Chicken Carcass

vexedprune

Just stripped a chicken carcass down to as had roast the other day, having chicken and rice tonight. This chicken was previously frozen. I wondered if I could refreeze the carcass as I read on another thread about making stock from a couple of carcasses.

Thanks in advance

rising_from_the_ashes

There's no reason you can't freeze it (as the whole chicken has been frozen / thawed / cooked = changed state) but they can take up quite a bit of room in the freezer.

Why not just make the stock now & then freeze that?

horsechestnut

If you have cooked the chicken after defrosting it, then it is perfectly alright to freeze it.
Refreezing refers to defrosting food, then putting it back in the frezer with out cooking it properly. This is definately a no no!!! So if you had taken the chicken out of the freezer, defrosted it, cut it up and then only cooked a portion of it, then you shouldn't put the unused chicken back in the freezer without cooking it. Hope that makes sense!!!

vexedprune

It is all fully cooked. To be honest it would be my first try at stock making and I am a bit nervous abut it. I was thinking of boiling it up with a carrot and onion and making soup with veggies. Not too sure so think that is why I was going to freeze it till I'm a bit more confident.

Stephen_Leak

Yes. You can freeze cooked chicken carcasses for stock or soup. I regularly do this, if I can't make them into soup at the time.

If you break it up, you can squeeze it into a freezer box.

PS. Do you need my recipe for chicken carcass soup?

vexedprune

Yes please Stephen. I like tried and tested recipes.

Stephen_Leak

vexedprune wrote: »

Yes please Stephen. I like tried and tested recipes.

We are here to serve ...

CHICKEN SOUP

Makes 4 x 250ml servings

INGREDIENTS

1 cooked chicken carcass
100g to 125g of at least 2 vegetables (see below)
1 onion
½ a tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of dried sage
2 chicken stock cubes
1 litre of water

METHOD

Remove any skin from the chicken carcass and discard it. Peel the vegetables and chop any tops and/or bottoms off, if required, and then chop them into 2cm (1 inch) pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into 2cm (1 inch) pieces.

Put the oil into a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Add the chicken, sage, stock cubes, vegetables and water. Stir thoroughly. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering).

Put the lid on and cook for 1 hour. Check the liquid level from time to time and top up if it starts to dry out.

Fish out the bones and put them on a plate. Remove any meat which is still on the bones. Put the meat back into the soup and discard the bones.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy. If you used a food processor, rinse out the saucepan and put the soup back into the saucepan.

Put the saucepan on a low heat and reheat the soup gently.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use green vegetables (celery, courgettes, leeks) and mushrooms for a light and delicate soup. Use root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, swedes, turnips) and tomatoes for a thick and hearty soup, The so-called “Holy Trinity” of soup base ingredients is carrot, celery and onion.

Use mixed herbs.

For Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup, use green vegetables and add a small pack of noodles after blending. Cook them in the soup, according to the instructions on the packet.

For Scottish [CENSORED]-a-Leekie Soup, use 200g to 250g of leeks and add 4 stoned and thinly sliced prunes after blending.

TIPS

Don’t panic, if you fish out fewer bones than you remember going in. The smaller ones will have dissolved into the soup, adding to the goodness.

Sheahaven

It is all fully cooked. To be honest it would be my first try at stock making and I am a bit nervous abut it. I was thinking of boiling it up with a carrot and onion and making soup with veggies. Not too sure so think that is why I was going to freeze it till I'm a bit more confident.

That sounds like a good start.
Do you have a pressure cooker (PC) - can help with wanting to cook bones for a long time, but with a PC halves cooking time and fuel. Plus I find the PC way can kinda concentrate the flavours too!

vexedprune

No PC unfortunately. Had one once but young and frivolous and gave it away. I will definitely see if I can freecycle one. I will have a go tomorrow and see how I get on. Thanks for your help everyone.

Pink.

Hi vexedprune,

I would make the stock now and reduce it before freezing as it will take up much less room in your freezer. This is how I do it...

-Strip all the leftover meat from a chicken carcass and put it aside.
-Put the bones into a roasting tin and brown in a hot oven or under the grill (this really adds to the flavour)
-Put the browned bones in a pan and just cover with water, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for at least four hours. Don't leave it to boil as continued boiling can make a bitter stock.
-After at least four hours when the carcass bones are beginning to break up, strain the stock through a fine sieve

Now you have stock that you can use in soups, casseroles, gravy etc. If you want to use it for soup just leave it as it is, but if you want to store (freeze) it you can boil it to reduce the amount. This means that it will become very concentrated and take up less room in your freezer then you can just add water to it when you are ready to use it. If your stock tastes too strong you can add water to dilute it if you want.

I often make a chicken and veg broth with chicken stock:

-Add a couple of handfuls of soup mix (barley, lentils, and split peas) to the stock
-Depending on the amount of soup I'm making, sometimes I add a couple of stock cubes for extra flavour at this stage.
-Simmer until the pulses are soft then season with black pepper and add chopped carrots, leeks, celery and parsley, although any veg will probably work well.
Once all the veg are cooked add in the reserved chicken, check for seasoning and serve with warm crusty bread. Pics of how I make it here

This thread has lots more advice that may help:

How do i make my own chicken stock?

I'll add this thread to that one later to keep the advice together.

Pink

vexedprune

I also have some chicken wings in the depth of my freezer which no one wanted I think a mass stock making session tomorrow.

Thanks for the link Pink-wings