Roasting Chicken - For Meat And Bone Broth

Ahhhh, it's A Chicken Roasting Day!!!
One of my favorite days in the kitchen!

Today I washed and dried several pounds of chicken thighs (adding chicken feet later in the roasting process.) I then put the thigs in my 60 year old black speckled roasting pan. Drizzled with Moroccan EVOO and seasoned. Today my Rosemary Seasoning sounded good. This bone broth will be shared with my cat Henry and dog Oliver, so NO onion or garlic in any phase of prep.

When roasting chicken, I always do it the opposite of everyone else I know. I start with the chicken uncovered, for about an hour at 400° to brown it up, then turn the heat down to 350-375° and cover for the rest of the oven time. Today, the total time was just under 2 hours with the feet added after I reduced the temperature. Check the brownness of the thighs, occasionally poking them with a fork and basting everything.

Then the covered pot cooled, on my back deck where it was 52° and shady. Once cool enough to handle, I removed all the meat to package for future use.

It was back-to-the-pot for all the skin, fat, bones and feet, which Walmart's meat department labels . . . . .  😁 CHICKEN 🐔 PAWS 😅 !!

To all that I added enough water to half way fill the pan, bay leaves, peppercorns, turmeric, a big splash (1/3 - 1/2c) of apple cider vinegar and simmered it all on low, covered, for about 3 hours. Then cooled a bit again before beginning the straining.

Strain everything from one pot to another, of equal size, going back and forth a couple times using finer mesh strainers each time. I've now got it down to only a couple 'strains' since I use a dampened piece of cheesecloth type of material inside a big strainer, the final time to catch all the little particles. This works well for a nice semi-clear broth.

Before doing the final strain, be sure to thoroughly clean the pot you plan to chill this in. Chill at least overnight, or long enough for the fat to solidify at the top and the actual bone broth to gel underneath.

The vinegar and those simmered chicken feet produce a very well gelled broth, which indicates it's full of healthy collagen.

Heat and have a cup, use it in soups or gravies, and give your cat and dog some in their food. Supplementing our pet's diets with healthy human foods can definitely extend their lives.

My American Staffordshire, Penny lived to be 19+ and my Puggle, Oliver will be 15 in July. .🐶. .Lin

Chicken Bone + Feet ('Paw') Broth

I've heard chicken feet - ('paws' - yes they were actually labeled Chicken Paws!) - make a lot of difference in the quality of bone broth when added to roasted chicken skin and bones then simmered in the usual way. Based on the jelling of this particular batch, I'd say that's correct.

I drizzled 5-1/2# of chicken thighs with EVOO then seasoned them with turmeric, Himalayan pink salt and my blend of black + cayenne pepper. They were roasted at 350° uncovered for almost an hour then added the chicken feet, basted everything and returned the pan to the oven for another 45 minutes. This pan of chicken thighs and feet looks SO weird! 

The next step was removing all the meat which totalled almost 2# and returning the skin, bones and the chicken feet to the roasting pan. Cover with fresh cold water, filling the pan to about the 2/3 point. Simmer this, covered on the stovetop, for 3-4 hours on a very low bubble.

Scoop out the solids and drain the liquid back to the pan. Strain this back and forth between 2 pans in increasingly smaller mesh strainers, removing all particles for a clearer broth. Throw away the skin and bones-secured as much as possible in a sturdy bag-in hopes of preventing animals from ingesting the bones. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.

It was interesting to me that all the dark orange color from the turmeric settled into the fat, reminding me how our bodies store vitamin A and D in fat as opposed to vitamins B and C which are water soluble. I'll add a little of this to Oliver's food as well as use it to brown meat. I was very happy with the way it all scraped off from the chilled-jelled broth. You can see how solid it is with the spoon I used for that standing up in the pot!

The more bone broth jells when chilled, the more natural collagen it contains. Very good for old bones and joints, so my sweet old pup Oliver and I, hopefully, will both benefit from this.

Next, heat up the broth to steaming, but not boiling. Ladle it into clean jars. Seal and listen for the >ping< then put the sealed jars in the 'fridge.

Since these aren't canned the usual way they're not 'shelf stable' so need to be kept cold and used within a few weeks for soup base or as a nutritional supplement, warm broth, for you and your dogs. . .Lin

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Wide Egg Noodles

I've found that the secret to avoid mushy noodles is not putting them right into the soup pot while all the other ingredients are simmering.

I cook them separately until half way done and still quite chewy. Drain, rinse and soak them in icy cold water. When they're very cold to the touch, drain again and put aside for now.

Another wonderful benefit to doing this is the noodles become what's know as Resistant Starch.

The method I outlined above is the quick version. Click on this ↑ link for directions and the science supporting this chilling and reheating technique.

Chop-slice all the vegetables then separate them by cooking time. Start with those that require the most time in the pot. Here, it's carrots, celery sauteing in a generous amount of single origin EVOO, with a little of the purple onion.

Next, when everything in the pot has sizzled, over low-medium heat, for 10 minutes or so, add the chopped cabbage, the rest of the onion and sliced kale-making sure to strip the leaves off the tough center stem first.

Add seasonings. Today I added 3 bay leaves, about a 1/2T of Orange Pepper, some garlic salt and a couple big spoonsful of Better Than Bouillon soup base, along with about 48oz. of my most recent chicken bone broth - also about 1/3c of cooking Sherry that I forgot to include in this photo.

Simmer over heat just high enough to create a slow bubble, for about 40 minutes. Check the carrots and stop now or continue to simmer until they're cooked the way you like them.
Stir them into the pot, heat again to a low bubble and. . .Soup's Ready. . 😃. .Lin

Rotisserie Chicken Bone Broth

In a 6-8 quart Dutch oven, put:

skin and bones from 1 big rotisserie chicken

lots of fresh cold water

vegetable scraps

black pepper and lemon pepper

1/2c white or apple cider vinegar

4 bay leaves

Bring this to a low simmer.

Cook this way for 4 hours, covered, just letting everything bubble gently together, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and cool an hour or so. Scoop out everything solid, into a colander or strainer positioned over another big pot. Then, also strain all the liquid into the second pot. Wash the first pot and strain everything back into it once again, this time through a much finer strainer. Continue the process until everything's been strained and your left with a pot of rich brown broth. 

Chill many hours, until the fat can be scraped off.

Heat the broth. Funnel it into clean jars, seal and store in the 'fridge. If it seals with a  <p.i.n.g.> it will keep for a couple months. If it doesn't seal, just chill and use it within a week. This is great to heat, and give a big steamy mug, to someone fighting a virus, or make it into some healing soup. This made 104 oz. Each of these jars sealed. .😃. .Lin

Florentine Chicken Stroganoff Soup

When I made that spatchcocked chicken, I froze half in two packages.  This soup sort of evolved.  I didn't know it would be 'soup' until half way through the process.  Originally, I was thinking just chicken, mushrooms, noodles and a nice rich sauce for a Chicken Stroganoff.  Then I realized I have a LOT of fresh vegetables which by adding, leans it more into the soup category, so that's how it's going.  

First, take all the chicken apart, boning, skinning and putting the meat aside. Put the skin and bones in a 2 quart pot, add enough water to cover it all and simmer, covered on low heat for three hours, adding 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar the last hour.

Pour everything through a colander over a big pot to separate out the bones and skin from the broth. Strain through progressively finer strainers and finally through an old clean kitchen towel. 

Chill this overnight to bring whatever fat is left, to the top.  If there is fat, skim that off the next morning. Using the cloth at the end, took almost all fat from the broth this time.

This bone broth turned out perfect. It jelled very nicely which indicates a very high percentage of collagen which is exactly why you make bone broth. I've had the best luck producing broth yielding a high concentration of collagen, using chicken. The broth is always more watery and very rarely jells when made with turkey, beef or lamb skin and bones. Our body produces collagen, which is a vital protein. As we age, the production lessens. It's necessary for elasticity in our skin and for the health of our connective tissue, tendons, ligaments and muscles.

2 big carrots

3 stalks celery

1 med. purple onion 

⅓ med. yellow pepper

4-6oz. button mushrooms

2T avocado oil

7 lg. cloves of garlic

a bunch of green onion tops

4oz. egg noodles

4oz. fresh spinach

8oz. precooked chicken

salt, pepper, ground rosemary

2T+/- chicken Better Than Bouillon

Slice or chop the first group of vegetables however you'd like. Add them to a 4-5 quart pot with the oil. Sauté on medium heat until everything begins to sizzle. Drop the heat to low-medium, cover and continue to sauté-steam for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chopped garlic, green onion tops, noodles and spinach.

Simmer 5 minutes, cover and remove from the heat for a half hour. Stir in sour cream, warm again just until it steams, before serving. . .Lin