This pressure cooker chicken stock dates from 2014, World Cup summer, when I had just acquired a pressure cooker — 30€ from somewhere local, too good an opportunity not to try. Time was tight even for cooking, a chicken carcass was winking at me from the fridge, and the pressure cooker felt like the answer.

My mother swears by hers. She made red lentil soup in it for years, and it was always good — which tells you something, because if it were possible to spoil food in a pressure cooker, she would have found a way.

Brown chicken stock in the pressure cooker — roasted bones, onion skins, 2014

For a brown stock, I roasted the carcass first, then into the pot it went with carrots, celery, leek, a tomato, bay leaf, parsley stalks, black peppercorns, and onion. I also added the onion skins from the main onions and from a batch of pickling onions I happened to be peeling at the time, so I threw those in too. Onion skins add colour and depth, and the flavonoids sit mostly in and just below the skin. Whether they survive the cooking process, I genuinely don't know, but I feel better for including them — a bit like my granny adding the cabbage water to her soup.

The result was a dark, gelatinous pressure cooker chicken stock in considerably less time than a conventional pot would have taken.

My pressure cooker has since given up the ghost. These days I make stock in a heavy pan over a very low flame — same ingredients, longer process, and same result. If you have a pressure cooker, use it. If not, the slow method works just as well.

One tip worth keeping regardless of method: put the finished stock in the fridge overnight. In the morning the fat will have solidified on top — skim it off cleanly, and what's underneath is pure, clear stock.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock — Ingredients

• 1 roasted chicken carcass
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, halved — skins included
• A handful of onion skins from pickling onions (if available)
• 1 tomato
• 1 bay leaf
• A few parsley stalks
• A few black peppercorns
• Cold water to cover

Method

1. Roast the chicken carcass in a hot oven until golden and well-coloured — this is what makes it brown stock rather than pale stock.
2. Transfer to the pressure cooker with all the vegetables, skins, herbs, and peppercorns. Cover with cold water.
3. Bring to pressure and cook for 45 minutes. Release the pressure, strain through a fine sieve, and leave to cool.
4. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, skim off the solidified fat from the surface. Use immediately or freeze.

Without a pressure cooker: bring to a gentle simmer in a large pan, skim any foam from the surface, and cook uncovered over very low heat for 3–4 hours.

This recipe is part of my Stock & Gravy Recipes collection — from classic brown stock to proper gravies and everything in between. Explore the full Stock & Gravy Recipes collection.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef