How many meals can you serve from a single chicken?
September 16, 2006 at 5:47 PM
by Ashleigh
In the interests of simplifying life and using what I have I've started to be a lot more thoughtful about what I do in the kitchen.
Like I said before in a different post, I never wasted food before, but I just didn't husband it as carefully as I could have.
This week I did two things to try and manage our diet, as well as getting a more varied eating pattern going within our home. I bought a pressure cooker and I signed up for the organic vegetable box scheme I mentioned here.
I've opted for the Odintas to start with, and I'm getting a fruit bag and a mixed veg/fruit bag weekly. This is on a four week trial. After that I'll try the Vitatas scheme and see what that's like and then make my decision on which to keep after that. I'm still a bit alarmed at all the cabbage, but I'll get over it.
The pressure cooker is truly a magnificent piece of equipment. So far I've made: chicken casserole, bolognaise sauce, vegetable soup, rice pudding, beef and vegetable casserole, part-cooked a chicken for the bbq, prepared potatoes for mashing and I just finished making another batch of chicken soup.
Which is where the title of this post comes in.
How many meals can you get from a single chicken?
The chicken I used was 1.2 kilograms (around 2.5 lb). It was frozen with giblets.
This is what I did.
- I stuffed the chicken cavity with lemons and steamed it in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes to part-cook it. I then cut the chicken along the breastbone, removed the wings and backbone and cut the chicken into three large portions - two leg portions and one bone-in chicken breast portion. I then brushed the still warm pieces with chilli sauce marinade and left them to rest for bbq'ing. The remainder of the pieces were put aside.
- I removed the giblets from the chicken and panfried them with garlic, salt and pepper. I used the cooking liquor from the pressure cooker, and added to it the panfried giblets with the remainder of the set aside chicken pieces; a 150g packet of soup vegetables consisting of cauliflower, carrot, red pepper, leeks and curly endive; three large carrots, peeled and sliced; three medium potatoes, peeled and quartered; 2 cups of mixed white beans, lentils, and brown beans, and 1.5 litres of vegetable stock. After 20 minutes in the pressure cooker I removed the chicken pieces and put the soup back at pressure to cook the beans through. From that one pot I have almost 3 litres of soup, enough for two substantial meals, especially if topped with cheesy toasted french bread and followed by a dairy-rich dessert.
- I carefully shredded all the chicken meat from the bone, and discarded the bones. I reserved the shredded chicken to use for chicken and mushroom pie, enriched with creme fraiche and topped with home-made pastry. I'll serve this with mixed vegetables from my organic box. I expect cauliflower, curly endive, sweetcorn, and paksoi. I think the cauliflower will be a fine accompaniment.
So, from my one frozen chicken, which cost a paltry (hehe) E2.59, I have managed to serve four meals. I could probably have got another meal out of this, something like chicken mayonnaise toasted sandwiches (yum), but there are four of us and we are quite hearty eaters so I'd rather not push it too far.
For me, this is not only about being careful with money, but more about being mindful about what we throw away. If I can take care that nothing that can be consumed is thrown away I relieve the overburdened garbage system, save myself time and energy schlepping garbage around, save the plastic garbage bags, and save our environment. Not to mention, a chicken gave up it's life for us to eat those meals, the least we can do is use it comprehensively.
For more on a simpler life, have a look here.
Comments
That is really neat Ash. It's intereting that pressure cookers are coming back into favour. My mom had one when I was a kid. There were some kitchen disasters every once in a while but she seemed to use it fairly often. I have been doing some investigating along the lines of your thinking but I find it's a bit more of a challenge for one person for some reason.
Hey -- good topic. I have miles to go on this front myself.
Amazing! You made everything but pulverized carcass soup.
Hi there!
I saw your blog on BE so thought I'd pay you a visit. Us Expats have to stick together, right? lol
Since I've lived in NL I don't think I've actually ever bought a full sized chicken.. and I have no idea why cause I always used to love roast chicken for Sunday lunch back home.
Anyway nice to meet you :=)
Mandy
I haven't made chicken soup from scratch since I've been here. It used to be a favorite meal of mine in the U.S., in part because it was so satisfying to see a "carcass" become a meal!
I was thinking about getting one of those cookers that are at an angle so all the fat drips away. I need to start eating more healthy.
If you really want to go all out, you can do what my grandmother did -- you can actually make dishes with the fat and the bones.
Ashleigh, you're truly inspiring.
Angela
Ash, you're a real inspiration the way you're using your cooking ingredients to such an extent - we could all learn a less or two from you! :D Loved the sweater pose too ... definitely an old pose in a young body ... he looks very handsome, and boy oh boy he's gonna break some hearts when he gets older! :)
Hi! I followed the link from Every Little Thing and thought I'd say hello. I'm kinda in the same boat, getting used to German customs, so I'll be back to see what you're up to :)
September 17, 2006 12:03 PM