Eating Cheap From a Roast Chicken

We have some stores locally that sell whole chickens.  At the local Safeway the going price for a whole bird will run about $11, sometimes a little more.  But, eventually those chickens start closing in on their expiration dates, so the stores roast them in a rotisserie with a nice seasoning, and sell them every Friday afternoon for five bucks; less than the price of a fast-food combo meal.  Costco also sells whole roasted chickens, also for five dollars each. Your price may vary.

When we get one of these home, is makes for a fine meal but there are usually leftovers with a varying ratio of fat and bones to meat.  Another small meal or snack can usually be had from the bird, but then you have a carcass that still has a fair bit of meat on it if only you could get to it.

Rendering a chicken carcass is a time-honored way to get the last savory bits off of a chicken, and it’s not as hard as it might sound.  Just take a medium sized stock pot and put the chicken, spare bones, scraps of skin, fat, etc. into the pot and add enough water to cover the bird to a depth of one or two inches.  Put it on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil, then turn it down to medium low for about an hour.

The chicken usually comes in a plastic container that has lots of spaces that hold the gelatin, fats and other goodies.  As the water is starting to warm up, I just immerse the lower portion of the container in the water, which takes off all this good stuff and puts it in the stock where it belongs.

When the hour’s up, use a slotted spoon to remove the scraps of skin and other bits into a drainer or colander placed over a dish to catch what drips through.  Take the bones and the main carcass and put it on a plate to cool for about ten minutes.  You can then pick the meat off the remaining bones and toss it back into the pot.  You might be surprised at how much meat you find. Pile the bones in with the skins and other bits.  Before long you’ll end up with a pot full of golden broth with some bits of chicken meat (depending on how thorough you were). Throw away the bones and other waste, and put the drippings from under the drainer into the pot.

Now, turn it into chicken soup.  You can chop up and throw in some potatoes, carrots, celery and onions, along with some garlic, pepper, salt, and a dash of olive oil.  Other possibilities include pre-cooked rice, small pasta… whatever you want, and let it cook on the stove for another thirty minutes or so.  The result is a great-tasting soup in generous quantities, so you can freeze some for later.

Not bad for $5.