Potatos and chicken fat. A crock love affair?

[estpr13]

I cooked a roo of mine for Thanksgiving dinner in a crockpot. He had more fat than I expected which I thought was nice.

When he was done I pulled out one of the whole potatos and it had what looked like yellow tinted clear jello on the sides. The other potatos were simular with attachments of what I take is clear cooked chicken fat.

When I opened the potatos I found that they were dark almost sweet potato like. They tasted fine. It just seems that the chicken fat was drawn to the potatos and then the potato sucked out the nutrients from the fat. Is this normal? If so why?

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

that clear jello like substance is not fat, but gelatin from the bones and connective tissues from the bird. Its a good thing and is what makes great stock.

 

[miss_jayne]

now you know where Jell-O comes from! gelatin comes from animal bones and tissue like stated above.

it's in TONS of stuff, from instant Jell-O to marshmallows.

 

[estpr13]

Gelatin huh? Well that's neat! So why does it migrate and stick to the potatoes? Is one positive charged (starch) and the other negatively charged (Gelatin)? or vice versa?

So I take it that my potatoes now have bone marrow in them?

Sorry for the naive questions. I have only eaten food all my life. I haven't tried to analyze it until I started to prepare it and want to make sure I don't freak out guests. Or at least explain things to them.

 

[miss_jayne]

maybe the potatoes 'suck' it up. i read before, that if you make soup or something liquid that is too salty, you can throw in a raw potato and it sucks up the excess salt.

i have no idea what the science of it is.

 

[estpr13]

Thanks Miss_Jayne.. The more I get into preparing and cooking my own birds the more technical the questions get.

I have a sister-in-law who is a nutritionist, perhaps she might know. I'll have to give her a call. She's the next state over from me.

 

[miss_jayne]

cool, then pass on the info! it's neat to learn things like this.

shoot, it may be the next Jeopardy Final Clue!

 

[kinnip]

I would guess it's the temperature difference between the potato, and the bottom of the pan. If you let it sit long enough, you'd likely find more jelly on the floor of the pan and stuck to the bird.

 

[Possumpoint]

Where's Alton Brown when you need him?