So, yesterday I tackled a recipe involving a whole chicken. Yup. I've never seen it done. Mom cooked turkey, but never chicken. And never in a slow cooker. So it was quite an adventure!
I thawed the bird overnight, but wasn't sure it was 100% defrosted. This will become important later.
I had to de-skin the bird, which was an interesting experience. I'd never seen anything like this done, so I just faked it. Me and my BIG kitchen knife. :) Next, I wrestled the foul into the slow cooker ... and started adding the veggies and whatnot. But after the bulk of the veggies were added, I realized I was supposed to cut the chicken apart first. Oops. I tried to do it from inside the slow cooker, but now luck. Oh well.
So, then I started it on low. The recipe said low for 6-8 hours or something like that.
But remember: the bird wasn't totally defrosted? And it was all together, not in parts. So, for the last few hours, I kicked it onto high and we let it simmer. There were TONS of juicy juices and it just looked and smelled WONDERFUL!!!
When it was time to eat, I just looked at it. And then at Erik. I wasn't sure what to DO with it. Do I carve it? Let us pull the meet off with our teeth? Hmm...
I pulled the bird and put it on a tray ... and Erik grabbed a leg to add to his plate ... and ALL of the meat fell OFF the bone and back onto the serving plate. :) I was concerned about undercooking the bird, but I guess I over-did it a big. ;)
In the end, it wasn't the most aestetically pleasing chicken, but the meat was supple and juicy. PLUS I'm going to use the extra for Rosemary-Rice-Chicken soup on Thursday. :)
4 comments:
Sounds delicious! I love to buy little chickens and cook them in the slow cooker. (Makes the house smell so yummy!) Dillions regularly has them for $.98 a pound - you can't beat that price! I don't cut them up but I do thaw them in the fridge for about two days (or one day and one night or so). I just toss in some veggies (ok, usually just carrots - sometimes potatoes) and a can of cream of mushroom soup and let it cook on low all day (7-8 hrs). Then the first meal is usually just meat fished out of the slow cooker and veggies - the only bummer part is that then I have to go through and separate the good meat from the bones, fat, etc and that can be a pain but I probably get a good two or three meals out of the leftover chicken and it is already cooked so it makes the meals quicker, too. Plus if you are savy theoretically you can save the juice and use it as broth but keep in mind you might want to package it in small containers since you probably won't want to thaw all of it only to use a few cups. (I currently have a bowling ball size freezer bag of frozen broth- stupid stupid on my part - I have a bad feeling that is going to end up in the trash one of these days.)
Yeah, I love using this to make extra meals. I DID freeze my broth (in 1-cup containers), so now I used it in a soup TODAY! :)
Thanks for your awesome comments, Mary!!!!
Sweet ideas!! Thanks so much! I love cooking ground beef, but we are out right now, and I refuse to buy it at a store when I can get it home-grown from one of my uncles. We have some ground venison... but it makes me gag to cook it, and Vince isn't here to tackle that for me... So, we've been having lots of ham and canned chicken... but now I'm inspired to try a whole one. Yay!! :)
Glad to be inspiring, Amanda.
Warning: it might not look very pretty, but mine was moist and tasty. :)
Post a Comment