Chicken broth

[chickpea]

Hi Shelley and everyone
I roasted a chicken tonight and wondered if I can do anything more with the leftover bones since they've already been cooked?
I wanted to make chicken broth but couldn't be bothered to dissect the chicken when it was still raw.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Anne

[shelley]

yep, you can still use them to make chicken broth.

You can use a whole chicken to make broth. Don't dissect it until it's been cooked. Then use the chicken for something like burritos, or make chicken soup, etc.

[chickpea]

Thanks Shelley,
Yes I should have realised that and stuck the whole chicken in a pot instead of the oven
Anyway that's good I'll make the broth tomorrow!
Anne

[J F]

One of my favorite ways to eat chicken is pulled out of the pot after cooking the broth for an hour. So, you get your delicious broth AND a few good meals with shredded cooked chicken, assuming you don't toss the meat back in the pot for soup (my personal favorite). The other ingredients soak into the meat and it is so tender and juicy. I have my chicken quarted at the store before I toss it in the pot. It fits in the pot easier.

I must admit, the best part is actually tasting the delicious melted chicken fat that's floated to the surface of the broth. (sigh)

[shelley]

I like that fat too. in fact, I rarely strain my broths, they remain rich and I consider those GOOD fats!

[J F]

Amen.

STRAIN your broths???? That's pure sacrilige! The shame.

I've got this thing for the way the fat will coat your lips and make them all smooth and soft. Not a single gloss on the market that can sooth chapped lips like chicken broth fat. LOL Although it's not very romantic.

[Invincible]

[chickpea]

Yes Trinity farm which is the local one that it delivers to is too difficult for me to get to now without a car. I used to go there a lot in my car but sold it last year
I'll just stick to Sainsburys or Out of This World for now and buy a whole chicken and get a few meals out of it aswell
Thanks Invince

[Dulci]

oooh, I love chicken soup, I make a lot of it.

I can’t find the article from my Cook's Illustrated magazine, so here’s my paraphrased version of their Chicken Soup method. This is a lot of trouble, but sooo worth it.

Take your small whole chicken and cut the breasts off the bone, set them aside. Get your poultry shears or big knife out and hack the chicken up in small pieces, make sure there is no bone longer than 2 inches. (This is the hardest part, but it is important, helps to get all the marrow out.)

Put a little oil in the bottom of your stock pot and brown the breasts, really get them caramelized. Take them out and set aside. Put half your hacked chicken in the pot and brown, then set aside in a bowl. Brown the other half, put in bowl. (Browning first will give you roasted, not boiled chicken flavor.)

Put one large chopped onion in the pot and soften, then put all the browned chicken on top of the onion (leave out the breasts for now.) Now put the lid on, turn the heat down low and let it all 'sweat' for 20 minutes. Your house is going to smell so good.

In the meantime, you have another pot going with boiling water. After the 20 minute sweat, pour the boiling water over your chicken and let it simmer for another 20 minutes.

Chop up another onion, your carrots and celery and herbs and whatever you like in your chicken soups and have them ready. After the 20 minutes simmer, dip off the scum, then strain your stock out and throw out all the hacked chicken and bones, they are rags now and tasteless.

Take the 2 tablespoons or so of the chicken fat and heat it in your stockpot, and soften your vegetables and whatever herbs you like. Pour the cleaned stock over your softened vegetables and finger shred your browned chicken breasts into the pot, let simmer for another 20 minutes or so. Add egg noodles or a little rice and cook until they are done!

I like to add the juice of half a lemon to the soup at the very end.