Butchered and Cooked First Bird: Soup Recipes?

[Clov3r]

Hey! So we only just finally culled and cooked our first rooster. (This was also my first time cooking a whole bird, so that was an experience). Anyway, went pretty smoothly. He was about 10 months old, so we opted to stew him. He was so tender, super easy to debone. Got lots of broth, and made a chicken soup. It was... lackluster. Just seemed lacking in flavor. I winged it. Used fresh parsley, fresh cilantro, rosemary, garlic, carrots, cellery, green onions, salt, pepper, and potatoes. So. I'm here to ask: what's your favorite chicken soup/stew recipe? Help me for the future.

 

[sourland]

I basically do the same as you. The only addition might be a chicken bouillon cube or two to 'up' the flavor. From a turkey carcass I could make enough soup that eventually my family was begging me to feed it to the dogs.

 

[donrae]

It does look like you got a lot of broth, and that may be some of the issue. It may be too dilute to have a real punch of flavor. You might try simmering it down to about half the volume you start with, that may help.

Otherwise, I do about what you posted. I don't measure, so I can't really give you a recipe per se. Recently made creamed chicken from roosters, it went something like this......

1/2 cube butter melted in skillet. Chop half an onion, some celery, garlic. Saute a bit. Add chopped mushrooms, cook a bit. Add 1/4 cup flour, sprinkle over the veggies, then stir and cook for a few minutes, basically a roux. 2 cups broth, 2 cups milk. Stir and bring to a gentle boil. When it starts to thicken, lower to a bare simmer. Add a bag of thawed peas and carrots and your cooked chicken meat (about a pound, however much meat you want). Salt, pepper, I also use granulated onion and garlic. I might put in some bullion cubes or stock base, something like that, depending on the flavor. I like dried thyme, not too many other herbs. Cook til the veggies are tender, it's nice and thick and yummy. Serve over egg noodles, biscuits, tater tots, pretty much any carb you chose.

You can add whatever veggies you like, this is what I do in the winter. In the summer there's always squash and who knows what else......


My other thought is don't be afraid of the salt. Not sure how much you added, but unless you have a medical reason, try a touch more. Store bought chicken is usually brined in salt, so when we cook our own birds we don't realize how much salt is needed to achieve the flavor we're looking for.

 

[sourland]

That's a lot of broth from one chicken - more than I get from a turkey carcass.

 

[Maeschak]

I 2nd and 3rd what folks are saying about the broth/stock amounts (it should be a lot less, so just simmer it down so the flavors concentrate)... I cant make enough strong stock for stew with just one chicken. So I would either try more carcasses, add stock, or make less soup.

There is one additional step that might help, but it can be a pain to do (but I think it is very worth it)...
-Simmer the chicken in water, pull off all the meat from the bones, and save the simmering liquid.
-Crack the stripped chicken bones (hammer or back of chef knife) and then roast the bones in the oven until they have a nice roasty-brown color (just don't burn them black). I use a high heat, somewhere around 450-475 or something. You can even throw in heads of garlic (sprayed with Pam or covered in a little oil so it wont burn), onions, veggies in with the bones to roast at the same time.
-Once the bones and stuff have roasted add it all back to the simmering liquid and simmer some more until you have a deep rich stock.

I never used to do the 'roasting' step before, but now I wont make stock/soup/stew without roasting. It really changes the liquid from a light chicken broth (even if it has lots of gelatinous material) to a nice deep rich chicken stock.

I did just read someone's recipe for making a chicken soup in the pressure cooker if you have one. S/he pressure cooks the chicken, strips the meat from the bones, then adds all bones plus tons of veggies back into the pressure cooker. S/he then pressure cooks some more until the bones practically dissolve then strains the liquid and starts the soup from there.

Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

How long did you cook it? I’m not sure if you were doing stew or broth, but when I do broth I normally go 14 to 16 hours in a crock pot, sometimes as much as 20 hours.

That does seem like a lot of broth, but what parts of the chicken did you include? Was it just the meat cuts, breast, wishbone, thighs, and drumsticks or the entire carcass? I include the feet. Was that a full-sized 10-month-old cockerel or a bantam?

I think what Maeschak is talking about is bone broth. After you strip the meat you put the bones back in to cook for a long time, two or three days. You add vinegar. The vinegar helps dissolve the bones. I haven’t done it but we were talking about it over on the sister gardening site recently. That should make a rich broth.

I only use the wings, back, neck, gizzard, heart, and feet for broth, but I save the bones from the other parts when we eat them. When I get a bag full of bones I put them in the crock pot overnight and strain the liquid. I use that liquid when I make the actual broth. I normally get about 18 pints of broth out of three carcasses.

 

[Maeschak]

Ive never used vinegar or simmered bones for a few days but it sounds like an interesting idea that I might need to try! I was simply talking about roasting the bones before completing the simmering process instead of simmering bones that have not been roasted at all. Roasting adds a real depth of flavor plus it exposes the marrow which also adds a lot of flavor.
I think the main difference between broth (light, delicate flavor) and stock (deep, rich and dark flavor) is that stock is made with bones (at least, can include meat, organs, etc) and broth is made with things other than bones.

Anyway, if in doubt, just keep reducing your liquids until you have a great chicken-y taste!

 

[aart]

I use a pressure cooker, screw that hours and hours and hours of slow cooking(and smelling it).
Onion, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, herbs, and raw chicken cut up.
Cook for about an hour or so, strip all meat and set aside.
Put everything else back in and cook for another hour or two, then strain for a good strong bone broth.
Meat and broth used for various meals, broth is rich enough to dilute depending on recipe used in.

 

[mirandalola]

Ditto what other said about cooking it down; start with only as much water as you'll need for your soup and don't cook it so long, take it out just as soon as it's cooked and debone it, saving the bones for a batch of broth. Add the meat back in, with sliced carrots, celery, and onion, minced garlic, and a cupful of rice, with a couple teaspoons or so of thyme. When the rice and veggies are soft, remove from heat and stir in some cream (or sour cream!).

Later, when you want some broth, cook those bones (and skin and whatever) with celery, onion, etc. Again, don't overdo the water, make it a thick broth, not a thin one! You can use that broth later for a soup, or to cook rice for extra flavor.

 

[Clov3r]

I used enough water to cover the whole bird initially. Pulled the bird out. Deboned. Put meat and soup ingredients with some broth in a different pot for the soup, and put the bones back into the big broth pot for the baggies you see above. I would have had to quarter the bird to use less water, I think. Is that what yall do?