Home-cooked Superior Chicken Stock

I love to drink soup. But whenever we have soup outside, we will wonder what do they add to make the broth tasty. Many restaurants and eateries may add MSG or chicken powder to enhance the flavour of the broth. That is why sometimes we get so thirsty after drinking soup. And my body somehow reacts to an overdose of MSG. My cheek or lips will feel numb and it will normally take hours to get over the numbness.

Years ago, we used to buy packet chicken stock to cook dishes. But I have never use any chicken powder or chicken cubes in my cooking. Yes, they are convenient. But after we started to make our own stock, we don't turn back anymore. We know what we add into the pot of stock and we know how good it will taste.

We normally cook one big pot and store them in containers and freeze them. They can last weeks. No additional preservatives, just the refrigerator.

Superior Chicken Stock

Many dishes depend on a good stock to bring the dish to a different level. A good pao fan 泡饭, soup noodles, porridge, pen cai or the recent trio eggs spinach that we have cooked taste so much better with a good stock.

There are different types of stock that can be cooked easily cook at home. For more fancy dishes on special occasions such as Chinese New Year, birthdays, we make superior chicken stock.

We normally use bones and some vegetables for the base of the stock. Vegetables have natural sweetness in them and cook them over time will extract the sweetness into the stock.

Ingredients

500g          Chicken bones

1                 Jinhua ham or Waxed chicken leg

1                 Carrot

1                 Leek

1                 Celery

2 litres       Water

Instructions

1. Cut the carrot, leek and celery into slices.
2. Add the chicken bones and the chopped carrot, leek and celery into a slow cooker pot.
3. Add the jinhua ham.
4. Boil the water and pour into the slow cooker pot.
5. Cook over low heat for 8 hours.
6. Strain the stock after 8 hours. The stock will be clear and smell fantastic.
7. Store the stock in containers and refrigerate them. If you intend to cook them days or weeks later, store them in the freezer.