Chicken Stock, Or, How to Use a Chicken: Part III

Waste not, want not.  We've heard it before.  But how many of us scrape our plates into the trash after dinner?  How often do we discover some sad leftovers in the back of the fridge and decide they're better off going out than being eaten?  Do we see the cores, the skins, the crusts, the bones, the leaves, the stalks as inedible pieces of food we must dispose to get at the good stuff?

The thing is, often the "good stuff" is really in the parts we don't want, if we're talking about the most nutritional bang for your buck.  Bones, especially, contain nutrients that we might not find anywhere else in our diets.  Collagen, gelatin, glucosamine.  You're taking something that you would have otherwise thrown in the trash and extracting nutritional gold.  How could it get better than that?

I'll admit that I usually don't make my own stocks.  The simple reason is that I don't eat a lot of meat.  We seldom have bones around.  But with my wife's iron levels needing a little help, we've incorporated more flesh into our diets.  And when you're done picking over that delicious roast chicken, when you're through turning into into all the meals you can get out of it, you'll have a carcass perfect for making stock.

You'll feel thrifty.  You'll feel accomplished.  And you'll have several quarts of stock in your fridge, just waiting to be turned into soups and stews, waiting to be used in curries and rice dishes, and just about anything else you can dream up.

Chicken Stock
Makes 4-6 quarts

chicken bones
apple cider vinegar
celery
onion
carrots
salt and pepper
water

There's pretty much no recipe here.  Put all your bones in a slow cooker.  Drizzle some apple cider vinegar over them, about a tablespoon or two.  Wait a few minutes.  Add whatever vegetables you want, chopped up into reasonable pieces.  I throw in my onion skins; they'll help get that rich golden color.  Salt and pepper everything, and cover with water.  Heat on low for up to 24 hours, adding more water if needed.  You can also do this in a regular stock pot, but be sure to keep a closer eye on it.