Hey, what's up guys welcome back to Basics with Babish, where this week
We're taking a look at one of the most elemental elements of cookery: stock. If you haven't made homemade stock yourself
You cannot imagine the difference between it and the store-bought version and that difference
Shines in chicken noodle soup something that you thought you knew until you made it completely from scratch yourself
Let's get down to basics
Okay so the first and most important
Takeaway from this episode is how to make a good stock
Homemade stock is one of the most versatile and important tools that you can have in your kitchen
And you should always keep some on hand anything you have leftover freeze it you won't be sorry the formula is pretty simple
A few aromatic vegetables like carrots and celery you'll need to break these down into two small pieces next up. We need something oniony
I'm going with leek this time around
But you can just use white or Spanish onion scallions anything with a nice mild oniony flavor
I'm also gonna add some root vegetables here starting with a large parsnip. This is gonna add some peppery bite
Just like the carrot, we're simply peeling and cutting into a few pieces. I'm also going to add a nice turnip
This is going to add to the sort of winter vegetable nature of this stock, but you can omit
Or add as you like there's a lot of room for experimentation here
But if you follow these steps exactly you will end up with a delicious sippable
Chicken stock and/or the best chicken noodle soup you will ever have in your life
One absolute must is an entire head of garlic cut right down the center to expose all the cloves
No need to peel it just slice and go and because you can't really have two oniony of a stock
I'm also gonna add a large Spanish onion. I'm just peeling and cutting into quarters keeping the pieces whole now
It's time to deal with the meat side of our stock
And if you still have some of your reserved chicken spines from previous episodes or previous chicken related excursions
We're gonna cut these into one or two inch lengths
This is going to better expose all that good stuff
inside the bones now if chicken spines or carcasses are unavailable a great option is chicken wings they're inexpensive and full of cartilage and
Connective tissue, which is exactly what we want in our stock now
I'm adding the last few drops from a bottle of good neutral flavored oil like vegetable or canola
Bringing to a simmer over high heat and then beginning to brown our chicken pieces
This is optional if you want a lighter colored stock skip this step
But if you want a nice dark more richly flavored stock
Which I prefer at least in the case of chicken noodle soup
Go ahead and brown all of your chicken pieces or at least half of them
We just want to get some maillard reaction going this is where the roasty unctuous chicken flavor is gonna
Come from as is the case with all things. We sear in stainless steel pans
We're going to let them sit undisturbed
For a few minutes until a brown crust forms and it lifts off the pan don't touch them if they're still sticking now as you
Can see I only seared about half of my chicken pieces
And I'm going to add the rest of the chicken and our
prepared aromatic vegetables
If you really want to up the rusty flavors you can also sear the onions or you can throw all this stuff in a high-temperature
Oven until everything is good and browned
There's also no need to make this from pristine new vegetables like these you can make it from scraps and trimmings from other
Dishes that you've made, but do not skimp on the fresh herbs. I'm going to add a few sprigs of thyme and parsley
Along with a few whole peppercorns, but no salt do not salt your stock
You don't know what level this is going to boil down to how thin
It's gonna be how thick it's gonna be and you want to be able to control the salinity of your final dish
Now as you slowly bring your stock to a bare simmer you're gonna notice that some scum forms on the top
This is just gross stuff
Impurities coming out of the chicken pieces and the vegetables we want to skim this off using a soup ladle
You don't have to do this, but leaving the scum in there will make the stock more cloudy
we're letting that go for a bare minimum of four hours and up to twelve during which time I'm going to start prepping my
vegetables for the chicken noodle soup
I've got carrots celery a parsnip that I'm going to chop very finely because it doesn't cook down as quickly as carrots or celery
Maybe half a turnip that I'm similarly going to cut into planks and into tiny bite-size pieces
Mainly just because I want the suggestion of turnip
I don't want big old chunks the carrots celery noodles and chicken are the stars of the show here
Everyone else is just a backup singer, but together they will form a beautiful symphony. I don't know I'm not so great with metaphors
You'll notice I'm setting the onion aside. You'll see why later for now
It's time to drain our stock ideally do this through a cheesecloth if you can to catch all the little particles
But in a pinch a regular strainer works just fine
Let this guy drain for a good long while you want to make sure you get every single drop this stuff is liquid
gold now it's time to set this aside and keep it warm while we get our soup started start by heating some olive oil or
Other a little bit more flavorful oil over medium-high heat until shimmering and adding the onion first
This is because while I want the other vegetables to retain some of their structure and vegetable this
I
Want to make sure that the onions are really soft and integrated into the soup so after they have
Softened up a bit we're going to add the rest of our vegetables just warming through
before adding our chicken stock and now over high heat
We're going to bring this guy to a simmer as it's coming up to a simmer because it's gonna take a few minutes
We're going to layer a few more flavors. I'm going to add some roughly chopped parsley
I'm adding this early on because I want its flavor to mellow out as the soup cooks and
One of several elements that pushes this soup from goodness to greatness
Grated ginger and lemongrass you're not even going to be able to remember
What canned chicken noodle soup tastes like after you taste this stuff so once we get this guy up to a rolling boil
We're going to add our chicken thighs boneless and skinless
We want these guys to cook fast
We don't want the extra fat that comes with skin, and we want dark meat dark meat shredded in chicken noodle soup is so
Categorically better than white meat white meat becomes dry it gets chewy. It is not a good choice for chicken noodle soup
There's still some fat in these thighs
So we're going to skim that off as it rises to the surface and after 15 to 20 minutes of a rolling boil our chicken
Thighs will be ready for extraction
If they're undercooked it doesn't really matter because we're gonna be adding them back to the soup, and they will finish cooking
But they're easier to shred if they're fully cooked using a pair of small forks start shredding the chicken into bite-sized pieces
You can alternately cut it into cubes if you like but I think this is a bit more of a rustic presentation and a better
Textural choice for the soup add it back to the pot
And if at this point your vegetables are starting to get too soft
Take the soup off the heat and now for a couple elements whose flavors
I want to keep fresh and bright, so we're adding them right at the end some freshly chopped dill a ton of it
I love ton of dill, but you know this is a personal preference
And I want a little bit of fresh crunch in this soup
So I'm going to add some minced scallions
letting these cook for no more than a minute because I just want them to get to know each other in the pot now at
Long last it is time to season do not season until your soup is complete, and now you might be saying
But Andy where are the noodles calm down. I'm getting to that to prevent
Mushy noodles in your leftover soup always store the soup noodle as' and
cook the noodles in the soup as
You serve it
so I am ladling out the amount that I want to serve into a separate pot and
Adding some egg noodles or whatever kind of pasta you want, but I prefer egg noodles. They're classic
They're eggy
And they are spoon friendly that is the most important elements in a chicken soup noodle
Season a little bit more as necessary because we're adding noodles and these need a little bit more salt
And now it's time to serve up a bowl of what I can confidently say is
The best chicken noodle soup in the world this stuff will cure the common cold
It will mend a broken heart
It will improve your disposition and outlook on life in general and that will ripple out
Endlessly across society improving the world as we know it sorry. I just really really love this soup, and so will you.