Liquid Comfort

While making chicken etouffee last night, I took my scraps from the chicken and veggies and made some great stock. Is there anything quite as gratifying as making your own chicken stock? It's a simple process really, but the results are always delicious. A nice golden colored stock full of chicken flavored goodness. Here's how I usually get my chicken stock together.
I start with a whole chicken. Break it down and use the scraps for the stock, these scraps include the neck, the back from between the thighs, wing tips and any other small pieces that I can't cook up for something else.
Next I get my veggie scraps together. I don't mind using the entire veggie, but prefer to use the end pieces that I'd normally throw away. I generally only use the aromatic veggies for my stock. Carrots, onions, and celery, occasionally though I throw in some pepper tops or something to add a little more depth.
Lastly I throw in my bouquet garni. This is just a fancy word for the herbs: bay leaf, thyme and parsley. Usually they are tied together or tied up in a piece of cheesecloth. I use a coffee filter and a twist tie since they are things that I always seem to have around the house.
Now, as far as the water goes, I try to get about a quart of stock out of one carcass. So I use about 1 1/2 quarts of water to start and reduce it down to one quart.
If you want a little deeper flavor in your stock, try roasting the carcass first till it's nice and crispy.
Now, as you can tell, I'm not much of a purist when it comes to chicken stock, but, in the end, it always turns out great. Now, we just need to figure out what use the stock for!