Some people watch Game of Thrones. Some play Ultimate Frisbee. Me, I get pleasure from finding novel ways to stretch a chicken further.
For a whole bunch of reasons (that I outline in my book I Quit Sugar For Life), one should always try to invest in an organic chicken. You can read more on this here. These things can be expensive…but not if you take full advantage of its goodness. The greatest nutritional and economic bang for your organic buck comes from eating the meat as well as the carcass, boiled up as a stock. The bones, skin and giblets contain the life-giving minerals and electrolytes that make chicken broth so good for the soul.
I cook the whole chook, often slowly, to extract as much nutrition as possible. This works out to be very economical for you, especially if you stretch a $20 organic chook to 15 meals…
Oh, the fun you can have with a Choose-your-own-adventure challenge! To play along, it entails starting with one (bulk-cooking) dish, then dragging out the various leftovers, scraps and by-products from there.
1. Start a roast chook (recipe below). Serves four.
2. Take the leftovers to make a roast dinner gratin for the next day. Serves one.
3. Freeze the remaining portion and use it to make chicken pops at a later date. Makes four snacks.
4. The carcass from the roast is used to make Leftover Chicken Stock. Makes six serves.