You let it go for 24 hours. "Everyone else" does it for 3 to 4 hours. I very much doubt that you get any extra flavor in yours for the extra 20 hours. There's only so much to be extracted, and the shorter time is enough.
Wings or wing tips are good parts for stock, too. You can also put in the rest of the chicken(s) for about the first 45 minutes, then remove for other uses as poached chicken.
I don't like to add herbs because I don't know which flavors will work best for whatever use I eventually make of the stock. Keep it simple.
At the most.
No.
Dinner Tonight: Fu FuWhile searching for the "baby" mushrooms for the Three Mushroom Soup recipe I posted earlier I came across...
Doesn't have to be that long. Just cool enough to handle. Put the pot in an ice bath to speed the process.
Making stock is one of the most frequently recurring topics here. Google the archives for more opinions than anyone could sort through. My personal findings after years of making stock don't seem to be shared by anybody else, even though I know from direct experimentation that they work. They are, one, add some salt to the stock at the beginning of the process. It doesn't have to be so much as to alter the taste, but it definitely enhances the process of extracting flavor from the chicken into the liquid. Secondly, add a little bit of sherry or dry vermouth also. It increases the amount of gelatin extracted into the liquid. -aem
