Chicken Remnants

[ollie]

We cooked a whole chicken for the first time today and I'm wondering to what use I can put the leftover bones, skin, etc. Broth is the obvious thought. Any tips on that?

[AdamH]

A few, and I just made some this weekend.

You can skip adding the skin as it's mostly just fat that you'll later skim off. The bones though are a good thing. Ideally you'll supplement your leftovers with another whole uncooked bird or with more bones. If that's infeasible than add only enough water to cover them.

There's all sorts of options on the other ingredients but I usually do onions/carrots/leeks/celery in a 2:1:1:1 ratio. A cup of onions and half a cup of everything else should be enough.

Bring it all to a bare simmer and keep it there. Come back after 10 minutes and skim off the grey scum which is mostly just blood. Try to keep the simmer really low...the lower it is the less fat that you incorporate into the stock and the clearer the end product.

After the first hour add a bouquet garni (usually bay leaves, thyme, flat parsley, peppercorns). Then walk away from it for up to 8 hours and for as little as maybe 3 or 4.

Dump the finished stock througha fine mesh strainer and if you're really anal about it through cheesecloth. Room temperature, then in the fridge.

In the morning most of the fat will have come to the surface and can be removed. If you started with aenough chicken parts your stock at this point will have gelatinized. Then you can do the Martha thing and spoon it into ice cube trays and freeze it. I don't generally add salt since I use the stock in things that get salted anyway...so if it tastes very bland think of it like a blank canvas.

The chicken skin that you didn't use? Put it in a dry pan over medium heat and render all the fat out of it. We jews call that shmalz. It makes incredible roast potatoes and you should put a tablespoon into your latke mix.

Edited November 22, 2006 by Guest

[M.O.B.E]

A few, and I just made some this weekend.

You can skip adding the skin as it's mostly just fat that you'll later skim off. The bones though are a good thing. Ideally you'll supplement your leftovers with another whole uncooked bird or with more bones. If that's infeasible than add only enough water to cover them.

There's all sorts of options on the other ingredients but I usually do onions/carrots/leeks/celery in a 2:1:1:1 ratio. A cup of onions and half a cup of everything else should be enough.

Bring it all to a boil and reduce it to a bare simmer. Come back after 10 minutes and skim off the grey scum which is mostly just blood. Try to keep the simmer really low...the lower it is the less fat that you incorporate into the stock and the clearer the end product.

After the first hour add a bouquet garni (usually bay leaves, thyme, flat parsley, peppercorns). Then walk away from it for up to 8 hours and for as little as maybe 3 or 4.

Dump the finished stock througha fine mesh strainer and if you're really anal about it through cheesecloth. Room temperature, then in the fridge.

In the morning most of the fat will have come to the surface and can be removed. If you started with aenough chicken parts your stock at this point will have gelatinized. Then you can do the Martha thing and spoon it into ice cube trays and freeze it. I don't generally add salt since I use the stock in things that get salted anyway...so if it tastes very bland think of it like a blank canvas.

The chicken skin that you didn't use? Put it in a dry pan over medium heat and render all the fat out of it. We jews call that shmalz. It makes incredible roast potatoes and you should put a tablespoon into your latke mix.

Im not jewish and I dont make shmalz but it sure does make for some tasty taters no matter what anybody wants to call them. I would call that a potato confit only because my training was mostly french. I agree personally and professionally 95% with that stock description. The only thing you have wrong is the boiling part and the scum. Also I would reduce the amount of liquid by 1/3. I also like to roast the bones before I make stock to bring out all the flavour I possibly can.

1. Stock should never be boiled for the simple fact that boiling cooks the fat into the stock and thus leaves your stock cloudy and it will separate when cooled. All the darker heavier more flavourful parts of the stock will settle as the stock cools and then you will have to reheat it to reimmusify the flavours. Stocks should be brought the point of just boiling and then the heat reduced to a steady simmer.

2. The scum or "fondt" on the top of the stock is a combination of many things. Blood is one of them but its also the fat and hard minerals from the bones and vegetables( mire poix** ). Only simmering the stock will help those things rise to the surface. Its almost the same principal as a consumme and using an egg raft to clear the stock only this would be done after your stock has cooled; only its happening right in the pot as you cook it.

** Mire Poix- the basic mire poix consists of carrots, onions and celery. I also sweat my mire poix before I add the bones or water to the pot. That helps to break the vegetables down a little futher and extract more flavour. I also add a small handfull of whole peppercorns and my bouquet at the same time I sweat the vegetables.

[phishtaper]

jeesh, make me feel like a complete amateur here. im lucky if I can find the kitchen, let alone shmalz or mire poix anything. :crazy:

[ollie]

Let me clarify... we bascially made stock out of the whole chicken, then used the chicken meat to make chicken rice soup.

Do you think I can still squeeze something out of the leftover bones, etc.? Is it even worth it?

[Davey Boy 2.0]

philistine

[ollie]

philistine

What? No bone joke?

[AdamH]

I'll edit my post to take out the "bring to a boil" part. Thanks for correcting me, I knew that but wrote it wrong.

I don't usually roast bones for chicken stock as the difference isn't really noticeable. I do it for Veal, Beef and Pork stocks though.

[M.O.B.E]

No Ollie the bones are garbage if you already used them. I thought you had already eaten the chicken and were looking for a way to use the carcass.

[ollie]

No Ollie the bones are garbage if you already used them. I thought you had already eaten the chicken and were looking for a way to use the carcass.

Yeah, I should have been more clear up top but still some good information for future reference in this thread.

[AdamH]

Fascinating (well, if you've read this far in the thread and are really engaged in stock-making) thread on eGullet about whether to press on the solids as you strain them out of your stock.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=95743