why won't my stock gel?

[Guest guest]

I've been making chicken stock for about a year--I bought a bunch of

natural whole chickens (no heads or feet) and froze them, then used

one every once in a while. The broth always gelled. But since I ran

out of those and have been buying other natural chickens/chicken

parts, I can't seem to get the broth to gel on any consistent basis.

I can use the same amount and brand of chicken parts two different

times and one batch will gel and one won't. Can someone help me

figure out why this is? My last batch of stock made about 5 cups of

stock from 1 1/3 lbs of whole chicken legs, which I simmered about 16

hours.

Also, is it possible to get beef stock to gel without adding oxtail if

I only use marrow bones? I can only get marrow bones, and sometimes

oxtail, but I'm having a hard time finding oxtail lately.

[Guest guest]

I slowcooked oxtail recently and that sure gelled! So I imagine that

adding marrow to that would make a prefect stock.

The only reason why other chickens won't gel your stock would be that

they're not properly raised (if you're using the same ratio of water

and chicken as before). Check to see what they're being fed and whether

they're truly free-range. I guess soil quality can be another concern.

fina.

--- In , " tarinya2 " <tarinya2@...>

wrote:

>

> I've been making chicken stock for about a year--I bought a bunch of

> natural whole chickens (no heads or feet) and froze them, then used

> one every once in a while. The broth always gelled. But since I ran

> out of those and have been buying other natural chickens/chicken

> parts, I can't seem to get the broth to gel on any consistent basis.

> I can use the same amount and brand of chicken parts two different

> times and one batch will gel and one won't. Can someone help me

> figure out why this is? My last batch of stock made about 5 cups of

> stock from 1 1/3 lbs of whole chicken legs, which I simmered about 16

> hours.

>

> Also, is it possible to get beef stock to gel without adding oxtail if

> I only use marrow bones? I can only get marrow bones, and sometimes

> oxtail, but I'm having a hard time finding oxtail lately.

>

[Guest guest]

I've always had a hard time for mine to gel, but lately I had success

with both beef and chicken stock.

For beef, I used oxtail and it gelled.

For chicken, I used feet in the stock but I first put them in hot water

so I could peel the skin off of them (or most of it, anyway - this is

per Sally Fallon's suggestion). Worked like a charm !

HTH,

Magda