Day: June 18, 2022

While I was growing up, it seemed my mother always had a pot containing a chicken carcass, the “holy trinity” of vegetables (onions, celery and carrots), aromatic herbs and some water simmering on the back burner of the stove.

Of course, this was in the Stone Age when you didn’t readily find boneless, skinless chicken thighs at the local grocery. You bought a whole chicken, learned how to break it down, and rather than throw the stripped carcass directly into the trash, you made stock.

Stocks — the liquid resulting from simmering meat, bones, fish trimmings or other ingredients together with vegetables, seasonings and water — are one of the first things chefs in training learn to make. They are what Julia Childs refers to as “fonds de cuisine … literally the foundation and working capital of the kitchen.” This liquid, boiled down to intensify its flavor and then strained,