The last time I did the diet, I had real trouble trying to keep us in cooked chicken and stock for making soups and such. Granted, I had fewer tools then, specifically no pressure canner, but the workload for making just 2 whole chickens and juggling space in the fridge was just ridiculous. I've been thinking for quite a while how to make it easier this time around.
The key to this whole thing is that my sister found a local chicken farm that raises their chickens organic practice (though not certified) and they do their own butchering and packaging at the farm. They don't officially sell to the public at the farm, but if I call ahead, they are happy to work it out, and I can get better prices than going to a local store that carries their products. I can also get things that aren't sold at the stores, like stripped chicken carcasses and bags of chicken feet... All for reasonable prices. It's $4 for a bag of 3 carcasses, and when I opened up the first bag, I couldn't believe how much meat was left on the bones, and how much fat! I guess it makes sense, because they are only interested in taking off the official cuts, like boneless breast, thighs, legs, wings. But it leaves the fatty tail and all the meat on the back, the neck and all those bits in and around the breast that aren't part of the cut of meat! They didn't have feet when I was there this time, but I'm looking forward to trying to get some next time I go, they are supposed to be wonderful for making broth, rich in the collagen that is so good for us.
I used to pay around $30 for 2 whole organic chickens at Costco, which I then had to bring home, rub with salt to dry brine, clear space in the fridge for them to sit while they brined for a day, then I would usually rotisserie them, have to take them apart, and finally be able to make broth with 2 full carcasses, with half the fat already cooked off. I'd only get around 5 quarts of stock from this, and it was pretty watery to make it stretch that far, and it was a real struggle to accomplish this every week.... This way, I can buy 2 bags of carcasses, or 1 of carcasses and 1 of feet, bring it home and immediately throw them in the pressure canner to make broth. And while I'll still be spending around $30 at Costco for chicken, it will be boneless, skinless thighs that are super easy to store, prep, and cook, and are the dark meat that I prefer instead of the dry tasteless white meat! I'm soooo excited to be saving so much time, and not spending all that much more money! I've also purchased quite a few wings, which are their cheapest cut, and my very favorite part, so I'll also be saving those bones and freezing them to add to the pot when I make broth. This is what my sister does exclusively, but she doesn't use as much broth as I do.
Chicken Bone Broth for the Pressure Cooker
6 chicken carcasses from my chicken farm
6 quarts of water
1 whole dry turmeric root (found at an Indian grocery store, I love these for the flavor, color and amazing health benefits of turmeric.)
splash of vinegar
NO salt, I never salt my stocks or broths. It allows me to salt each individual dish to taste and not worry about the salt content of the broth or the fat that I save.
I use my 16 quart Presto pressure canner to make this broth. It's pretty darn easy. Throw everything into the canner, nudging the carcasses so everything is mostly submerged. Put the lid on and let it come up to pressure, this typically takes mine around 30-40 minutes. Once it is at pressure (I default to 15 lbs just because I'm lazy) set a timer for 3 hours and go sit down and chill out, or putter around and do some chores.
After 3 hours, turn the burner off and set a timer for 30 minutes, and set up for processing the broth. I set up a small stock pot with a wire mesh colander over it to scoop the meat, bones and broth into, a large bowl to hold the meat and bones, and a large stock pot to measure the broth into. I also set out my jars, lids, 4 cup measure, 2 cup measure and a large ladle. Set out a few extra jars also, to skim fat into and to have a place to put extra broth.
There should be around 6-8 quarts in the large stock pot now. If there wasn't a full 7 quarts, you can fill up the remainder with water. Put that pot on a burner and start heating it up again. Skim the fat off into the 4 quart measure, and then if you are like me and get half fat and half broth when you do this, carefully pour the fat off the top of the measure into a spare jar, skimming with a spoon or the ladle when the broth starts pouring out under the fat as well.
Let the broth simmer a bit, occasionally using a small wire mesh strainer to skim off the crud that floats to the top while you clean the pressure canner. Make sure to clean the seals and pressure gaskets very well even if you don't see anything there, because even a little food can clog them and make it so they don't seal. Once it is very clean, set up the pressure canner to can and get it heating up. While it is heating, use the 2 cup measure to scoop broth into the 4 cup measure. Pour 3 1/2 cups into each of the prepared quart jars. My canner can hold 7, so I continue until 7 jars are filled. Wipe tops, place lids and set into the canner. If there is any leftover broth, pour that into a jar to go into the fridge and use soon (like in porridge, yum!). The Ball Blue Book says to process broth at 10 lbs for 25 minutes, but because I'm lazy, I do it at 15 lbs for 30, just to round up.
All in all, it's still labor intensive during the process of taking the broth from the canner to a stock pot, skimming fat, cleaning the canner, putting into jars, etc. But it is certainly a lot less work than having to deal with whole chickens, and then still having to do all that. And this broth is far superior to what I used to be able to make, and I get all that lovely fat to use elsewhere.
Yield: 7-8 quarts unsalted bone broth and around 2 cups rich chicken fat
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