It seems very strange to me that every instruction for stock making suggests that you should bring the liquid up to a simmering temperature. I use stock a lot, and used to find it rather a chore. Now it is easy because I cook it very slowly indeed for a long time. No need to skim or clarify, and you get a beautiful, deep flavour.
We have a roast chicken for Sunday lunch about every other week. Once the cats have eaten the legs and thighs (actually cheaper than cat food, and they actually eat it rather than the disdainful sniff that most pet food gets), the carcass goes into a big saucepan with the saved leg and thigh bones. An onion, with any papery skin removed but the rest of the brown outside left on will give some colour. A stick of celery and a peeled carrot are both important. I am probably wrong but I think carrot skin can be bitter. A dozen whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves complete the pot. Pour in cold water to within 1/2" of the top.
I put it on at the lowest possible heat on the smallest gas burner which is the one inside the big ring on our hob, with a heat diffuser under the pan, without a lid. There should be no bubbles whatever, and the only movement being slight swirls of oil, if that. This can be left overnight, but it needs 8 to 10 hours. Strain it and you will have about one and a half pints of stock. I usually remove all traces of fat with a piece of kitchen paper towel laid gently on the surface and then reduce this by half over a low gas. Once the bones are out and there is no fat, there is nothing to make it cloudy.
Alternatively a low oven, say at about 80 to 90C, would work I guess but I have never done it that way.
Alternatively a low oven, say at about 80 to 90C, would work I guess but I have never done it that way.
Bingo!
