johncip's Journal, 12 Aug 24

Just want to do a sales pitch if you haven’t tried it… you get the meat of course (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 4 wings… skin-on, which is hard to find for raw breasts). But I also was able to make a couple quarts of stock with the carcass, and cracklins & schmaltz with the off cuts of skin. And I could freeze the stuff I’m not eating yet, unlike with roasting or buying a roasted chicken. And it’s much cheaper. 10/10 kitchen experience, would recommend. 

I agree! You get so much out of a chicken when you buy it whole! But why can’t you freeze a rotisserie chicken from the store? I did that once with the carcass with some of the meat still on it and made an amazing soup with it. It was actually so easy to just toss straight in from the freezer with water and veggies for make stock. 

To make** 

Awesome. I'm discovering the joy of cooking fresh as well. It doesn't take as much time as I thought. Just gotta make the time.  

When I still ate chicken, I would buy 6 or 8 of them when they went on sale and cut them up. You might try leaving the breast whole -- don't split it -- and then roast it. It roasts really well that way because it gets the air circulation underneath it  

Looks absolutely yummy!! 

Looks yummy! 

Well done👍👍 Fear is our worst enemy! 

sk.17 thank you! I'm not worthy 😆 

mami/mer -- wow, I've never frozen an already cooked bird. that's a hot tip. it makes sense that it would still be good for soup and the like. writing, that sounds awesome, I should try that next time, sounds like less work too (not having to butcher the breasts or roast the carcass for stock separately I mean) 

thanks everyone! it will be fun seeing what meals I get out of the same chicken, too. I made a quick chicken salad with the off cuts for lunch today (and used some mustard I made recently 😋). toasted the bun in a little of the schmaltz. should have taken a pic and made it a series... 

solid profile pic Dave. 

I’ve done whole chickens my whole life! Frozen, fresh, you name it. So John…now that you have roasted an entire bird, next up is to spatchcock one. It’s one of the BEST ways to roast a chicken. 🤩🤗 

john-- I used to roast it that way stuffing butter and herbs under the skin and laying bacon strips across the top. Not exactly on my WOE these days 😂  

🤤