It seems that every few years, I’ll write the same post about chicken bones.
I can’t help it. I’m always just so blown away by the frugality of them.
If you live in Sydney’s Inner West, let me give you a tip. The chicken shop in Marrickville Metro – the one opposite Service NSW – will sell you a bag of chicken carcasses for $2. Three bags for $5. When Pete was getting his licence renewed recently, I picked some up. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised that each of the bags I’d bought had three carcasses in it, meaning I had nine to play with.
We immediately froze four of them, and then washed the remaining five. I carefully trimmed off all the fat, which went into a small saucepan with a little water to render down. We ended up with nearly a jar of schmaltz (chicken fat)…
The carcasses went into a 180C fan oven until golden brown, then into our giant stock pot with four litres of water, a tablespoon of salt, a chopped onion and a thumb of peeled ginger. The pot was brought to a boil, then covered and reduced to a simmer for 30 minutes. I turned it off after that and let it sit, covered for a further 30 minutes. Surprisingly, that was enough to infuse the stock with oodles of flavour (I think the roasting really helps).
I pulled out the carcasses and carefully stripped any remaining meat off the bones…
We strained the stock and stashed three boxes full in the freezer…
…then Pete turned the remaining stock and all the picked meat into the most delicious chicken noodle soup ever. It fed three of us for dinner, with enough leftover for lunch the following day…
. . . . .
So for about $3 (we used five of the nine carcasses), we ended up with chicken soup for dinner, three boxes of homemade stock and a jar of schmaltz.
I’ve always said that when times are hard, we could thrive on soup bones. Times aren’t hard now, but they have been in the past. And I think it’s wise to practise and hone our frugal life skills so that we’re ready for whatever the universe throws at us! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Happy Sunday afternoon, Celia! Brilliant ! Remind us again in our spring !! Yes, I can get some here in the country but forget about that amount of meat on the carcases !! Shall send this to every friend in the Inner West to remind them tho’ !! So love making stock . . . yours looks one to pinch in the darkness of the night . . .
We also don’t get as much meat on our bones, but definitely agree with roasting them first:). Must try the ginger in the stock and the soup sounds lovely …. recipe? ! Or is it just the stock with the meat/veg/noodles cooked in it? Cheers
A woman after my own heart. Frugality is probably next to Godliness … only joking of course but being frugal means I have a little fat in the pot for the hard times. Another idea is to strip the cooked meat off the bones put it into a bowl, mix with seasoning to taste. In a separate dish mix some of the stock with a little gelatine, pour a little over the cooked meat and press it all into a pretty container covered in kitchen paper weighted down, chill till set and spread it in toast for breakfast snacks or whatever. Sometimes I add some sliced sour gherkin into the mix.
I’m a vegetarian but our boy is definitely high fiving this post. He recently bought and deboned a whole chicken and turned it into three meals. :-)
What do you do with the chicken fat.?
I’m with you, Celia. I’ve always got chicken carcass stock ready in the freezer. At the moment I’m got a great source of pork, every cut you’d like, but I’m concentrating on smoked bones and pigs trotters.
We’ve been buying large chickens quite cheaply at Woolworths lately. For the two of us, there’s usually 2 roasts, a chicken pie and the carcase and bones become stock for soup. So frugal, so delicious.
Wonderful I love it Celia.You can talk about your bones anytime
I turn one family sized roast chook into 4 meals for both of us, plus a pot of stock from which I’m able to make soup for the Husband’s lunches for 4 days. I think whoever taught you to cook and my mother were sisters under the skin… I still have my mother’s lard pot in the fridge, a vintage painted enamel job with a lid, full of fat rendered from our Christmas ham. Yum! It’s deliciously smoky and wonderful for cooking potatoes or eggs.
Agree, I do the same when I go to Melbourne (won’t be for a while now). Also chicken feet for the stock. What do you use the schmaltz for? I find chicken fat a bit unpleasant but happy to re-think that!
Chicken fat makes the most lovely roast potatoes – par-boil the potatoes, drain and shake the pot to rough them up a bit, then put into a hot oven with chicken fat and some seasonings. Stir regularly till they’re at your favourite level of crispiness. You’ll never go back to regular again!
Thanks!
It’s always good to know what to do with leftover bits. I only occasionally buy frames as I end up with more stock than I can store or use quickly. But I do something similar with a roast chicken. One roast dinner for 2, bones stripped of meat and bones chucked in stock pot to boil like you do, then bones stripped bare of remaining meat scraps. Lots of options for a little of the meat and most of the stock, 4 meals of one of minestrone, risotto, or gumbo. But enough meat left for chili (bulked out with TVP and beans, 4 serves of chili + 4-6 serves of enchiladas, or chicken cacciatore (only 4 serves), or stir fry or Thai noodles (4 serves).
Oh even as a vegetarian I totally agree with what you do. Waste not, want not!
I can remember, YEARS, ago I was given a pig’s head, brushed his teeth and boiled him…3 – 5 lbs of meat came off and very good head cheese. I applaud you.
I keep a “stock” bag in my freezer and add any and all meat bones to it, pan juices or drippings etc. Plus celery leaves/tops etc. When I run out of room I put it all into the oven an roast/re-roast it all. Then add water and onion and carrot peppercorns and simmer it. After straining the first cup is just a treat. The rest for soup or back to the freezer .
that soup looks wonderful celia. i like to keep a couple of chook carcasses in the freezer till i’m ready to make a hearty soup, feeding us and the neighbours. and you feel ever so thrifty too. cheers sherry
I love hearing and being reminded of this. Thanks for the tip about roasting, I’ll try it in the future when I make stock.
Hi Celia, I have been saving chicken fat drippings in a jar (BEST roast potatoes EVER) but never knew it was also called ‘schmaltz’! We save all our cooked chicken bones (from roast chook etc – then the bones are already roasted) in the freezer with carrot tops, celery leaves etc until we have enough and chuck it all in the slow cooker overnight to make huge quantities of stock for the freezer . It’s comforting knowing a good soup is never far away when you have access to good stock. (I wrote a blog post about my slow-cooker method here if anyone wants to try: https://onefamilyoneplanetblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/17/chicken-stock-slow-cooker/) Cheers, Sally x
Just thinking about this makes me aware of how the American chicken industry has changed what would be normal ways to cook frugally. Because mass-market chicken is processed in factories, there are no “bones” available for such a good way to use them. This cruelly grown and wastefully processed chicken is very cheap and as a society we simply waste all that excess (some used to be shipped to China!) The workers are also abysmally treated. Everything is wrong with it.
I’m a big lover of schmaltz!
be well… mae at maefood.blogspot.com