My basic stock recipe is pretty simple. I use the leftover bones from several chickens to start. I cover the bones with water in a large stock pot and then set it to boil. While that is heating up I slice up some carrots, celery, onions and garlic and add that to the pot. I don't add salt to my stock, though sometimes I will add a splash of vinegar to help draw more minerals out of the bones. I also add a couple of bay leaves for flavor.
I let the whole thing boil on low heat for several hours, sometimes the whole day if I have the time. After it has boiled long enough I let it cool down for a while before I chill it in the fridge overnight. Chilling it helps the fat to congeal on the top where I can easily scoop it off and save it to cook with later. I take the bones out and remove any remaining meat which I save for things like chicken salad, chicken soup, or chicken tacos. I strain out all of the veggies and feed those to the chickens as a special treat. What I am left with is just the stock which I strain through cheese cloth and heat again to let it cook down a little and become more concentrated.
The final step is to pressure can the stock so that I can use it as needed over the next few months. The stock is heated to boiling while the pressure canner and jars are prepared. When everything is good and hot I transfer the boiling stock into pre-warmed jars leaving one inch of headspace in each jar. One by one the jars go into the canner and once it's full the lid gets locked down and I wait for the pressure to rise. At my elevation I need to process chicken stock at 13 pounds of pressure for 25 minutes. When it's all done I let them cool down slowly before I remove them from the canner to cool completely. This round of canning gave me five more quarts of fresh home made chicken stock to add to my shelves.
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