HomemadeBetter than Bouillonrecipe? Yes! Make your own delicious shortcut for soup, gravy, stuffing and sauces with a “cooked all day” taste.
If you have never heard of it you are in for a real treat. If you know how to make chicken stock, you can makeBetter than BouillonChicken Basefrom scratch.
Homemade Better than BouillonRecipe Chicken Base
It it so easy to make but takes two days to complete, so plan accordingly. Not that you will be cooking all that time, but it needs to sit in the refrigerator overnight. You may easily double the recipe and may want to as it is time consuming to make, but so worth it.BETTER THAN BOUILLON RECIPE
1 chicken
4 stalks fresh celery, chopped
2 onions, peeled and sliced*
4 carrots, chopped
small handful fresh parsley
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 tsp turmeric powder
bay leaf
NOTE:
The vegetable amounts are doubled.Day One: 2 celery stalks, 1 onion and 2 carrots will be used,Day Two:2 celery stalks, 1 onion, 2 carrots all clean and cut into pieces.
The parsley, garlic cloves, turmeric and bay leaf are only needed the first day. Turmeric is so good for you and it creates the color of your chicken base. So if you want it more “yellow” in color, add more.
*I sauteed the onions until golden brown to give them some color as boiled onions are not appetizing to me.
Let the Cooking Begin…
DAY ONE
Place the chicken, 2 celery sticks, 1 onion, 2 carrots, fresh parsley, garlic cloves and bay leaf in a stock pot and cover with water at least an inch over everything. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and on a low boil for 45 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
Only take the chicken out and keep everything else in the pan. Place the cooked chicken on a cutting board or plate and let cool until you can handle it to remove the meat, skin and bones. Place the chicken meat in a covered dish and put in the refrigerator overnight; you will need it the next day.
Place the bones and skin you removed back into the same stock pot the chicken cooked in and bring to a boil. Cook on a low boil for another 30 minutes max and remove from the heat.
When cool enough to handle, put a large pan in the sink and strain the bones, chicken skin, spices and vegetables out through a sieve – saving the stock in the pan for tomorrow. You can discard the bones, skin and vegetables. Place the pan of broth in the refrigerator overnight.
DAY TWO
Rise and shine. Take that beautiful stock out of the refrigerator and skim the fat off the top with a spoon. Add the cut up celery sticks, onion and carrots (the same as yesterday) and bring the stock to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer.
The next step is reducing the stock in half, vegetables and all. It may take an hour or two but just let it reduce down gently. It should cover the back of a spoon and have a syrup like consistency (not the vegetables).
Once the stock is reduced in half, add two cups of the cooked chicken you saved in the refrigerator overnight and give it a good stir. Puree this mixture (vegetables and all) either in a blender, food processor or an immersion blender right in the pan. It should be thick and if it isn’t – you know what to do. Either add more cooked chicken, half a cup at a time, or reduce it down some more as you previously did.
FINAL STEP
Once it has a thicker consistency, taste it to see if you need to add salt. It should be very salty or if you are on a low sodium diet, don’t add it now and do so when you use it at a later time.
You could can this, but I froze it in ice cube trays and used a “cube” at a time when making soup, gravy, etc. It melts right it. At this point, add the salt you need for it to taste good. This is a process and a personal one at that as everyone’s taste buds are so different. I like salt, so I added salt before I froze it but not so much that it was too salty even to taste it alittle bit. You can always add more salt in the end – but can’t take it out.
Enjoy. No chemicals or pesticides, just pure chicken flavor. For beef or pork flavored Better than Bouillon base, I would use the same method and instead of chicken use roast beef or pork roast. When I make it I will post it.
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