Stovetop Chicken Chintan Stock (Clear Chicken Stock for Ramen) Recipe

Place chicken breast meat in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until meat is well chopped up and roughly resembles ground beef. Add remaining chicken parts to a stockpot. Place ground chicken breast meat on top and cover with water by about 2 inches (about 2 quarts or 1.8L water). Place stockpot over high heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to break up ground-meat mixture. Adjust heat to medium-low or low to maintain a bare simmer; the temperature of the water should register around 205°F (96°C) and a steady but gentle stream of rising bubbles should be visible, with little to no agitation on the surface of the liquid. Adjust the pot's position so that it is not directly over the eye of the burner, but off to the side, to create a convection current. (This will help regulate the temperature of the liquid.) Keep at a bare simmer for 3 hours. Place chopped leek, onion, carrot, garlic, and ginger in a large heatproof mixing bowl. Using a ladle or large spoon, skim off the layer of fat on top of the stock. (This fat can be strained of any debris and used as an aroma oil for ramen, or for some other purpose; it can also be discarded.) Leftover chicken parts can be used to make niban tori paitan broth, or they can be discarded. Discard ground chicken breast meat. Strain stock through a fine-mesh strainer into the mixing bowl with the chopped vegetables. Submerge kombu in stock and let steep 45 minutes. Strain stock through fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Vegetables and kombu can be reserved for use in niban tori paitan broth, or they can be discarded. Decant stock into sealable containers and refrigerate.