Roasted Chicken Broth

Well you remember the Chicken Roast Done Right Blog, that we did the other day. Where you ended with the Roast is where we start today.

When you do the Roast, I save the pan with all the drippings, etc. Wake Up, we don't need the gravy that badly and if you do, then use chicken boullion or purchase some Chicken Broth. Ok, so we got that decided. When your done with your meal of Roasted Chicken, strip all the meat off the chicken, you can use it in sandwiches or whatever you want. I usually just snack on it when no one is watching, especially the dogs. They are always looking for handouts.

We are heading back to the stove with the roasting pan, put a pint or so of water in the pan, and heat it to a boil. We are trying to disolve all the leavings in the roasting pan, so we can use it in our Stew. Using a wooden spoon, we are making sure everything is loosened and part of the liquid. When all is in the liquid, it will be a dark chicken broth by this time, add it to a large Stew Pan along with the chicken carcass.

Add an onion, a couple carrots, a couple stalks of celery and 5 or 6 peppercorns to the pot. Of course, we need to coarsely chop the veggies. You might want to also add a bayleaf, thyme and parsley to the pot also. I generally only add the bay leaf, because the chicken was cooked with thyme and is stuffed with parsley. Add sufficient water to cover everything, I generally use a total volume of 3 quarts of water, plus or minus, depending on your situation. Bring to a boil and simmer for several hours or until you are satisfied that everything is done. The chicken bones should be all separated by now and you have extracted the most flavor, out of the chicken.

Let the pot cool so that you can handle the hot liquid. Strain the the liquid through a strainer, I use a spaghetti strainer, so the herbs and stuff can go through, but not the stuff you don't want. Strain it into another pot. Discard the bones and such, being sure it is discarded where animals will not get at it. Chicken bones tend to splinter, so it is not a good ideas to give this stuff to your dogs and other animals. If you want you can now chill the chicken broth, so that you can remove the excess chicken fat. The chicken broth will be dark and rich looking.

At this point, you can use the broth for anything you like, but I am going to make a multigrain soup out of this.