A fragrant chicken broth is a wonderfully tasty first course; it is wholesome, nutritious and invigorating. Fatty, low-fat chicken broth is useful for the weak or sick, it is recommended to give it to the children as the first complementary foods. Soups are cooked on it and even porridge is cooked. Neutral taste of a good chicken broth will not spoil, but on the contrary will enhance the taste of any products. But it is worth noting what the broth will be, so the dish will turn out - its flavor, taste and even color depend on the base.
How much to cook chicken broth? From which chicken or carcass parts to cook it? How to use it and for what purpose? Answer these questions definitely will not work. Our article will help you learn the basics of cooking chicken broth, teach you how to cook it tasty, and use it if there is an extra portion of fragrant chicken broth.
How to cook chicken broth - the main points and principles of cooking
In order to get rich broth, it is better to give preference to home, laying hen, from 2 to 4 years old, rather than chicken grown using broiler technology. From broilers it turns out fat, but not having a rich taste and flavor broth. Such meat is best left for roasting or frying. But if it is not possible to purchase poultry, you will have to make do with the store, the main thing is to cook it properly.
What part of the bird is better to cook chicken broth? For a tasty rich broth, it is better to take an equal amount of meaty and bony parts of the bird. Ideally, this is a whole carcass or half of it. But, if you save or intend to cook both the first and main course from one bird, take a carcass cut into pieces: legs, wings, backs, etc. Take into account that poultry meat is quite tough and will need to be stewed for a long time. Do not try to cook it by fast roasting or baking - the dish will be spoiled.
The wings contain little meat, but a lot of bones and skin. This part of the chicken is better to take for broths, which will be used to prepare risotto or sauces, such a decoction is good and if you decide to cook a light soup. Breast fillet - the most sought-after part of the carcass. Meat contains a minimum of fat and is considered dietary. Broths from it turn out less fragrant and very light. They are best suited for baby food and those who follow a strict diet. If the basis for the soup, decide to cook fillets, be sure to add a piece of fatter, for example, back.
Thighs. In these pieces a lot of meat, unlike the breast, it is more aromatic, more tender and more pleasant to the taste. The tubular bone, located in the thigh, will give the broth a gain and flavor. Experienced cooks prefer to split the thigh in two, to boil the bone marrow and the broth will get more flavor.
Chicken legs or, as they are otherwise called, - legs. Along with hips, are considered an excellent piece for the preparation of a rich broth. Juicy, separating meat from the bone is easy to cut in portions, for which this part of the chicken is preferred for broth.
Soup set, as they also call chicken drumsticks, wings, thighs, necks, backs. Such a mixture of chicken pieces in one pot is ideal for the very best broths. They are always obtained rich, fragrant, moderately fat and have a pleasant taste.
There are lots of options, and if you can’t figure out exactly what chicken broth to cook from, put a little bit of everything in the saucepan, the soup will be tastier and more rich.
How to cook chicken broth. Cooking time depends not only on whether you got a homemade hen or a store broiler, but also on the age of the chicken. Cooking a poultry can take from one and a half to three hours, broiler broth is prepared faster. In any case, chicken broth is considered ready when poultry meat can be easily pierced with a knife.
Key points to consider. First, it is important on what water you will cook. Tap water is not the best option, as in many cities it is difficult to call it drinking. In most cases, it can be used only after filtration and long-term sedimentation. Otherwise, it will give the broth an unpleasant aftertaste, and, in addition, the chicken broth based on it will be dull. For cooking, it is optimal to take purchased, bottled water. Secondly, to make the broth really tasty, transparent and not have a sweetheart, caused by specific foods and often inherent in store chicken, it is desirable to cook vegetables together with the bird. They remove extraneous odors, give the chicken broth a golden hue and improve the taste. At a minimum, put carrots and onions in a saucepan - the vegetables are removed when ready.
Quite a common question that arises when cooking any meat broth - to drain or use the “first water”? If the chicken is fresh, does not have a sharp foreign smell, the first broth is optional. It is recommended to do it only in cases when the chicken has lain down and has a slight unpleasant smell, but its meat and skin are evenly colored, without any stains and impurities of mucus.
In the “first water”, in these cases, it is advised to boil the pieces for 15 minutes from boiling, and after it to drain. However, it is necessary to clearly understand the difference between “it smells a little, because ...” and “it smells sharply, since the chicken disappeared”.
Poultry can have an unpleasant smell by itself. In this case, it is recommended to put a larger onion and boil broth longer. Very good to add some spices.
How to cook chicken broth to make it transparent. Initially, the bird or its individual parts must be thoroughly rinsed under cool, running water. The feathers left in the skin are removed with tweezers, and the stubborn dirt on it is scraped and cut off with a knife. The skin is not recommended to remove, it will give a decoction a pleasant golden hue. Vegetables for broth are also thoroughly washed.
The size of the container in which the broth will be prepared is selected so that the chicken is completely submerged in water and covered with it for at least three centimeters. Before boiling should closely monitor the process of formation of foam. It must be removed in time - as they appear, then the broth will turn out beautiful and transparent. After boiling, the actions are simple, and the broth until readiness practically requires no attention. The main thing is to set the heating correctly so that the contents of the container do not boil intensively. Ideally, only rare bubbles will float, and the surface itself will evenly “fluster”. This will not only preserve the transparency of the decoction, it will turn out like a tear, but also give you more freedom. No need to constantly check whether the broth runs out or not. But to cover the pot with a lid or not is a rather controversial issue. Someone recommends not to do this, and who, and vice versa. We propose to choose a middle ground - we will leave a gap between the pan and the lid, so that the steam will escape through it. When to salt chicken broth? Salt is recommended not to add immediately, but when the chicken has already begun to separate from the bone. It is necessary to add it carefully, remembering why you are preparing a broth and, if for soup, which products you will add.
Ready chicken broth, it is desirable to strain through cheesecloth. This will help get rid of small fragments of bones and other impurities, for example, pieces of vegetables and spices, if any were added. Only after this is considered to be chicken broth fully ready for further use.
Chicken decoction, in the simplest cases, can be supplemented with homemade noodles, small pasta of factory production or cereals, which are boiled separately to avoid broth turbidity.
How to cook chicken broth: a classic recipe for the multicooker
Cooking chicken broth in a multicooker is different in that the foam does not need to be removed. Cooking occurs with a uniform, slight boiling, which allows the foam to collect flakes that are easily removed during filtering. This does not affect the transparency of the broth.
Ingredients:
• two liters of filtered water;
• 600 gr. chicken meat;
• small onion;
• four black peppercorns;
• one small leaf of laurel;
• medium-sized carrot, unsweetened variety.
Cooking Method:
1. Put the well-washed pieces of poultry in the bowl and immediately fill them with water. If you do not plan to cook the soup later, then it’s better to add the broth immediately. Add a little less than a tablespoon of fine salt.
2. We wash the bay leaf and drop it into the water, add peppercorns and vegetables. It is desirable to divide the carrot into pieces, and put the onion whole.
3. Prepare chicken broth on the “Soup” option, but if the slow cooker is not equipped with such a program, select “Stewing”. Depending on the type of chicken, we set different duration: for a broiler bird, it is enough to set a timer for one hour, the home needs at least 2 hours.
4. At the end of the program we filter the broth, use it for its intended purpose.
How to Cook Nourishing Chicken Broth with Potatoes and Rice: A Light Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
• quarter of domestic chicken, lower part, with a total weight of at least 300 grams;
• eight small potatoes;
• 100 gr. round grain rice groats;
• small carrots;
• fresh dill (chopped) - 1.5 tbsp. l .;
• large onion.
Cooking Method:
1. Rice must be prepared in advance. Not earlier than two hours before cooking the broth, we wash the enumerated grits several times. Then fill it with cool water and leave it in it. After two hours, wash again and throw back on the sieve to decant the excess water.
2. Cut the chicken into portions, fold it into a saucepan and add the onion, cut in half. We put on the fire, boil the broth according to the rules. In time we remove foam, we prepare a boiling field on a small fire. Ready broth we filter, merging at the same time in a clean pan, and again put on an intense fire. Lay in it and pieces of boiled chicken.
3. In the boiling chicken broth, lower the potatoes cut into thin cubes. Add the grated carrot and dried rice grits, salt. Waiting for re-boiling, as the formation of foam.
4. At the first sign of boiling, reduce the heat, cook for a quarter of an hour, until the potatoes soften. Fill the chicken broth with herbs, remove from the heat and let stand for five minutes.
How to cook light chicken broth from the breast for a baby or restorative diet
Ingredients:
• homemade chicken fillet - breast - 300 gr .;
• liter of purified water;
• small celery root;
• a small piece of parsley root;
• small onion head;
• greens - on request.
Cooking Method:
1. Peel parsley and celery root, remove only the top, easily separated, layers of husk from the onion. Well washed onion and rhizomes, put in a saucepan. Put the onion whole, and cut the rhizomes into pieces.
2. We wash the breast and put it in the pan, where we have already put the vegetables, add the recommended amount of water and put it on the stove. Removing the foam on an intensive fire bring to a boil. Then we add a little salt and leave to cook the chicken until soft with a slight boil, loosely covering the pan with a lid. 3. From the finished broth in a clean bowl, lay out the meat and cover it. Strain the broth, remove the roots and onions. Pour into a clean pan, bring the broth to a boil. At the end add the greens.
4. We use boiled meat as needed - we cut off the necessary portion and interrupt with a blender. The resulting meat gruel is added to warm broth.
5. If for some reason it is not recommended to eat meat, it can be used in other dishes, for example, for salads.
How to boil porridge in chicken broth: recipe for millet with meat in the oven
Ingredients:
• meat pieces of chicken, preferably breast - 400 gr .;
• 120 gr. millet groats;
• Ready light chicken broth from wings - 750 ml;
• 30 gr. butter;
• small size of a leaf of laurel.
Cooking Method:
1. Wash the fillet, cut it into small, oblong pieces.
2. In the pan melt some of the butter and quickly fry chicken on it. We remove, as soon as the pieces become red. Spread the chicken in equal shares in pots.
3. Rinse the grits well, decant all the water from it and spread it on the fillet.
4. In a skillet, on which the breast was fried, pour the broth, add laurel and peppercorns. Bringing to a boil, pour the broth into the pots, if the broth is unsalted, add a little salt.
5. Close the container and put in a cold, but already included oven. Raise the heat to 180 degrees and keep this mode in the future. Cook porridge in chicken broth 50 minutes.
Useful tips and tricks to make chicken broth
• Try not to stir the broth or do it rarely, then it will turn out cleaner. It is not recommended to stir it at all before boiling, otherwise the foam will mix with the broth and settle on the bottom.
• If from the very beginning to prevent intense boiling, the remains of the foam will converge into a thin film, which will later settle. Filtration will help to remove it, but the nutritional value of the broth will decrease.
• When cleaning the onions, remove only the top layers of the husk, and leave the part that needs to be cleaned with a knife, the broth will have a pleasant color. • If you take raw chicken bones, put them in the oven for half an hour and bake, and then put them along with the soup set to cook, the broth will turn out to be more saturated color. In addition, it will be fragrant.
• Chicken broth is not subject to long-term storage. In the refrigerator it can be kept no more than three days. If you expect to save longer, better freeze the broth.
