to lift off.

Turn it into stock cubes

This is the move I use most, since it saves space and gives you quick access to strongly flavoured stock whenever you need it. Once the stock is strained and degreased, return it to a clean pot and reduce it over medium heat down to about an eighth of its original volume. Strain again through a fine mesh, pour into ice cube trays, and freeze. You’ve concentrated the flavour and shrunk the footprint at the same time. Pop the cubes out once frozen and keep them in an airtight container, ready to drop into a broth, risotto, or fast sauce whenever you need one.

Choosing your ingredients

Don’t overthink the bones. Whatever you’ve collected becomes your own house stock. Break down any large pieces first, if you’ve got a whole chicken carcass, snap or chop it into two or three pieces for more surface area.

For vegetables and aromatics, avoid anything too starchy, it won’t add much flavour and just muddies the stock. Onion, carrot, celery, leek, spring onion, tomato, mushroom, garlic, and ginger all work well, alongside herbs and spices like thyme, rosemary, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Shorter cook times call for smaller-diced vegetables since there’s less time to extract flavour. A vegetable stock can be done in under 45 minutes, so cut fine. A chicken stock simmering for 3 to 4 hours can take rougher, 1-inch pieces. I peel my vegetables, though plenty of cooks skip that step and use clean peelings instead. Either works.

Roast Chicken Stock

Active time: 20 minutes · Passive time: 4 to 5 hours · Makes: roughly 2 litres

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3kg chicken bones and scraps
• 4 litres water
• 3 large onions, roughly chopped
• 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 4 to 5 ribs celery, roughly chopped
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 head garlic, cut in half
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Method:

1. Place the bones and scraps in a large container and rinse well, changing the water until it runs clear.
2. Drain and lay the bones out on two baking trays. They’ll shrink as they cook, so it’s fine if they’re crowded, just don’t stack them. Roast in batches if needed.
3. Roast at 250°C for 15 to 20 minutes until golden, then turn with tongs and roast another 10 minutes to finish browning. Skip this step for a milder, white chicken stock.
4. Once browned, carefully drain the rendered fat into a heatproof container and set aside.
5. Transfer the bones to a large pot, top with the water, bring to a boil, then drop to a low simmer.
6. Peel and cut the carrots and onions into 1-inch pieces. Halve the leek’s green part and rinse well for sand. Add all the vegetables and aromatics to the pot and stir to submerge, anything floating on top won’t contribute much.
7. Simmer 2 to 4 hours total. Longer means more chicken flavour and more gelatin. Strain through a colander for the larger pieces, then through a fine mesh strainer for a clear stock. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.
8. Once chilled, lift off and reserve the fat layer that sets on top.

For reduced stock and stock cubes:

1. Return the stock to the stove over medium heat and reduce to about an eighth of its original volume.
2. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.
3. Pop the cubes out and store in an airtight container. Ready whenever a broth, risotto, or sauce needs a boost.