Portable Soup Recipe

[Black Hand]

Stock pot (4-5 gallon size IIRC) filled with chicken carcass parts left over after parting out (skin and the entire skeleton minus the wings, legs and thighs), added 3-4 medium to large onions quartered with the skin on, carrots, celery stalks, 2-3 bay leaves and some whole peppercorns. You could also add beef, venison (I added some deer stew-meat I had), chicken parts, etc. but NO salt. Other aromatics could be added according to your tastes.

Filled the pot with water and brought the pot slowly to a boil, all the while skimming the foam that came to the top (skim or use a gravy separator to remove the fat that comes to the top too). After coming to a boil, I turned down the heat to keep the pot at a vigorous simmer and let the contents simmer for 8-10 hours, occasionally adding a bit of water if it was getting too low to keep the parts submerged (You are trying to extract every bit of flavor and create gelatin from the bones and cartilage). Don’t bother with a lid and make sure the stuff in the pot isn't sticking to the bottom and burning (stir occasionally).

I then strained the remaining liquid through a wire strainer to get out the large particulates and then through several overlapping layers of cheese-cloth to get most of the fine particles. Reserve the liquid in a pot and refrigerate. I returned the bones/vegetables/etc. back to the stock pot, filled it with water to cover, and simmered again for 3-5 hours to extract the remainder of the flavor/gelatin.

I combined the two batches of liquid and stored it covered in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I removed any fat that had solidified on the surface and reduced the volume on a low heat (several episodes over the next few days as time permitted) until the liquid coated a metal spoon like cold maple syrup and was reduced down to a about 1.5 to 2 cups. I let it cool overnight in the refrigerator and removed a white-ish foamy-looking layer, and further reduced the liquid a bit more.

While warm & melted, I poured the remaining liquid into a shallow lipped metal pan (think toaster oven size) lined with parchment paper (liquid was about ½ inch thick). I allowed this to solidify, removed the jello-like material (rich, dark red-amber color) from the pan using the parchment paper liner and cut it into ½ to ¾ inch squares. I placed the squares on a clean dish towel that had been spread on a wire cooling rack and covered them with another towel. I left everything at room temperature to dry for several days to a week (looks a bit like reddish-brown taffy) until it was leathery and dry to the touch. These squares were stored in a cotton bag that I hung from a shelf to allow for air circulation and the evaporation of moisture.

Do not try to speed the drying by using your oven or food dehydrator. It will melt and make a huge mess.

 

[Trench]

I didn't think of trying a whole chicken. I'll do that next. Thanks!

 

[russecv58]

i did something similar to this. i used what was left of a rotissere chicken we had for dinner. simmered it for 2 days, by this time the bones would crumble when squeezed. strained it, filtered it through a paper towel and let it cool. refridgerated it over night, then skimmed the fat off. boiled it down to a syrup, then poured it onto some foil to dry. works great. i second the "no salt". my first batch tasted great when it was liquid soup, but when reduced down it was way too salty.