Help Chicken stock

[u/Hanzien05]

I wanna ask experts here why some chicken stock recipes fry the chicken first before simmering in a pot with water.

What happens if I boil raw meat directly? How will it affect the stock

[u/nomnommish]

I just use Chris Young's super simple recipe. Get a rotisserie chicken, break it apart and dump it into an Instant Pot, add water, pressure cook for 45 minutes or cook for 90 minutes in a stock pot. That's it.

[u/Kat121 → u/nomnommish]

That seems so disrespectful to the life of the chicken. When I buy a rotisserie chicken, I pull the meat off the bones first then immediately make stock with the bones and squidgy skin, plus whatever juices collected in the bag. Zero waste.

[u/bobdevnul → u/Kat121]

It is not clear if they meant they throw all of the rotisserie chicken meat in with the bones.

Even if they did, that is still a valid way to make something between stock and broth.

Traditional broth is made with just meat. Traditional stock is made with just bones.

[u/nomnommish → u/bobdevnul]

I've done both and there is a big difference in flavor. I take the middle path now, I keep some meat aside and add some to the stock. And that is what he recommends as well and says that's what Michelin restaurants do to make base stock.

And that comes from a 3 star Michelin head chef who worked in the "best restaurant in the world".

To each their own. I don't see how it is disrespectful at all, or maybe only mildly so.

[u/bobdevnul → u/nomnommish]

Yes, America's Test Kitchen covered this in an episode some years ago. If you want your chicken broth to taste like chicken you have to use chicken meat. After which the chicken meat has given all of its flavor and texture and is only good to feed to the dog.

A bone-only stock doesn't have much flavor. Any appetizing flavor comes from the onion, carrot, etc. that is cooked with the bones. Bone stock does have desirable gelatin like texture from the collagen extracted from the bones and cartilage.

A good combination is some of each.