5 lbs cut-up chicken with the bones (Misty Knoll leg/thigh pieces are a great price and work perfectly for this recipe)

Cold Water

2 Bay Leaves

1t Peppercorns

Ginger, Garlic and other aromatics as you please

Put the chicken, bay leaves, peppercorns, and aromatics into a large pot and fill the pot with cold water.  (Cold water is important since hot water may have residue from the water sitting in the hot water tank.)  Cover the chicken with 2 to 4 inches of water.  Bring the pot of water and chicken to a boil and then turn the heat down to a slow simmer for about 30 minutes or until the leg/thighs are cooked through.  Skim off any foam that forms - this is from impurities and you don't want them in your soup as they will cloud your broth.  Remove the pot from the stove and take the the chicken out to cool on a plate or in a large bowl.  Return the pot to the stove to keep warm.

When the chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove all of the chicken mean from the bones.  Put this chicken meat into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze for another use.  Return the bones to the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil again.  Once the pot boils, turn it down to a slow simmer (you should just see a bubble or two every 10 seconds or so).  Simmer the bones for about 3 to 4 hours.  So...how time consuming is it to have a pot simmering away on your stove while you can be doing something else?

After 3 or 4 hours, remove the pot from the heat and pour the broth through a colander into another pot.  Discard the bones.  To clarify the broth you can strain it through several layers of cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer.  Season as desired - it will need quite a bit of salt to bring out the rich chicken flavor, but be careful not to over salt it - if you use it for a reduction sauce, the salt will concentrate and it will become too salty.

Note that when you refrigerate this broth it will gel - that is because you have extracted the nutritious and hearty gelatin from the bones of the chicken.

Even if your chicken was frozen before you made the broth you can freeze this broth because it has been cooked.