Poached Chicken And Superb Stock Recipe

The local market packages bone-on breasts five to a package, and all five fit side by side in the bottom of our 6 qt dutch oven.

Put chicken breasts with skin and bone on, in a large dutch oven or cooking pot (that has a cover).

Pour in chicken broth to cover the breasts. You may need to add a cup or so of water to cover them.

If you want to flavor your stock, now is the time to add chopped celery, onion, shallot, or fresh herbs.

Bring to a boil. As soon as it reaches a rolling boil, shut off the burner and cover the pot. Leave it on that same burner. (Mine takes 17 minutes to reach a rolling boil.)

Let it cool to room temperature. This will vary depending on the type of pot, temperature of your kitchen, and so on. At two hours after shutting off the burner, my pot usually is still a little warm to the touch. I cut open a breast (at two hours) for the photo above, it's completely done and oh so juicy and tender.

Take out the perfectly done chicken and prepare it as you please. This chicken is more healthful than if butter or oil had been used in cooking it ... and it cost less than boneless.

The pot of stock left to cool all the way down should have congealed fat floating on top. Pour it though a strainer to separate out the congealed fat. To remove ALL the fat I like to put the pot in the fridge. It can take three hours to harden the fat, but if you have the time, you can then easily remove it with a sieve spoon, or pour the entire batch through a colander and into a fridge container. Now you have some terrific broth. It's all the more flavorful because of the bones and skin on the breasts.

I keep my broth refrigerated in a half gallon glass root beer jug. I don't know how long it will keep. Mine is always gone within two weeks. It makes yummy chicken noodle soup in minutes. Starting with about two cups of broth, I add cooked wide noodles, cubed, cooked chicken and thin strips of carrot quickly made by attacking a skinned carrot with the peeler. I like to garnish it with thinly sliced green onion and chives.