Dem bones, dem bones, dem wet bones

It is so very fulfilling to make stock. First off, it gives you an excuse to feel all wise and thrifty and safe chicken bits in your freezer rather than wastefully throwing them away. Then it gives you an excuse to use up all the chicken bits that are clogging up your freezer, thus cleaning out the freezer itself and basically making something from nothing.

Not to mention the fact that since it takes literally all day to make stock, you have a fantastic excuse to sit on your arse all day without feeling lazy. You aren't lazy, you're very busy making stock.

Then the fact that your house smells just luscious the whole time. Five hours in, you have to restrain yourself from dipping your face into the stock pot and coming up with a chicken wing in some kind of dangerous, meaty version of bobbing for apples. Although I should note that it can sometimes be a little depressing, when, at the end of the day, the house has smelled good for seven hours and there isn't anything to eat. I recommend throwing another chicken in the oven (remembering to save the bones when you're done!) so that you don't starve to death as a result of your stock-making.

And finally, when all those hours pass, you end up with a freezer full of liquid gold. You save money (not to mention sodium; even the best stuff tends to be crazy salty) over buying the canned stuff. Plus it tastes so good. It has richness and body from the gelatin in the bones, a color somewhere between amber and very good German hefewiezen and heaps of chicken-y flavor. And, perhaps best of all, making stock gives you a great reason to make delicious dishes that require it. For me, that almost always means risotto, something I plan to do this week. Stay tuned!

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