Chicken Stock Part 2: In which I admit to being kind of a goober sometimes.

Your lovely stock is done. Now what do you do with it?

You pour it into containers and freeze it, that's what. The thing is, though, you can't go straight from hot slow cooker to freezer. You need to cool it down first, and letting it cool down slowly on the counter top is a bad, bad idea.

Do you remember when we talked about The Danger Zone?

No.

40 degrees to 140 degrees Farenheit. Listeria, salmonella, shigella and its cousin e. coli, and so many others thrive in that range. At a restaurant, food kept at that range for more than two hours is supposed to be thrown out.

So, why don't you just put it in the refrigerator? Because chances are the icebox in your kitchen doesn't have air moving around inside. Your hot stock will become enveloped in a pocket of hot, insulating air. It will eventually fade, but not before bringing the rest of the contents of your coolerator into the danger zone for entirely too long. Likewise the freezer will experience a thaw.

Not good.

Here's what you're going to need to cool your stuff down quickly and effectively:

A mesh strainer, preferably lined with cheesecloth. It's not necessary, though. A fine mesh should catch any flotsam.
A 9" by 13" cake pan.
A 10" by 15" baking pan.
Lots of ice. Enough to fill the big pan about an inch deep.

And now I really wish I'd have taken some picture of this procedure. No excuses, I flat out forgot. I apologize. We'll just have to use our imaginations.

Ok, here we go. Fill that big pan like I described with an inch of ice. Lay your cake pan on top of the ice. Yes, right side up. Lay your mesh strainer, also right side up, in the cake pan.

Now you have two options for transferring your stock from the slow cooker into the chilled cake pan. You can either pour the stock directly from the ceramic insert through the strainer into the cake pan. Make sure to use pot holders or oven mitts for that. The other option is to ladle the stock out, one scoop at a time. Either one is fine, and is entirely up to you.

A word of advice if you're using the first method. You still have screechingly hot vegetables and chicken paws in your stock pot. Keep that in mind when you pour. Go slowly, and stop every now and then to discard those used up, but still insanely hot, stock ingredients.

Got all that stuff in the cake pan and it's cooling? Now you want to get your containers ready. I like the one pint screw top containers best. They're good for multiple uses, and they don't cost much.

A quick work on BPA, if that concerns you. Check your packaging materials. If it's free of BPA it should say so, stamped right on the plastic.

Here's what the FDA has to say about it. It is illegal for use in baby bottles and sippy cups. You do you. I will say no more on this topic.

I will say a bit on another topic, though. Don't use freezer bags for this. In my experience, they tend to spring leaks. Stock, being mostly water, will expand in the freezer. Plastic bags tend to contract, which could well result in a rupture. Screw top containers tend to behave the same way, but also tend to be a bit sturdier, so long as you don't over fill them before they go in the freezer.

How full is too full? You'll see a ridge along the outside of the container. That's your stop sign. Don't fill it any more than that. When it expands it'll hit the underside of the lid and possibly split it. Basically, keep the top of the stock a centimeter below the lid. You should be fine.

Friends, I give you your finished product. I remembered to get that one.

And there you have it. Front to back, raw to in the freezer, should take about five hours with hands on time of roughly forty-five minutes, and that's if you're being pokey. It's time well spent. Also, a key ingredient to one of the Mother Sauces of French cooking.

What's that? Mother sauces?

Stay tuned.

I like sauce.