(no subject)

[which_chick]

Today for supper, we're (This is the royal we. I live alone except for two cats and they do not, as a matter of course, support me or agree with me. I contain multitudes, damn it all, and I can be We if I want to.) having rustic potato-leek soup, a favorite of mine for wintery weather. As a special treat, there's also pumpernickel bread to go with.



I wanted potato-leek soup so I got leeks at the grocery. Then, I examined the chicken department to see what for chicken they had that I could make into stock for the soup. The selection of chicken was not impressive. It was expensive. I do not understand why leg-n-thigh parts of chicken cost a buck sixty-nine a pound. Who the fuck eats chicken dark meat? (While I prefer it for eating, breast meat does not make nice stock. Boneless chicken breasts DO NOT make stock. Really good stock comes from leg-n-thigh or whole-chicken.) Whole-chicken cost $1.69/lb, too, which I thought was a little high. They did have some buy it today, really must cook and eat it pronto before it goes bad el-cheapo reduced-for-quick-sale chicken. With a fifty-cents-off coupon on it, too. That chicken, the fire-sale salmonella chicken? It was sixty-nine cents a pound not including the fifty-cents-off coupon. I'm sure I do not have to tell you people which chicken I bought.

Cringe if you want, but any chicken I bought was going to go home and immediately spend two and a half hours completely submerged in boiling water to make stock. I realize that LaRousse Gastronomique is not in favor of boiling the shit out of the chicken. I know that prettier, clear stock can be made by gently simmering the chicken at about 180 degrees F. My thing is that I want every bit of chickeny goodness in the stock and I want it in two and a half hours. When I am done, the chicken bones are brittle and dry. The chicken meat is lifeless, limp, and devoid of flavor. It falls off the bones, which makes picking for meat really easy but does mean that I have to do something else to the meat to make it edible. It works well in soup, enchiladas, curry... But anyway, I get stock that you'd write home about if I were damn fool enough to feed it to you instead of me.

Now, you can buy chicken broth in cans at the store. It sucks. This week, Weis Quality chicken stock is 2 48 oz cans (96 oz total) for $3.00 (it's on special). I bought the whole entire chicken for $2.75 (I'm telling you. Fire sale prices.) I got twelve cups plus a bit (so 96 oz and then some) of first-class stock way better than the canned shit plus also chicken meat totally free of icky bits (because I picked it off the bones and I have an eagle eye for ick) suitable for enchiladas or curry or chicken salad or adding to soup.

If I, on a small scale, as a home producer of chicken stock, can make chicken stock at a price less than that of the Weis Quality people... and mine is an order of magnitude better than the Weis Quality product, why the fuck is anyone buying the Weis Quality product? Are there people in this world who do not know how to make basic chicken stock? Is it possible that there exist people who DO NOT CARE that the Weis Quality product tastes like complete ass? (How can people not notice this?!? Don't they have taste buds?)

Comments

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

Who the fuck eats chicken dark meat?

*raises hand*

It's yummy.

Are there people in this world who do not know how to make basic chicken stock?

Yes. I'm only not one of them by virtue of having the cookbooks and seeing Eric do it once a fortnight.

Is it possible that there exist people who DO NOT CARE that the Weis Quality product tastes like complete ass?

Yes, but that only accounts for some of them...

(How can people not notice this?!? Don't they have taste buds?)

...the rest of them simply don't have the experience to compare.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Dark meat chicken is so... oily. It's very chicken-flavored. Not my first choice for eating but it makes good stock.

As for making stock, difficulty thereof: I'm not doing anything exciting here. This is "Unwrap whole raw chicken. Reach up chicken's butt, remove gross bits and toss 'em. Put the whole, raw chicken in large pot. Fill large pot with water to about 2" above the chicken. Place whole thing on burner set to "med-high". Wait two, two and a half hours, until you can stab a leg with a fork and the leg falls off. Remove ensemble from heat. Pour off liquid, strain out chicken. Liquid is your stock." There are no vegetables. There is no measuring besides eyeballing two inches of liquid over the chicken. This is not difficult.

In case anyone is wondering what I do with this stock stuff, it's the base for a lot of my soups (potato leek, amazing tatie/mushroom/lentil stew, butternut squash soup, plain lentil soup, chicken-rice soup, chicken noodle soup, chickpea soup, etc). Soups made without proper stock taste flat and icky. They are not tastylicious like good soup. In winter, I eat more soup... so winter is stock season.

[thornnuminous.livejournal.com]

I love grilled chicken legs. I just get in the mood where I want to rip meat off of bones with my teeth.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I understand this -- I do it with spare ribs. Something about 'em releases my inner carnivore.

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

I eat both dark and white meat. And when I'm making stock do it with dark meat.

: )

[toanstation.livejournal.com]

I can make stock. I usually don't. Why? Because it's 2 to 2 1/2 hours of cooking, plus straining, skimming, etc. I then need to store it. It's much easier to buy some low sodium stock at the store. And we don't buy "store brand."

Personally, I'd recommend a mire pois and some herbage in your stock. It results in a much fuller flavor.

Dark meat has a higher fat content than white meat, so more flavor. Dark meat has more connective tissue, so more collagen and lip-smacking goodness. Personally, I like both.