Brodo di Pollo all'Italiana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 10-quart stockpot
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Cheesecloth or clean kitchen towel
• •Ladle for skimming

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the chicken

   Remove any giblets from the chicken cavity. Rinse the bird briefly under cold water and place it breast-side down in a heavy stockpot. The chicken goes in whole. Do not cut it up. The bones release their gelatin slowly, and the meat stays tender enough to use afterward.

2. 2

   Add cold water

   Pour the cold water over the chicken. The water must be cold. This is not negotiable. Hot water seals the surface and traps impurities inside. Cold water extracts flavor and gelatin gradually as the temperature rises. The chicken should be covered by at least two inches of water.

   If your pot is too small, use a smaller chicken. The bird must be submerged. A cramped pot with insufficient water makes weak broth.
3. 3

   Bring to a simmer slowly

   Set the pot over medium heat and bring the water to a simmer slowly. This should take 30 to 40 minutes. Watch the pot. As it heats, grayish foam will rise to the surface. Skim this scum away with a large spoon or small ladle. You will skim several times in the first hour. This is the price of clear broth.

4. 4

   Maintain a lazy simmer

   Once the broth reaches a simmer, reduce the heat to low. The surface should barely move, with only an occasional bubble breaking through. Never let it boil. Boiling churns fat into the liquid and makes the broth cloudy and greasy. A lazy simmer extracts flavor while keeping the broth clean.

   If your burner cannot maintain a low enough simmer, use a heat diffuser or set the pot slightly off-center on the burner.
5. 5

   Add the aromatics

   After 30 minutes of simmering, add the carrots, celery, onion halves, parsley stems, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Do not add salt yet. Salt at the end, when you know the final concentration. The vegetables go in late because they would turn to mush over three hours. They need only the last two and a half hours to give their flavor.

6. 6

   Simmer for three hours

   Continue simmering at the laziest bubble for a total of three hours from when you first reached a simmer. Skim occasionally if more foam rises. Do not stir. Stirring disturbs the fat and clouds the broth. Leave it alone. The broth will turn golden as it cooks, and the kitchen will smell of everything good.

7. 7

   Strain carefully

   Remove the pot from heat. Lift out the chicken carefully with two large spoons or tongs and set it aside. If you want to use the meat, let it cool until you can handle it. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into a clean pot or large bowl. Do not press on the solids. Let gravity do the work. Pressing releases cloudy particles.

   The boiled chicken meat is not waste. Shred it for soup, chicken salad, or sandwiches. It has given much to the broth but retains enough flavor to be useful.
8. 8

   Degrease and season

   Let the strained broth settle for 10 minutes, then skim the fat from the surface with a ladle. For the clearest broth, refrigerate overnight and lift off the solidified fat in the morning. Season with salt only now, tasting as you go. The broth should taste of chicken, round and full, with the vegetables as background notes. It is ready to use.

Chef Tips

• •A free-range or organic chicken makes noticeably better broth. The bird lived longer and developed more flavor in its bones and muscles. Factory chickens produce thin, watery broth no matter how long you simmer them.
• •Leave the onion skin on. It gives the broth its golden color. This is not tradition for tradition's sake. The skin contains quercetin, which adds depth of color without affecting flavor.
• •Save the parsley leaves for another use. The stems contain more essential oil than the leaves and release it slowly without the bitterness that cooked parsley leaves develop.
• •If you need the broth immediately, drop several ice cubes into the warm strained liquid. The fat will cling to the ice, making it easy to remove.

Advance Preparation

• •Brodo refrigerates for up to five days. Store it with the fat cap intact; it forms a seal that preserves freshness. Remove the fat before using.
• •The broth freezes beautifully for six months. Freeze in one-cup or two-cup portions for easy use. Label them. In three months, you will not remember what is in that container.
• •Reduce the strained broth by half for concentrated flavor that takes less freezer space. Reconstitute with water when needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)