Stock and Broth Basics

• It's a well-known kitchen principle that simmering food in water leaches out some of the flavor and nutrients. That's why many cooks steam their vegetables, rather than boiling them. Stock-making takes bones, which aren't edible to begin with, and simmers them to extract their flavor and nutrition. The bones and any cartilage clinging to them also contain natural gelatin, which gives the stock a pleasant feeling of richness in the mouth. Classic cuisine distinguishes between stock, which gets most of its flavor from bones, and broth, which gets its flavor from meat. In practice, most stock includes some meat, and chicken stock usually utilizes the wingtips, backs and necks.

Roasting the Bones

• Roasting the bones for your stock gives them a deep brown color, the result of a browning process called Maillard reactions. The amino acids in the bones break down in the heat of the oven, recombining in complex ways to create new, savory flavor molecules. Most cooks also roast and brown carrots, celery and onions to go into the stock pot, which emphasizes both the flavor and the color of the browned bones. Stock made with roasted bones and vegetables has a rich medium-brown color and a distinctive taste of roasted chicken.

Not Roasting the Bones

• Making stock with unroasted bones results in a very different stock. The bones are simmered with a mixture of uncooked carrots, celery and onions -- a classic combination called "mirepoix" -- at a moderate temperature. Chicken stock made with unroasted bones is much subtler, with a delicate pale-gold color and a distinct but understated chicken flavor. It's not as savory as stock made with roasted bones, but it is more versatile. Professional kitchens often make both, using whichever stock is appropriate for a given dish.

Using Brown or White Stock

• In restaurants, roasted chicken stock is sometimes called "brown" to distinguish it from the "white" stock made with unroasted bones. It's often used to make gravy and sauces for roasted or grilled chicken dishes, where its brown color and savory, roasted flavors complement the main dish. Clear, delicate white chicken stock is used in soups and light-colored sauces, where its subtlety can be appreciated. Cream soups often use white chicken stock as their base, providing a richer flavor than dairy products alone, and it's useful as the cooking liquid for braised meats or rice and other grain dishes.