Taking stock (and giblets, necks, and carcasses)

So that chicken whose giblets I decided I didn't like, what did I do with it?

Here's the run down. Bought the whole chicken on Friday, and baked it that night. (350 degrees Fahrenheit, for 20 minutes a pound, uncovered, on a wire rack in a shallow baking pan. Or until a meat thermometer stuck in the thigh reads 180.)

**Here's an aside about the chicken. I could have bought one of those pre-roasted chickens from the store, and saved myself some time, while still having a bunch of meat and the carcass to use. Why didn't I? Because those are about 2 pound birds, and I paid 56 cents less for a bird that was roughly 4.7 pound. Plus, I got the giblets and neck in addition to the meat and carcass. The pre-roasted chickens aren't a bad deal overall, but if you have the time to spare, cooking a whole chicken yourself is usually more cost-effective.**

As the chicken was in the oven, that is when I started the failed giblet recipe and also set the neck to boiling.

Did you just do a double take? Yeah, well, I took my medium sized sauce pan, filled about half way with water, plunked the neck into it, plus the last quarter of an onion I had laying around. Brought it all to a boil, then reduced to a simmer, and let it alone. I did poke my head over every so often to skim off the scum/fat/foam that forms. I don't remember how long I ended up letting it simmer, but it was probably at least 1.5 to 2 hours. At this point, I discarded the onion and neck, and poured the liquid into a jar.

Yes, a jar. I am running out of inherited and re-purposed plastic storage containers (they are all in my freezer!). I've used the jars to make freezer jam, so they hold up in the freezer, and contain a known quantity (now, if only I could remember what that was). You can see the jar of neck stock here, sort of, along with a beef chuck roast that my aunt gave us, some nuts, and other random stuff on my freezer door.

After the chicken cooled, I carved it up, as best I could. This is not a skill at which I excel. I tried to slice the breasts thin enough for sandwiches, and disjointed the legs and wings. I was quite pleased with the result, because the chicken was tender, sliding right off of the thigh bone. Aside from the bone-in wings and legs, and the sliced breast, everything else was just sort of peeled and pulled off, and stored together.

I put the carcass in my big soup pot, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge. This was all done Friday after I got home from work, mind you. It was getting late, and I wanted to read, spend time with my husband, and oh yeah, sleep! The carcass would keep for a day.

So will the actual stock-taking.

Food Waste Challenge, Week 1

I didn't officially sign up for Crunchy Chicken's Food Waste Reduction Challenge, but have decided to participate, unofficially. Because, participating unofficially might mean I won't feel so bad when I end up throwing away food.

So, from my spotty memory, my tally is as follows:

- one baked chicken skin

- one failed recipe involving said chicken's giblets in a gravy (1.5 tbsp of butter, 1-2 cups of water, a quarter of an onion and about 2.5 tbsp of flour)

- total of about half an onion boiled for various stocks, then tossed

I'm sure that there had to be more, but that is what I can remember. And it was all from this weekend.

Speaking of giblets in gravy: this was my first attempt at it, and I was following a recipe from my Joy of Cooking. Usually, I find these recipes to be fool-proof, and good guides. As always, I didn't quite follow it, though, because I didn't have everything the recipe wanted. What I did was:

- Bring water to a boil, add diced giblets, reduce to a simmer for an hour, or until tender. I added a quarter of left over onion I had.

- After an hour, remove/drain giblets (and onion). Reserve giblets (not the onion).

- Make gravy with about 1 cup of reserved stock, about 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of flour.

- At this point, I proceeded like one does when making sausage gravy - whisking out lumps and such. 

- Add giblets (and the veggies it called for in the real recipe).

- Serve on toast.

I tried it straight from a spoon. Added salt and pepper to taste. Tried it on a leftover biscuit. Decided that I had added too much flour, and that the gravy was dangerously close to glue. That and I didn't think that either husband and I would eat it. Especially not with fresh chicken, and other, better leftovers ready to be consumed.

I decided against saving it to be doctored up at a later date because, as close as it was to glue then, I was sure that it would become a solid after any amount of time in the fridge. So... Bye-bye, giblets.

In case you are curious, here's a fuzzy picture of a diced giblet in gravy. If you step back and squint, that'll probably help.

Next time, I think I'll stick with simply making my own stock from the giblets.

What have you done with chicken or turkey giblets? Or necks?

And, how are you doing with the Food Waste Reduction Challenge at your house?