Lilly Higgins: Halloween is a time to boil your bones and take stock

With Halloween on the horizon what better recipe to make this week than Bone Broth. A bubbling cauldron of bones, also known as stock, has never been more apt. My mother always had a pot of this bubbling on the stove on Sunday evenings. A chicken never passed through the house without every bit of it being used. In Ballymaloe Cookery School part of the 12-week course instructs students on seven different dishes that can be made from a single chicken ranging from chicken liver pate to roast crispy chicken skin with plum sauce for dipping. That exercise is the pinnacle of thrift and highly dependent on a perfect plump healthy chicken. It’s terrible to see whole chickens for sale for €3. I doubt much goodness would be had from boiling one of those tiny carcasses up.

I often roast a chicken just to get the resulting stock, a nutrient-rich broth made from simmering the carcass. It was always seen as an ingredient rather than a dish in itself but recently it has really come into its own and is gaining popularity for all of it’s legendary restorative benefits. It’s full of vitamins and minerals and the perfect recovery drink due to its high levels of collagen.

The Hemsley sisters, two London-based whole foods goddesses, even have tote bags emblazoned with their now famous catchphrase, “Boil Your Bones”.They have somehow made old-fashioned stock trendy.

You can make stock in a heavy-based pot or use a slow cooker. Gently simmer the bones for six to 24 hours, depending on what you’re using. Chicken carcasses need the least time with six hours being plenty enough, whilst beef bones will benefit form being simmered for as long as you can. I sometimes only cook the stock for an hour or two. Just enough to make a flavoured stock as a base for vegetable soup or to use in sauces. Asian dishes such as Vietnamese Pho depend on a really good broth base so invest time in these broths and you will taste the reward. I sometimes add ginger, lime leaves and some bruised lemon grass to the pot in place of the ingredients below. A mug of this fragrant broth with a splash of soy sauce or half a teaspoon of miso stirred through is just divine and the perfect drink for chilly winter days. You can freeze rich stock in an ice cube tray and just pop one cube into a mug of boiling water when needed.

Making this broth is easy but do make sure you roast the bones first for flavour. I usually roast the chicken first, pick off every bit of meat, then throw the chopped-up carcass in the pot. You can roast the carcass again or just use it as is. You must use cold water as that will leach the flavour from the bones as it heats. There are so many possibilities with broth and it’s the key to a healthy winter.

BONE BROTH: MAKES ABOUT TWO LITRES

Ingredients
1 chicken carcass, from a roast chicken
3 bay leaves
1 onion or leek, roughly chopped
1 carrot, thickly sliced
1tbs black peppercorns
3 sprigs parsley

Method
Break the carcass up using a sharp chopping knife. Cut it into four or five pieces, enough for the nutrients to leach from the bones. Place everything in a heavy-based pot, then cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for two to six hours.

Remove the chicken carcass and vegetables. Pour the broth through a fine sieve to remove any tiny bone particles. Leave the broth to cool quickly in a wide container and keep in the fridge or freezer.