Soup from a carcass

melmax

How much water do you put in the pan?  I've done this before, and it came out watery, I imagine I put in too much water.  Do you just barely cover the carcass with water then boil for a few hours? 

I'm pretty sure I know what to do from there (pull off rest of chicken, put broth in fridge then skim off fat once it's risen to top) but I don't want watery chicken soup!

AnnapolisLari

Water to cover and simmer for a while. I usually throw a chicken stock cube in there, too. (Knorr, not one of the nasty kind.)

Yodajo

I cover it with water and simmer it for a few hours.  I also add celery, carrots onions and a garlic clove or two.  I just peel the carrots and then break them and the celery in half and quarter the onion.  Then I strain them out when I'm done and start with new veggoes after I skim the fat off with the technique you mentioned.

CleoKitty

I keep a couple of big gallon sized ziplock bags in the freezer and put all chicken bones into it. I also save celery, carrot and onion trimmings. I generally wait until I have about two chicken carcasses before making stock. I dump everything (including the veggies) still frozen into a crockpot along with some salt, whole peppercorns and a bay leaf. I pretty much fill the crockpot completely to the top with water and let it cook for at least 8-12 hours, sometimes more. I usually end up with 3-4 quarts of a very rich, flavorful stock (the kind that turns into gelatin when refrigerated.)

newwifey

I pretty much do what cleo wrote above only sometimes I will roast everything together in the oven to carmelize first. You can also get a lot of flavor out of roasted giblets that come in the cavity of the bird.

shouldbworkin

Yodajo:

I cover it with water and simmer it for a few hours.  I also add celery, carrots onions and a garlic clove or two.  I just peel the carrots and then break them and the celery in half and quarter the onion.  Then I strain them out when I'm done and start with new veggoes after I skim the fat off with the technique you mentioned.

Ditto this and Cleo.  I try to leave some skin and meat on the bones too. 

AggieCouple

Is this a raw carcass?  This is what I do (from my ATK cookbook) and it makes awesome rich broth, while not overcooking the breast meat:

1.  Separate breasts.

2.  Chop through the rest of the chicken thighs/wings/neck to expose bone marrow.

3.  Cook chopped up chicken parts (not the breasts) with 1 coarsely diced onion over medium heat, covered, for about 20 minutes.  This will release all the juices from the bones and marrow, the best part to make chicken stock with.

4.  Add 2 quarts boiling water (I heat separately in kettle) and simmer for up to 2 hours (when in a hurry, I just do it for about 20-30 minutes, and it's still pretty good).  Add chicken breasts and simmer for another 20-30 minutes until breasts are just cooked through.

5.  Remove breasts onto plate for later.

6.   Pour stock through a mesh filter.  Discard onions and chopped up pieces.  Refrigerate and skim fat.

The chopped up pieces are no longer good for eating, since you sapped out all the juices into the water.