Reuse Recipes: Lovely Bones

I can't believe that I have not already covered this topic.  I was telling some friends this weekend about the chicken stock I made and they were unaware that you could boil just the bones, not the whole chicken, to make stock.  Why yes, yes you can. In fact it is super healthy and is called "bone broth" in some recipes.  It is supposed to be a cure all, like chicken soup. Plus it is so easy.

My favorite way to do it is this -

1. Bake an organic fryer (if you are going to use all the parts of it including its marrow, better make sure it was kindly raised). I like to put a couple onions or lemons in the cavity to make it taste nice.  Note: that is a good reuse for the rinds/flesh of freshly squeezed lemons too!

   

   photo from: whatscookingamerica.net

2. Make a nice meal or two with all the meat that you can pull off the bones.  For example, Hawaiian haystacks was what we used it for this week.
3. Dump the carcass, skin, etc into the crock pot. Cover with water. Let it simmer on low overnight.
4. Turn off the crockpot and let it cool off enough that you can touch it without burning yourself. Don't open the lid during the cooling process or you will let bacteria in. 
   
5. Place a colander in a larger bowl and dump out the contents of the crock pot.  Set the broth aside and examine the bones. Pull off all the pieces of meat that you missed and put into the bowl with the broth or set aside for another meal.  I always think that I did a very good job cleaning the meat off and am then shocked by the amount that I can get off the carcass/bones once it's been boiled. 
6. Place broth in usable size freezer storage containers and label for the next time you are making soup or a recipe that calls for chicken broth. It will keep in the freezer for 3-6 months with good flavor.