Recipe // Poultry Stock

Poultry stock is the unsung hero of Thanksgiving dinner, and making it from scratch is beyond simple & about five billion times more delicious than commercially-produced broth. In this case, Ina stans, store-bought is decidedly not fine.

There are countless recipes online, some calling for roasting bones & other complex steps. No, thank you. My Poultry Stock is more a method than a recipe?

• Just toss raw chicken or turkey parts (wings, backbone, whatever so long as it has bones & skin, i.e., flavor), sprigs of fresh herbs (I’m partial to dill & parsley), three or four stalks of celery, some carrots (skin on!), onions (ditto), garlic (ibid), a couple of bay leaves & a small palmful (approx 10) of peppercorns into a giant pot.

• Fill with water to cover (no measuring here) & simmer (not boil!) until it smells like Thanksgiving, usually at least 4 hours & up to 7 hours if I have the time.

• Strain out the solids, chill overnight & then skim the solid fat off.

I assure you here: the juice (stock?) is worth the squeeze.