Sunday, January 10, 2010

Chicken Scrap Soup

This is post number three in my "No, wait- Don't throw that out yet!" series.

In my local grocery, the cheapest poultry to buy is a whole chicken.
I've said in a previous post that I hate seeing food go to waste. Cutting up a whole chicken, there are fat globs and extra hanging pieces of skin, as well as the ribs and neck from the chicken's carcass. It feels like such a waste throwing out these paltry poultry parts; I've discovered a way to reinvent them into something deliciously scrumptious.

Chicken bones and scraps give off a very flavorful chickeny taste. These scraps are perfect for making chicken soup. Recipe below.
I once was at the butcher and saw him cutting off the tips and fat of wings. I asked him what he was planning on doing with them. He said they were headed to the garbage. He was more than glad to give me these chicken scraps at no cost. Ok, I was just a tad embarrassed walking out with these chicken scraps out of the store. But they made such a delicious soup that I have to get past my insecurities about these free chicken scraps.

Some butchers will gladly give away chicken bones and scraps. If you have one near you, it pays to ask them for their scraps, as there is no need to waste a whole chicken and money in order to give flavor to chicken soup- you can have the chickeny taste sans the chicken- for much less money, and save the chicken for a tastier end than boiled chicken.


My Favorite Chicken Soup


Ingredients
Scraps from 2 chickens
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 3 inch chunks
3 parsnips, scrubbed
2 medium onions, whole
4 cloves garlic

1. Boil chicken scraps. If you're boiling them in a pressure cooker, 30 minutes is fine. If you're boiling the chicken scraps in a regular pot, boil for 2 hours minimum.
2. Strain the chicken broth through a cheesecloth and into another pot.
3. Add the vegetables, garlic, and onions.
4. Boil again. In a pressure cooker for an hour and for 3 hours in a regular pot.
5. Salt to taste.
 6. (Pick the bone carcass of any meat. Use the chicken in other recipes like stir fries, chicken salad, chicken pot pie, chicken moussaka, etc. More ideas in future posts.)
Enjoy!

I have many variations of chicken scrap soup. This is my favorite. Parsnips are actually not so cheap here at 75 cents a peice... so I would be making this soup all the time if I could find parsnips cheaper.

Other variations of my chicken soup will follow in other posts.

When you make chicken soup, do you make it with chicken parts or chicken scraps?

4 comments:

  1. can this be done in a crockpot? i dont have a pressure cooker and i hate to use this much gas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely. Now I almost always make my scrap soup in the crock pot.

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    2. i did it in the crockpot and it turned out great. i made a couple of soups, froze some for later and saved the fat in a jar for use in cooking. thanks for another great idea

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  2. How much water = how much broth. nice detail to know

    ReplyDelete

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