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Stretching a chicken ...

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Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Suffs » Sun May 01, 2022 12:58 pm

Last weekend I pot-roasted a chicken in the slow-cooker and ,as well as Sunday's roast chicken, we had chicken salad, and a chicken and leek risotto (using leftover meat and stock from the carcass). This weekend, for various reasons, I didn't go to the farm shop/butcher and we're making inroads on what we have in the fridge and freezer ... so we have another chicken in the slow cooker ...

I thought it might be fun to discuss the ways we stretch a chicken ... all the dishes we can make with what's left after we've had it roasted.

Do you know, I've actually come across people who put what's left after Sunday lunch in the bin :shock: :shock: :shock: :cry:

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Gruney2 » Sun May 01, 2022 1:01 pm

Great idea, Suffs - just what I've been waiting for!

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Suelle » Sun May 01, 2022 1:16 pm

Much as you do, Suffs - add some leftover meat to my lunch salads and always make stock from the carcass.

It's a controversial issue, as some people can't stand pasta and chicken together, but I often put leftover meat and some cooked vegetables into a white sauce, top with panko breadcrumbs and bake until golden.

I'm OK with cooked chicken in a curry sauce too, but know some people think you should start from scratch with raw meat.

Once you've got a good stock, this soup is delicious - it uses a little leftover meat too (or what you strip from the carcass after it's made the stock):
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... en-recipes

There's also a recipe for croquettes with leftover chicken on that link, but I haven't tried it.

Cold chicken with a jacket potato and coleslaw - not exactly a recipe for stretching a chicken, but a whole chicken for one person goes a really long way! :D
Traditional home baking, and more:
http://mainlybaking.blogspot.co.uk/

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 01, 2022 1:24 pm

Good idea

Well, curry of various kinds of course is almost my first thought

Rather than risotto I might make an Asian noodle dish, either a stir fry or soup noodles

I tend to make the stock now Asian style without the mass of veg often recommended, as Asian style stock works for me in European dishes but not vice versa, just a bit of star anise and maybe a whole garlic clove, if you overdo the veg it can end up a bit like cabbage water.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun May 01, 2022 1:36 pm

When I had all 4 children here, in the dim and distant past, I used to do the Nigella thing of roasting 2 chickens - Costco always sold them in double packs in those days. One and maybe a bit more would be stripped bare for Sunday lunch and Monday was nearly always an enormous chicken pie with whatever veg or ham that I could find. Anything left went into a risotto on Tuesday.

Ah, those were the days. *Misty-eyed smiley*.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby PatsyMFagan » Sun May 01, 2022 1:41 pm

I cooked a RTC guinea fowl last week in my Instant Pot -- 4 hours on slow cook just on a couple of quartered onions - no other liquid.

To be honest I don't need any help in devouring a whole bird to myself, but not in one go of course.

As soon as the bird is cooked enough to fall off the bone, I take all the skin off and bones out. Both these will be then used to make stock with the addition of the carrot another onion and celery (if I have any), again in the IP.

I keep the drumsticks, take off the 2 breasts and the rest of the meat becomes a pile of loveliness.

My first meal while the meat is freshly cooked and succulent is both the wing pieces with enough pieces of meat to make a portion with boiled/steamed veg.

Last week I converted some of the meat pieces to coronation chicken for a lunch time sandwich.

By now I have a pot of stock, so I will thicken some of that to make a tasty gravy.

The drumsticks get re-heated in some of the gravy for another meal with potatoes and veg.

At some point I will make chicken and mushroom pie, probably using some of the breast meat.

I will have been snacking on the meat every time I open the fridge, so I never need to worry about using it all up.

Edited to add : Sometimes I just freeze some breast meat to make a quick meal at a later date.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Sakkarin » Sun May 01, 2022 2:16 pm

EDIT! Oh no, just realised you said "after roasting", mine weren't roast so may be ineligible :-(

This week from a 1.7kg chicken I had 2 portions of Achari Tikka Kebabs, in homemade pitta, made from one 275g breast, 2 days of Methi Chicken (on the bone) made from the legs, thighs and winglets, and 2 portions of Szechwan Fish Flavour Chicken & Aubergine (29p for the aubergine!), so it lasted me 6 days, and I will make some stock from the carcass later which will replace the stock I used in the Szechwan dish.

Next week's chicken I will do 2 portions of Chicken Gumbo from the leg portions (prompted by a friend asking for okra recipes - frozen okra just 75p from Tesco this week!), 2 portions of the best ever Chicken Biryani recipe from one breast, and maybe 2 lots of Szechwan Dry Fried Chicken with the last breast, or more kebabs to up the salad intake. And stock again of course.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Amyw » Sun May 01, 2022 2:43 pm

I cooked a small chicken yesterday at work and there was just enough to feed four of us . I do think it depends on the dish with how far it stretches . Soups and risottos tend to use a relatively small amount of meat in them . If I was making something like coronation chicken , which actually I haven’t made in years , I’d use a lot more chicken , as it’s the star of the show really. Stir fries you can really stretch out a portion of meat too

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Suffs » Sun May 01, 2022 2:45 pm

Well Sakks, seeing as it's you ... you're excused ;)

After all, you've still stretched your chicken ... just in a different direction ... :lol:

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 01, 2022 2:47 pm

Yes, two things - I haven’t had a Guinea fowl in ages, but for a single person household they are perfect, right size and lovely flavour. Must get one soon

I sometimes prefer to poach the chicken, you get the stock right away and the moister, softer, meat is nicer in many secondary meals. The difference between Coronation chicken made with poached and roasted chicken is quite striking, though it’s still worth making with leftovers roast of course

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby WWordsworth » Sun May 01, 2022 2:56 pm

I dislike the flavour of reheated chicken so any leftovers tend to be eaten cold.

I love a chicken and stuffing sandwich of course.
I also really like cold chicken in a coronation style sauce, with baked potato, salad or both.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby mistakened » Sun May 01, 2022 3:01 pm

We can make a Roast Chicken last for at least three meals, roast with vegetables first, then possibly either a stir fry or pilau, Chicken a la King or Coronation Chicken salad depending on the weather, usually there is enough for lunchtime Chicken Rolls.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Lusciouslush » Sun May 01, 2022 3:53 pm

All of the above :thumbsup - plus I do like Bang Bang chicken.....

I tend to keep the carcass in the freezer until I have enough bones to make a decent stock - an 'average' chicken carcass isn't up to the job these days.

Gotta lurve chicken...........

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun May 01, 2022 3:56 pm

There’s a Guinea fowl being brined in the kitchen as I write this. Today it will be poached and served hot with Jersey Royals, asparagus, leeks and a nice colly off the plot. Tomorrow cold with leftover spuds and salad, or wedges if we eat all the JRs beforehand. The carcass will be picked, the bones pressure-cooked for stock and the scraps either added to a stir fry, or used with any other odds & sods of game from the freezer in a hotpot. At this time of year there are usually a few takeaway containers with the last knockings of venison stew or casseroled pheasant, not enough by themselves but all good together.

The leftover colly plus cooking water will be used for a risotto, the leeks for a ham & leek bake. There will not be any leftover asparagus… :)

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby KeenCook2 » Sun May 01, 2022 4:38 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:
I sometimes prefer to poach the chicken, you get the stock right away and the moister, softer, meat is nicer in many secondary meals. The difference between Coronation chicken made with poached and roasted chicken is quite striking, though it’s still worth making with leftovers roast of course


Sue, do you poach a whole chicken or when it's already jointed? We have poached breasts relatively recently but other than that I don't think we've done it for ages. Wasn't there a whole chicken poached in milk recipe back in the 70s? Might have been in Cooking in a Bedsitter? :?: :?:

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Sloe-Gin » Sun May 01, 2022 5:30 pm

So many good ideas here.
I have a friend who'd buy M & S chicken, they'd have the breast meat, the dog would have leg meat (plus all the trimmings and gravy, all M & S), then the rest of the bird went in the bin. :shock:

Hub has the white meat and I love the dark. Whatever is left is stripped and the bigger bits separated from the more chunky ones. I'll either make a chicken, pancetta and mushroom pie, a Chinese dish of some kind or a classic Caesar. Then the carcass is slow cooked with veg and is either turned into chicken and sweetcorn soup (where those small bits of chicken are so useful!) or a chicken noodle broth (my favourite is when the rice is cooked in it though; reminds me of childhood).

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun May 01, 2022 5:57 pm

KeenCook2 wrote:
Stokey Sue wrote:
I sometimes prefer to poach the chicken, you get the stock right away and the moister, softer, meat is nicer in many secondary meals. The difference between Coronation chicken made with poached and roasted chicken is quite striking, though it’s still worth making with leftovers roast of course


Sue, do you poach a whole chicken or when it's already jointed? We have poached breasts relatively recently but other than that I don't think we've done it for ages. Wasn't there a whole chicken poached in milk recipe back in the 70s? Might have been in Cooking in a Bedsitter? :?: :?:

I was thinking of poaching a whole chicken, I’d only usually poach portions if the recipe called for it; the Cordon Bleu cookbook paprika chicken uses a whole chicken poached then dismantled, but last time I did it I used thighs on the bone
I don’t usually buy chicken breast portions as I prefer the legs and thighs largely a question of texture though I think the taste is better too

While we are on the subject of texture, I’m fine with chicken and pasta but don’t understand roast chicken in sandwiches, with or without stuffing, I really don’t get on with the combination of two very dry but different textures.

There really isn’t a standard :D

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby Earthmaiden » Sun May 01, 2022 6:52 pm

I'm not sure if it counts as poaching but my favourite way of cooking chicken to eat cold is to just plonk it into the slow cooker with garlic and lemon juice and let it cook for a long time. It all falls apart when you go to remove it but the main carcass and breast stays intact for elegant slicing later and the rest is picked over. The resulting broth is a bit special too with only some salt added, very good for a spring/summer soup containing fresh veg such as baby broad beans.

Leftovers normally depend on the size of the chicken but for a family of 4 I'd expect to have a roast with plenty of veg and a chipolata or two to eke it out and enough for many of the dishes already mentioned the next day. I was brought up never to start the second side on the first day - but do if its small chicken! It's not bad for a repeat roast with roast potatoes etc. That's what MIL always did. Whilst I love a pie with a creamy sauce, a pie with the meat in leftover gravy is pretty good too. Not so keen on chicken with pasta.

I absolutely adore cold chicken so some is always kept at least for a sandwich, if not a salad. Some years ago, our local Coop used to sell (made on the premises), hunks of very nice 'French stick' filled with lettuce and chicken with a creamy mayo to die for. If only I could replicate it!

Whether the chicken's been slow cooked or roasted, the carcass goes into the slow cooker overnight for lovely stock, usually to freeze. If the bird was oven roasted I'll save the first round of stock and use the bones to make a second, more inferior, stock. I haven't found a way of eating the bones - yet! If there's still meat left I'll make a soup with chicken and chopped veg, I'm into leaving it thin and adding garlic, chillies, lemon grass etc at the moment and maybe noodles.

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby RockyBVI » Mon May 02, 2022 8:40 am

Love these ideas. Like Sue I generally make an Asian style stock, although I occasionally make it simpler if I’m planning risottto.

Suelle - that soup looks great. Thanks for sharing!

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Re: Stretching a chicken ...

Postby liketocook » Mon May 02, 2022 2:41 pm

These days I seldom roast a whole chicken. Usually I'll remove the legs and wings to roast and either roast or slow cook the crown. I'm less keen on reheated breast meat unless it can be added to just reheat quickly in another dish. I do love a roast chicken sandwich. Carcass and rough bits get used for stock and soup. As well as the pies etc. mentioned one thing I used to do often when I only had a small amount of cooked meat left was make a sort of pate/spread which the boys loved in their packed lunches. Basically a handful of cooked chicken quickly blitzed with a dollop of cream cheese, a dollop of mayo and little lemon juice blitzed then add sweetcorn, diced peppers and spring onions.
Tonight I'm spatchcocking a small chicken (1.35kg) to marinade in peri peri then bbq. The removed back bone will get added to the freezer carcass stash. We'll probably use the legs and wings tonight leaving the breasts for sandwiches etc. for lunch for the two of us for a couple of days. The cooked carcass and surplus marinade will get turned into stock and used in coming weeks to flavour a rice stew. I reckon 2 main portions, 4 lunch portions and the basis of another meal for 2 or 3 feels okay.
My late MIL used to roast a whole chicken use the breasts and ditch the rest sometimes buying two or more chickens if there were a few for Sunday dinner. My ex-OH was mortified when I asked to take the rest home with us...... :roll:

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