chicken stock

Quite awhile back, I wrote an entry about crock pot chicken stock. I still do it from time to time, but I have sort of changed my strategy. As much as I love the convenience of having a chicken that is fully-cooked and 8 cups of stock ready, I don't love the way the breast meat, especially, cooks in water. I have been experimenting for a month or two with how to make chicken breast that I love but also having a ton of stock.

Also, someone mentioned to me that someone (a Master Chef of some kind) mentioned to them that eating parts of chicken when you can't see the entire carcass is gross. Since you don't see the whole carcass, you have no idea how battered or how diseased the rest of the chicken may have been. I don't know, food for thought. This concept also points to why I've chosen to buy whole chicken instead of parts when I just want the eat breast meat.

So you have your whole chicken: 2 breasts, two thighs, two drumsticks, two wings, a back and a neck, maybe some guts if you're lucky (no really, it's like the richest meat for stock). Of all those parts, we eat the breast, the thighs and the drumsticks. If we want wings, we go out. Hubs loves B-dub, i.e. Buffalo Wild Wings, and we both are on a beer kick. ...I debone the breast, then cut off the thighs and drumsticks. There is a flexible method to it, as seen in the above video.

I take the rest, even if I have the livers and other organ meat, stick it in the crock pot or a stock pot with some salt, pepper, and 8-12 cups of water, and let it cook all day, all night, or for literally as long as you want. The longer it simmers, the richer it will be.

If you don't have time to make the stock, throw the carcass-post-deboning in a ziploc and in the freezer, save it for a later date.

When you're all done cooking, strain it, so you have only the stock and the rest will be left behind in the strainer. I just toss this. Don't feed it to your dog, though, chicken bones can kill canines. :( But if you have a cat or cats, they might love this!

I then put the chicken stock in stock pot to rest in the fridge for a night or two. This allows the fat to float to the top. Skim it off, and use it as you like. If I am feeling really good, I separate it into quart bags, so you have 4 cups (which most recipes call for) handy.

Fun tip: if you do separate it into bags, put a piece of folded wax or parchment paper in between the bags and freeze them laying flat. That way you can easily separate the bags when you go to retrieve them!