Brown Chicken Stock

White chicken stock looks quite anemic, so in order to give it more depth of colour the first thing to do is brown the chicken carcass. This also gives the stock a lot more flavour.

I chicken carcass
I carrot
I onion
2 sticks celery
I leek
Vegetable oil
A sprig of thyme
I bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoon white flour

Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the carcass in a roasting tray and put in oven for 15-20 minutes.

Chop carrot, onion, celery, leek into large chunks. Heat some oil in a pan and add the chopped vegetables, along with the thyme, bay leaf and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until golden brown, stirring frequently. Add the tomato puree and cook for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture is a rich brown colour.

Five minutes before taking the chicken carcass out of the oven, lightly dust with flour. The flour not only acts as a thickening agent to the stock but stops it becoming greasy, as it soaks up all the access fat. This way the stock becomes really beautiful and transparent. Return the carcass to the oven for 5 final minutes, then pick the bones out of the tray and add them to the pan of vegetables. Top up the pan with just enough water to cover the bones. It is very important to use cold water so that any fat or grease left on the vegetable or bones will solidify and rise to the surface, where you can skim it off. If you use boiling water it will disperse the fat throughout the stock. Bring the stock to the boil, turn the heat down, skim the scum off the top and let it simmer for an hour. Pass through a sieve.

Makes 1 Litre, will keep in air tight container, in fridge.

Extracted from Kitchen Heaven by Gordon Ramsay.