Many recipes use chicken stock as part of the groundwork for a dish. In the past I've just bought chicken stock cubes or ready made stock purely because I didn't know how to make my own stock. Shop-bought stocks can have a salty taste which I'm not too keen on, especially the stock cubes. Nowadays I try to use every part of a whole chicken, including making the stock from the carcass. It makes me feel as though I've used the chicken we'd bought to its full potential.