The argument against making stock is a reasonable one. It takes time. It requires you to have bones, or a carcass, or the kind of vegetable scraps that most people throw away. It produces several litres of liquid that then need storing. For a weeknight dinner, none of this is practical.
But the argument for making stock is simple: everything you cook with it will taste better in a way that is immediately and undeniably noticeable. The difference between a risotto made with cube stock and one made with a good chicken stock is not subtle. It is the difference between a dish that tastes of ingredients and a dish that tastes of flavour.
The Easiest Stock You’ll Ever Make
The lowest-effort path to good stock is the roast chicken carcass. After a roast, put the carcass in a pot with a halved onion, a couple of carrots, a celery stick, a few peppercorns, and a bay leaf. Cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer and leave it for two to three hours. Strain. Done.
This produces roughly a litre and a half of stock that will keep in the fridge for five days or in the freezer indefinitely. If you’re already cooking a roast chicken once a week, you’re halfway there.
What Makes It Better
The bones should be roasted if you want a darker, richer stock. The remains of a roast already are. If you’re starting with raw bones, put them in a hot oven for thirty minutes first.
Cold water matters. Starting cold draws the proteins out slowly and produces a clearer stock. Hot water gives you something cloudier but still perfectly usable — for most home cooking, clarity is less important than flavour.
Don’t boil it. A simmer produces a cleaner result. Boiling agitates the fat and proteins into the liquid and makes it murky and slightly bitter.
Storage
Freeze stock in portions that match how you cook. I use 500ml containers for general-purpose use and ice cube trays for small amounts needed for deglazing or sauces. Once frozen, transfer the cubes to a bag — they’ll keep for three months without significant flavour loss.
Label everything. Stock cubes look identical and you will not remember whether the freezer bag contains chicken or vegetable stock six weeks from now.
A Concession
There are moments when a stock cube is the right answer. Late on a Tuesday night when you need a sauce and there’s nothing in the freezer — that is not the moment to feel bad about a cube. The goal is to have homemade stock often enough that the cube is the exception rather than the rule.
Once you have it regularly, you’ll find you use it in places you wouldn’t have thought to: deglazing a pan after frying onions, loosening a braise that’s gone too thick, cooking lentils instead of water. It becomes a background element that quietly improves everything, and you’ll notice the lack of it on the weeks you run out.