Super-Collagen Chicken Broth

Super-collagen chicken broth

This post is all about chicken broth and includes my step-by-step recipe for making collagen-packed chicken broth. Chicken broth is the cornerstone of the way I cook - it infinitely improves food in terms of taste and nutritional value.

I make this zero-waste chicken broth with a whole fresh chicken and remove the meat to use in salads, tacos, noodles, etc. It has very few herbs and includes ginger so that it is versatile enough to use in both western and Asian dishes. Using a whole raw chicken with the skin boosts the collagen content in this chicken bone broth.

I always have spare portions of frozen chicken broth. There are so many uses for chicken stock from soups to sauces and risotto. I often cook rice, couscous, and other grains like bulgur wheat in chicken broth. Simple noodles, some shredded chicken meat and vegetables served in chicken broth seasoned with soy and lime makes for a quick nutritious supper.

Chicken Broth versus Chicken Stock

People often ask me if chicken stock is the same as chicken broth and the answer is today yes and historically no. These days the chicken broth, chicken bone broth and chicken stock are used interchangeably with chicken and meat stock being referred to as bone broth, especially in the United States and people in the United Kingdom and its former colonies like India calling it chicken stock.

Here is the historical background and where the confusion comes from. The great cookery writer Theodora Fitzgibbon (1976) describes stock as the ‘liquid extracted from fish, meat, poultry or vegetables by slow cooking with water, or wine and water’. Concentrated stocks such as fond de veau and fond de volaille form the basis of sauces and glazes in classical french cuisine. Traditionally broth, like the French bouillon and Italian brodo was somewhere between a very simple soup and a stock and usually contained vegetables, but these days bouillon and brodo also mean stock or broth in these languages.

I make have been making chicken stock or chicken bone broth from scratch and freezing it in batches for years. I also make a regular chicken stock with the carcass of every roast chicken that goes through my kitchen - I never waste bones!

Don’t be intimidated by making chicken broth from scratch as it’s a lot easier than it sounds and infinitely improves the taste of soups and sauces. The nutritional benefits of cooking with real chicken bone broth with its concentrated minerals and collagen are huge for everything from anti-aging and immunity, to shinier hair to childhood brain development.

In Asia, (where I spend most of my year) chickens often come with the head and feet still on. It took me a while to get used to this until I found out that chicken feet are packed with collagen so I now include chicken feet in my stock pot rather than discarding them. I’ve even asked my butcher in France for chicken feet (they are usually only included with a poulet de Bresse ) - he was surprised but now gives them to me for free. I’m not particularly squeamish but I still can’t bring myself to do anything with the heads! This recipe will show you how to make fool-proof chicken broth every time.

Collagen Chicken Broth

Ingredients

• 1 organic or free-range chicken

• 1 carrot

• 1 stick of celery

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 1 finger of ginger

• 1 bay leaf

• 6 black peppercorns

• Salt to taste

Method

• Place all the chicken and aromatics in a large pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth or grey residue that forms on top

• After 20 minutes, carefully remove the chicken and transfer to a chopping board. To remove the breasts, first check if they are done by either slicing in with a knife; they should be white but not dry and stringy, or read 75C or 165F on a meat thermometer such as a Thermapen. Remove the breasts with a sharp knife, cutting as close to the bone as possible and transfer the meat to a bowl with a little poaching liquor to keep it from drying out.

• Reduce to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes before carefully removing the leg meat. Return the carcass along with any spare bones, skins, or unwanted bits to the pot. Make sure to leave the wings in the pot; they are collagen superstars.

• Simmer for 2-3 hours, keeping an eye that the stock does not dry out - add a cup of water if necessary. Skim off any more residue that rises to the top. Season to taste.

• When done, carefully ladle the stock through a sieve 2-3 times, discarding the leftover carcass, vegetables, and aromatics. Do not be tempted to tip all the liquid into the sieve in one go as your stock will come out cloudy. You can use it immediately or cool off and then transfer to the fridge.

• Once the broth cools, you should be left with a jelly-like substance with a layer of fat on top. I actually keep the fat in the stock for frying my children’s food but they are not trying to stay slim :) If you prefer to separate the fat from the broth then simply lift it off with a spatula and pop in a jar where it should keep in the fridge for 3 weeks - the fat is great for frying potatoes, vegetables or mixing through rice, etc.

• Portion out the remaining stock into sandwich bags or containers and freeze for up to 3 months. I recommend labelling each portion with the date of preparation so you can keep your freezer organized.

The fat is easily lifted off the jelly-like chicken broth

This post was all about how to make chicken broth at home