Re: Re: Help with chicken stock!

October 13, 2002

In a message dated 10/13/02 9:59:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

jafffaus@... writes:

> ONe more question. I've been letting the stock sit in

> the refrigerator all day and the fat still isn't

> congealing to be able to skim it off. How long does

> this usually take? I don't have the pot covered in

> the fridge. Should I cover it?

Is the pot cold? If you have it in a metal pot, especially the pot you

cooked it in, it might take forever to get cool, if you put it in right after

making it. If the pot is cool already, the fat should be starting to

congeal. If not, you have to wait till it's cool. What I usually like to do

is transfer the stock to other glass or steel containers and then put them in

the freezer for a half hour or 20 minutes or so, just to get them cooled down

a little, then put them in the fridge.

If you're anxious to make soup with it, I wouldn't worry about it. Skim off

whatever fat you can, and make the soup whenever you want. The fat won't

hurt you I don't think, and if you have leftovers, the fat will congeal at

the top of the soup, and you can just scrape that off the next time you

reheat it.

By the way, if you have trouble letting it cool, make sure there isn't a very

thin layer of fat on top. Sometimes that can happen and block the steam

inside, keeping it hot, keeping the fat from fully congealing. That happened

the last time I made beef stock.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

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