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Good soup begins with a good broth. Good broth does not come in a carton. Not unless you want to pay sixteen dollars a gallon for it. Why would you, when you can make two gallons of chicken broth for about eight dollars? Because broths are a flavor base in so many dishes, it really pays to make it yourself.

Making a Good Broth

There are probably tens of thousands of chicken broth recipes online that you can follow, but a recipe isn’t necessary. One whole chicken, two onions cut in half (skin on), one head of garlic split in half, a few carrots, a few celery stalks, sage leaves, a few sprigs of parsley and rosemary, two bay leaves, whole black pepper corns and water make up the ingredients. There isn’t a lot of measuring involved. And you’ll notice, salt is not included in the list. If you’re making broth to use in dishes other than soup, you’ll add salt as needed. Skinning the chicken before cooking will reduce the amount of fat you’ll have to remove later.

Put all of the ingredients in a ten quart stock pot, fill it up with water, bring to a boil for a few minutes. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for an hour and a half. You’ll need to skim off the scum that forms at the top. Take the chicken out and save it for later use. Strain the broth into one quart plastic containers, removing as much fat as possible, and seal the jars.

Keep it Safe

You’ll want to cool the broth down quickly to keep it safe. Stand the containers up in the sink, surround them with ice, and add a little bit of cold water. Once they’ve cooled down considerably, store in the refrigerator or freezer. They can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator.

If you prefer a vegetable broth, omit the chicken, put in a few more vegetables, and the method is essentially the same. However, I prefer to simmer it twice as long to give the flavor plenty of time to develop.