Last Tuesday, I was at the supermarket late, and they had 2 pound whole roasted chickens marked off. Since I was hungry, and hadn’t had chicken in a while, I bought one.
So now I still got the carcass and the remaining meat in the fridge (in the zippered plastic bag it came in), and I remembered reading here about making soup and/or stock with roast chicken carcasses.
Is it worth it for such a small store-bought one? If so, how would I go about doing it?
Get some carrots, onions, and celery. Start with one carrot cut into three pieces, one stalk of celery with the leaves cut in three pieces, and and about a third of an onion. Put those in a pot with the whole carcass, that size, probably a 3-4 quart pot is fine. Cover it all with water. Add whatever seasonings you like, just salt at this point is all you need, probably a teaspoon, but some poultry seasoning can be good, and I like to add some turmeric. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a couple of hours.
The carcass will fall apart. When done simmering, strain the stock into another pan and discard the carcass and boiled to death veggies. Cut up new veggies into the size you want to have on a spoon, add to stock. Throw in the remaining meat from the fridge, maybe even some potato. Taste. Add whatever seasonings you like, probably a little more salt at least. When the veggies are starting to get tender, add whatever pasta you like, and when that’s tender, you have homemade chicken soup.
You can cheat and buy some chicken stock at the store to mix into the water. I like the low sodium stuff for this purpose, and spending an extra buck for the premium brands is a good idea here.
Otherwise go with the above advice, it’ll be great.
Rice and/or pasta of some sort is great in chicken soup, too. And you don’t have to peel it or cut it up.
You know those tiny pasta shapes, like six pointed stars and pumpkin seeds? The ones that look like they’re too small to boil and put in a colander? This is what they are for. Or you can use other fun shapes, like bow ties or wagon wheels.
Does sound good. A few questions, though:
What do I strain with?
Where does this “remaining meat” come from? I already ate as much as I think I can get from the chicken.
Like I said, I bought this chicken last Tuesday. How much longer do I have to do all this?
You can strain with just a colander. If it’s plastic, as long as the pot you set it on isn’t hot, it won’t melt from the pour-through or anything. Your OP said you had the carcass and remaining meat in the fridge, I pictured leftover chunks of meat in a baggie? If you don’t have any except what’s attached to the carcass, you can do without. You can pick at the carcass after it’s strained, too. Maybe add some mushrooms to the end product for some meaty texture, but you will have plenty of chicken flavor in the stock.
I would make this tomorrow or chuck the bag into the freezer now until you have time.
Maybe lift out some of the larger veggie chunks / bits of carcass with a slotted spoon before pouring your stock through the colander. You’re less likely to get hot liquid sploshing everywhere and it will strain a bit faster that way.
Oh, and don’t do what I did once, which was to put the colander in the sink and pour my stock into it. I was left with vegetable mush and carcass and the stock went down the plughole.
Dur.
I make my stock from shrimp shells. Same idea. There’s a ton of great flavor in those inedible shells.
Chicken bones can break down into tiny little sharp pieces. I’d use a fine wire mesh strainer or even better, cheesecloth. Your grocery store probably carries both.
Oh, and if you want to get fancy, whip two egg whites and pour into the strained broth and let it bubble for 5 minutes. Remove the egg white “raft” and you’ll have a crystal clear golden chicken consommé.
You can also accomplish the same clarity with a laboratory tabletop centrifuge if you don’t have eggs on hand.
Also, after straining, put the broth into a tall pitcher and stick it in the fridge overnight. The fat will rise to the top and solidify, so it’s easy to take off. If you simmer the carcass long enough, the broth might jell, and you’ve made aspic. It will melt as soon as you heat it up again for even tastier soup.
I generally take the top layer of fat and gelatin off and use it to saute/simmer the vegetables for the soup.
I would not use storebought stock as a supplement, personally. Homemade chicken stock is so ridiculously delicious that I’d not want to dilute it with the vaguely canned flavor of even good storebought broth.
You are Heston Blumenthal and I claim my £5 
Nah, Heston Blumenthal just freezes his stock and then thaws it wrapped in cheesecloth. The centrifuge is just a little too obvious for him.
OK, I have all the ingredients ready to go when I have time to cook (probably Friday night; it’d go good with Thanksgiving leftovers).
Remaining questions: how exactly do I know when it’s “ready” (post 2 above says when the carcass “falls apart”; what exactly does that mean?)? I also got some cheesecloth, but how do people who use it usually hold it to the top of the pot so it doesn’t all fall inside when I start pouring?
Clothespins work to attach it to the edges on the colander as do those black binder clips. You could use a rubber band too but I usually just go nice and slow and use a ladle.
With on carcass it will be done in a couple hours. The cheese cloth is way overdoing it. I have never used it just making a simple home soup and it does taint the flavour a bit so go pure, soup should be simple.
Poke the bones with a spoon or take a pair of tongs and grab a bone. If the bones come loose without much effort, they are falling apart.
Put the cheesecloth in a colander, and then pour the liquid from one container to another.