Homemade Chicken Stock

Old Tom Whelan came by Tuesday to shoe two of our horses. Tom is seventy-one and still shoeing horses — forty years at it, same truck, same anvil, same leather apron worn to the shape of a man who's stood over hooves his whole adult life. I watched him work all afternoon, not saying I was watching, pretending to fix the water tank nearby. Tom saw through it by the second hour.

"You want to learn," Tom said. Not a question. I said I figured I should know how, living on a ranch. He handed me a rasp and showed me how to knock the clinches on a front left. I mangled the first one. He said that was normal. I mangled the second one less. By the fourth hoof I had something that wasn't embarrassing. Tom said, "Come back Thursday and I'll show you the forge." I went back Thursday. I've been back every Tuesday and Thursday since.

There's something about working with a horse that I can't explain to someone who hasn't done it. The horse doesn't care what happened to you in Afghanistan. The horse cares whether you're calm, whether your hands are steady, whether you're present. If you're not those things, the horse will tell you — not with words but with the weight of a thousand pounds of muscle that can move faster than your reflexes. I have to be present with the horses. It's the only way it works.

Mom made chicken soup this week — from a whole bird, simmered for hours until the meat falls off the bone and the broth turns gold. She makes it when someone in the family needs something, though she'd never say it that way. She'd say she just had a chicken that needed using. I ate two bowls and didn't say thank you in words, and she didn't need me to, and that's how that works.

Learning the horseshoe forge from Tom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Something to do with my hands. Right now that's the whole point — something to do with my hands that isn't destructive.

Mom’s chicken soup — the one she made this week with that whole bird simmered down to gold — is the kind of thing you can’t replicate from a carton. It starts with the stock. Real stock, the kind that takes all afternoon, the kind where you don’t rush it because rushing it defeats the whole point. Here’s how she makes it, or close enough. She’d say I got something wrong, but she’d say that no matter what I wrote down.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 4 hours | Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 10 (about 3 quarts)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), or a leftover carcass plus 2 pounds of backs and wings
3 quarts cold water
2 large yellow onions, quartered (skin on is fine)
3 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into chunks
3 celery stalks with leaves, cut into chunks
6 whole black peppercorns
3 sprigs fresh thyme
4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 clove garlic, smashed

Instructions

Load the pot. Place the whole chicken in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves. Pour cold water over everything until the chicken is just covered.
Bring it up slowly. Set the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a bare simmer — not a rolling boil. This takes about 30 minutes. Skim any foam or scum that rises to the surface in the first 20 minutes.
Simmer low and long. Reduce the heat to low so the surface barely trembles. Let it cook uncovered for 3 to 4 hours. Don’t stir it, don’t rush it. The broth should turn a deep gold.
Pull the chicken. If using a whole bird, carefully remove it after 1 1/2 hours and let it cool enough to handle. Pull the meat from the bones and set it aside for soup, salads, or sandwiches. Return the bones and skin to the pot and continue simmering.
Strain. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl or second pot. Pour the stock through, pressing gently on the vegetables to extract liquid. Discard the solids.
Season and cool. Taste the stock and add salt as needed. Let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. A layer of fat will solidify on top — lift it off before using or leave it as a seal if storing for a few days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Homemade Chicken Stock — The Kind That Turns Gold If You Let It