Chicken Stock - Boil Twice?

Question

I have a sick relative and I'd like to make a really flavorful chicken stock to make chicken soup for them.

I watched a video on youtube.com, by 'Sorted' and they mentioned that you boil your chicken, then dump the water, rinse the chicken, and start over. I've never heard of this and they've been known to redo recipes when they learn new stuff.

The idea behind it was that supposedly, you boil it for a short time and all the 'impurities' come out, then you start with fresh water and boil for the stock. The same as people say you should cook ramen, but don't serve it in the water it was cooked in, because of all the preservatives that wash off.

Can anyone verify if this idea of cooking a chicken twice actually removes 'impurities', or am I throwing out flavorful chicken water? I've definitely hear of skimming the foam off the top of the pot to remove 'bad stuff'. Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Think I found the video you are talking about: Sorted Traditional Ramen @ 3:34

They are not making stock when they dump the water, Ben and James (chefs in the video) are only bringing the water to a boil. They are blanching the pig and chicken to get the scum, this is mainly because the pig parts they are using has a lot of denatured protein. It is not boiled twice Ben says @4:01 "bring to a boil" he doesn't say to leave it there.

Sorted also has these recipes written out in the descriptions of the videos if you ever get confused like this in the future.

The recipe for the "TONKOTSU RAMEN BROTH" (Traditional Ramen), if you don't want to make ramen just stop after the stock is made.

If you meant these videos:

Ultimate Ramen Chef Battle

Ben is still doing the same thing possibly a different pork bits.

Big Night In Ramen @ 1:09

Same thing just with pork ribs.

Hopefully I was able to help! Good luck and hope your relative gets well soon! It was fun trying to find these videos!

Answer 2

There are indeed "impurities", but they are tasty impurities. If you want most of the flavor, you are better off making it the traditional way and keep skimming as you have.

The reason chefs might remove them is for aesthetics, since you'll get a clearer stock this way than if you just skim. If you think that your relative will place a higher value on the stock's clarity than on the intensity of the taste, you can try that method, or other methods for getting clear stock, we have a question on them somewhere. But you seem to prefer to optimize for the aroma, so making the stock without a change of water is likely better suited to your situation.