The scenario is that I am starting with very meaty chicken bones/carcass. I want to get the most out of my bones. I know that stock does not usually need very meaty bones, but doesn't suffer from it either. I am thinking of doing the following:
- Starting my stock per usual, adding my raw very meaty chicken parts.
- Simmering for one hour. Then skimming before removing the stock from the burner, and carefully/slowly as to disturb it as little as possible, removing the bones/meat. Cleaning the meat from them.
- Skimming the stock again, then carefully returning the bones to it, bringing it back to the heat and simmering per usual.
Meanwhile, I would take the meat I salvaged and either make a soup, casserole or some other dish with it. Later, I would use bones up to three times mixing used bones with unused bones until they are spent.
Is there another method for this? Basically I am trying to figure out how to reuse the bones and salvage as much as possible from the chickens I buy.
Best Answer
Well this might sound strange, but I do this with any chicken carcass even the precooked rotisserie ones. It turns out delicious and makes several meals from one carcass - both stock and meat. So I get 3 to 4 dinners for two out of one rotisserie chicken.
So after eating the best slices off the rotisserie carcass, I hack the carcass into several manageable chunks, and put the very meaty bones (some thighs / legs even have all the meat on them) in the pot with mirepoix and cover with water for stock.
After about the first hour, I remove the chicken to a cutting board, let it cool a bit, then remove all the good meat. It pretty much falls off. Then I put the clean bones back in the stock pot and simmer for another 2 - 3 hours (I like mine to simmer a long time). The next morning this stock is always super gelatinous, a quivery chicken jelly. I make this into gravy, and the meat with a bag of frozen vegetables becomes pot pie. Yes the meat is probably overcooked, but it's moist and tender and perfect for pot pies. Super, super delicious.
I admit I've even bought rotisserie thighs and legs from Sam's club, for $2.75 for a huge box, then popped them right in the stock pot, making three nights' worth of dinners for about $3.