It’s hard to find gluten-free, MSG-free chicken broth in Shanghai. Chinese people like to use this thing called 鸡精 (chicken essence/powder) for all their cooking. The chicken powder is found in all supermarkets and comes in big bags. The chicken powder adds a wonderful flavor to dishes (stir-fries, vegetables, meat, soup), but unfortunately, it contains modified starch and a lot of MSG. All other chicken bouillon cubes, powder, and canned broth contain modified starch and MSG as well. We’ve not been able to make tasty gourmet dishes without this basic ingredient.

Recently, I was able to find gluten-free organic free range chicken broth in the import section of Carrefour. I bought two cartons and used them to make chicken pot pie. The chicken broth is very tasty, but also very expensive. An 1-pint carton of the broth costs around 35 RMB!

Today, I learned how to make my own gluten-free chicken broth and for only a fraction of the cost! I found a simple recipe from Simply Recipes. You can make a lot at one time and keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Ingredients:

leftover chicken bones and skin onions celery carrots

salt pepper parsley

 

Instructions:

1. Put the leftover bones and skin from a chicken carcass into a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Add veggies like celery, onion, carrots, parsley.
2. Add salt and pepper, about 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper.
3. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to barely a simmer.
4. Simmer uncovered at least 4 hours, occasionally skimming off the foam that comes to the surface.
5. Remove the bones and strain the stock.

Last night, I made rotisserie chicken for dinner so we had a lot of chicken bones/skin. Come to think of it, it’s kind of gross to use leftover chicken bones/skins that we’ve touched, licked, and chewed… but I guess it’s just the two of us eating my cooking anyway.