Priscilla’s Cooking BLOG

TCM Chicken Broth from Scratch without the Chinese herbs

TCM Diet

I will teach to prepare the golden liquid that you can use as base for many recipes. My patients know I ask them to add Chicken Broth to their daily life and some of them never cooked in their lives and they feel very lost when someone ask them to cook. Where to start? It is not that difficult. When I got married I did not know how to cook. I did not know the basics. But I had one thing in mind, I wanted to learn and I was not afraid to fail. To fail is part of cooking, you can’t win all the time, but your mistakes will help to improve your cooking and a good chef should not have fear to try.
To make a great chicken broth you need to select good ingredients. I try to buy organic and local products but you do what you can. In this recipe I used 2 kg of chicken thighs with bones.This particular tray I bought at Costco and I used the whole tray for this recipe. Chicken thighs make an easy and inexpensive dinner. I do not use box chicken broth, even the organic low sodium is not going to be as tasty and health as the homemade one.

Ingredients :

2 kg of Chicken thighs with bones
3 cups of chopped Brussels sprouts
4 big carrots chopped
2 leeks chopped and rest in water for 30 min to clean the insides and make sure it is no sand/dirty
2 big white onions chopped
5 roman tomatoes Chopped
3 fresh sticks of rosemary chopped (only the leaves)
6 fresh sage leaves chopped
6 fresh basil leaves chopped
5 garlic chopped
salt and pepper ( I used kosher salt 2 table spoons and 1 table spoon of fresh ground pepper)
3 sticks of celery chopped
Italian dry spices ( 1 table spoon)
Dry oregano
1 lemon peel
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

put all the ingredients in a big tray that can go to Oven , in this case I used my Turkey tray that could fit 5 liters of water and a big 6 kg turkey. Once all the ingredients are on the tray cover with water 3/4 of the tray
( no need to cover with anything) and put inside the oven 350oF for 1 hour and turn Temperature down to 300 F for 2 more hours.

Stray everything and get the clear broth in separate containers ( in the photo you can see how much broth I got it ) and put in the fridge when it cools down and it is good for 7 days, in case you wanted to save for several weeks put in zip-lock ( 1 L in each one) and freeze it.

if you plan to use the Chinese herbs, I use the SOUP STOCK SUK CHUEN DAI PO TON | you can find at LUCKY supermarket in Winnipeg | 120 G and cost 5 dollars , here is the photo at the website: http://www.clickemart.ca/soup-stock-suk-chuen-dai-po-ton-lucky-120-g.html

You just need to wash the herbs that comes in the package with clean water and add to the chicken and veggies. Just please DO NOT EAT THE CHINESE HERBS!!! ( these herbs are tree barks, roots they will not taste good)
You can use the Silkie Chicken the same way instead of the regular Chicken, for the same recipe use one whole chicken, please do not take of its head and feet, keep it all, no need to cut it. Just remove the inside bag that you can dispose. You can find Frozen in Chinese markets, I find mine at Luckys or Yangs (http://www.youngsmarket.ca/) .”According to Chinese medicine, the black Silkie chicken can help to warm the body and strengthen the immune system. The chicken is believed to be especially helpful for women. According to Modern Farmer, eating a Silkie will help to increase female fertility, nourish a pregnant woman’s developing child, and help to restore vitality in women who find they can’t quite get in the mood after childbirth.

In the West, these chickens aren’t used for food very often due to the cost it takes to raise them to maturity, and the tough, boney nature of their flesh. ” ( http://www.medicaldaily.com/silkie-chickens-black-skin-and-bones-thought-aid-female-sexuality-we-just-think-theyre-306881)

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Later on I will teach some Italian Chicken Pasta using this Chicken broth and the meat and veggies from this Broth. I do not like any waist in my kitchen. You might not like to eat this chicken plain because of long roasted cooking in water all the flavor stayed in its Broth. My advice is after you get your Golden liquid , take all the meat from your chicken, be careful to dispose the bones and skin and others solid parts you will not eat. Also get the brussels sprouts, the carrots and save it, just chopped in small pieces that you can use in this pasta I will teach.