Last night I made a whole chicken. The pan collected a nice amount of chicken juices, spices and butter that I’d applied to the skin.
After the meal, I wasn’t sure what to do with this excess liquid, but I knew it was way too tasty to toss. After considering the options–while my dog lobbied to implement her own solution–I decided to freeze it.
But how?
Over the last year, I’ve received quite a few tips from readers who swear by freezing herbs in butter in an ice cube tray. That way, you just drop a cube in the pan when you need a bit of that herb. It makes an herb butter, which is great because, really–what’s not improved with butter?
I figured the same logic could be applied to the chicken fat/butter combo. And since we had an extra ice cube tray lying around (for water bottle shaped cubes), I poured the greasy mixture into the tray.
This morning, I have chicken cubes cylinders. I overfilled the trays, but I’m pretty sure they’ll add some punch to rice and other grains. And if they don’t, the dog gets to enact her plan.
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Tonight: Chicken salad and boiling the carcass to make stock.
Comments
12 responses to “Chicken Pops”
Throw about half of this (or all) back in with the bones for your stock making. You want all of this flavor in your stock.
This is a great idea BTW. I don’t have a freezer – but for those who do . . .
I put the grease / drippings in a jar and use it as oil for sauteeing or stir frying.
Oh man. You must have better resistance to puppy-dog eyes than I do… my dog usually gets chicken broth on his dry food, but for two days last week after I baked a chicken, he had herbed chicken grease! I’m hopeless.
katecontinued–definitely, that would make for some yummy stock.
Cool idea, Rani. Where do you store the jar?
Molly, what would Cesar say? You’re the pack leader!! Then again, I gave my dog the liver.
Glad to see somebody takes the (GRD) great republican depression seriously and is spreading life-saving information on survival to some younger folks who don’t necessarily know better. We used to eat chicken livers and green peppers, Giblette stew, Neck soup, and never wasted the wonderful broth either. Now-a-days, chickens can come without these parts included, and it is time for the stores to stop stealing these parts from the consumer under the guise of convenience! Great power to you and your site, you are in the right place, at the right time and a winner !
Thanks, Uncle B! After reading your comment, I feel like a winner!
I swear by the ice cube chicken/turkey fat! I use a cube or two as the base for soups. Just today I sauteed green onions in that as a base for broccoli cheese soup.
It’s also wonderful to use defrosted chicken fat inside matzah balls (rather than oil) in matzah ball soup.
Thanks for the tip. I’m wondering if there is anything to do with the carcass after making the stock other than throwing it away. Even though I use all the edible parts of the chicken, I still feel bad tossing the bones.
Hi Jonathan,
This comment is not about the chicken (which still has me salivating like a Pavlovian dog) but about your long water bottle ice cubes.
Have you tried filling up the water bottle (as long as it is plastic other than number–what was it? 3, 6 or 7, I think) just half-way up and freezing it like that? When you are ready to head out the door all you have to do is top it off with more water. I find it keeps water colder longer and you also avoid the cling cling cling from the lose ice-cube inside–at least for a while.
The best bottles I found for this I bought at WholeFoods (cheapest I found as well), they are metallic and have a wide neck, this makes it a lot easier to clean. They also have a clip if you want to hang it to your backpack or bag.
Love your blog and all you stand for!
GardeningFool
Thanks Pam. I’ve tried that before and you’re right, it really works. Perfect for road trips. I’m not really in love with those long ice cubes…hence, they were available for chicken pops.
I roasted a chicken last night. (I had two limes that had gotten all dry, so I cut them in half and stuck them in the cavity with some somewhat elderly garlic — yum!) I used the drippings to make gravy. It was a huge hit as we normally only have gravy on Thanksgiving.
The extra chicken will be transformed into chicken enchiladas for tonight which will also include leftover rice from a few nights ago.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
The Non-Consumer Advocate
A.K.A. The leftover Grand Poo-Bah
I freeze chix drippings in a 2c. tupperware-like container,[1] pouring in each chix’s worth on top of the accumulated tastiness. It’s great for gravy, braised chicken, risotto, etc. The fat is irreplacable in dumplings and matzo balls.
I don’t like it for stock because I use my chix stock for both European and Asian cooking.
Alicia, that carcass is done. You’ve been very respectful of it: you eat the meat, you picked over the bones for meat for later, you simmered the bones for stock. Time for the trash can.
[1] By TellFresh. It’s rectangular and the lid doesn’t protrude so it’s very space efficient. Use with LabelOnce rewritable labels for easy labeling. Both from the Container Store.