My chicken stock is a gelatinous mess

Cottage_Economy

Made chicken stock as normal overnight in the slow cooker and left it to cool down before straining to freeze. Lifted the lid, took the first scoop and am confronted with a 'set' stock.

First off, what happened? Never had a chicken carcass produce that before.

Second, I'm going to have to heat it up to get to liquify so I can strain it. Will that be ok to do, bearing in mind I was going to freeze it and then use it for chicken soup at a later stage, so it would hot again for the third time?

BakerBoy

Hi Cottage economy. From the info you have given I would say you have probably made the best stock ever. Mass-produced stock manufacturers add all sorts of rubbish to make thier stock 'gelatinous'. This is how really good stock should be.

Did you buy your chicken from a new supplier? I don't claim to be an expert but the quality of feed/lifestyle that a bird gets will affect its bone quality - better bones = better stock. Or maybe your supplier has sourced elsewhere.

Nice one.

gayleygoo

Have you made it before and it wasn't gelatinous? Mine has gone like that every time I've made it! Not sure if it's normal, but I like to think of the jelly stuff as "extra flavourful" I scoop it off and freeze it in ice-cube trays, it goes nicely into many dishes. The watery stuff can be used as normal.

building_with_lego

You'll probably have, in cross section working down, fat, delicious jellified stock, all the blobby bits.
Scrape off the fat, freeze the jelly (it is the most amazing stock, mind, you must have been doing it wrong ) and just dump the bits at the bottom into the food bin. No need to reheat.

Cottage_Economy

I had no idea I've been doing it wrong all these years!

My stock from carcasses has always been watery, never gelatinous.

This chicken was actually a free range bird in the reduced section in Tesco. Looked like it came off the meat counter as it was wrapped in those white bags with a printed label.

Ok, going into the kitchen to wrangle The Blob into bags for freezing.

Thanks guys!

hoglet121

I'm extremely jealous of your gelatinous stock - I have been trying to achieve that for years, but it has always eluded me. You've achieved the holy grail of stock making!

As someone else has said, the gelatinous bit should be ok to freeze as is as the 'bits' should be beneath it, but have a look and see.

gayleygoo

I wonder if the heat or length of time the stock is cooked affects the gelantine production? I've never done mine in the slow cooker, but I boil it well then simmer for several hours. Many recipes suggest simmering for just one hour- maybe that's not enough?

BakerBoy

I would say 1hr is plenty for good stock and it is the quality of the bird that makes it jellied, or not.

Just me though.

Cottage_Economy

I always do mine in the slow cooker through sheer laziness and trying to keep my gas consumption down. This time I think I stuck it on high for four hours and then left it to cool down until fully cold.

By the way the whole of the chicken stock in gelatinous, not just a bit on top and there's no fat. There is no liquid stock as such, so I have a lot of scraping to do to get anything worth freezing.

hoglet121

I always use free range or organic birds, so it has nothing to do with the quality of the bird. I suspect I use too much water and don't cook for long enough - usually an hour or so. I normally add enough water to just cover the carcass but perhaps this is too much.

Cottage_Economy

I used a kettle full of boiling water if that helps, so probably around 1.5 litres.