Friday, February 26, 2010

Whole Chicken Cooked in the Crockpot



When I was first married I tried cooking chicken in the oven and ah- just imagine the turkey on National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I still cannot cook a chicken in the oven without it being very dry. So I found an alternative way to cook a whole chicken. Now - cooking a chicken this way is not something you want to do if you are having guests over for dinner. When you take it out of the crockpot it literally is so moist it falls apart. So you end up with pieces that you have to remove the meat from.

1. To do this - you remove your giblets from the chicken. You place the chicken in your crockpot, season with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Put the lid on and turn on low for 7-8 hours. It is that easy, you do not add water or any other liquid. The chicken ends up cooking in its own juices. Picture above shows what it will look like after 8 hours.


2. You remove the chicken from the crockpot - It will fall apart when you start moving it. When you get all the pieces on a plate remove all the skin and bones and put them back into the crockpot. Fill the crockpot with water. Keep on low for 10-12 hours to make your chicken broth.


3. Strain the bones/caracass out of your liquid.


4. What you have left is your chicken broth.


From this chicken I was able to get:
the original meal of chicken, mash potatoes, and gravy
4 c cubed chicken
1 c shredded chicken
14 cups of chicken broth that I freeze in 2 cup portions.

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