AIBU to start to believe in the magical Mumsnet chicken?

[HootOwl]

Maybe it is actually real?! 🐔😆

I roasted an (admittedly huge) chicken and also this was all only to feed me and two small children so not huge portions but from one chicken we had:

Roast dinner
Chicken fricassee
Chicken risotto
Chicken pasta bake
Paprika chicken
Chicken soup
Crispy chicken skin (snack)

Will make the effort to roast a whole one more often! I swear it only had two breasts, two legs and two wings...

If you have made some good gravy, chicken pie is good - I just do chicken plus gravy, top with puff pastry or homemade shortcrust, bake. However, I am sure that it would be possible to get fancier with mushrooms, white sauce, sweetcorn, bacon, leeks etc etc if you fancied it.

Just me!! One normal sized chicken did 6 chicken dinners and 3 chicken curries. Would also have done a stock too but forgot to buy onions and celery. I've also managed to do 3 chicken dinners, 2 lots of chicken chips and beans 2 chicken sandwiches and had a plate of chicken one night as a snack. If I buy a whole chicken I literally strip every last bit off it

Threads like this always make me feel really parsimonious. There are only two of us and we always but a large chicken. We usually get 4 roast chicken meals, 2 Mexican style meals, quesadillas, burritos etc and a soup for 2, with chicken bits and a couple of frozen back stock lumps, for more soup or gravy.

So 8 evening meals and the base for 2 - 4 more soups as a minimum. Occasionally I'll also have small shreds left over, they go on a jacket potato or in with pasta.

It never seemed odd.until I read my first magic chicken thread 😁

If you have little children then build your own wraps are popular. Cut some veg into thin batons (carrot cucumber courgette pepper all popular) put on a plate with some shredded chicken and lettuce leaves. Children can the build a wrap - spread with a little mayo, line with lettuce leaves , veg and chicken down the middle and roll up. Was a very easy way to get veg in them.

Quick chicken and broccoli lasagne - spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of dish, then a layer of lasagne sheets. Mix cooked broccoli and chicken into tomato sauce - layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella, pasta - repeat and end with pasta topped with mozzarella.

@mumofEandE

Well done - I am too greedy sadly But 'chicken skin snack'??

It's no different from pork scratchings or pork crackling. I've seen "cock scratchings" on gastro pub menus.

In fact, you could think of them as kosher pork scratchings. Gribenes are a traditional Jewish snack, served as just the crispy skins or fried with onions or in chopped liver:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gribenes

@bowlingalleyblues, I find the best way to get the meat off is with my fingers, while it is still warm.

I wear those blue plastic gloves to keep it a bit more hygienic, and stop myself getting burned.

For those that have it for days on end .. how long before you throw it .. do you still eat the chicken 5 days later or do you make the meals , freeze them then get them out when needed ?if I cooked a chicken on Sunday then Wednesday would be the absolute maximum I'd still be using it from the fridge
It would be interesting to see if it could last longer !

I generally strip the chicken on Day 1 after roast dinner and make (and freeze) the stock.

Refrigerate e.g. meat I am keeping for salad or sandwiches on day 2.

Freeze everything else ready chopped, in 1 meal portions.

Oh, freezer.

We tend to have 'council house' tea on Monday. Leftover meat, chips, beans and bread. We both have very fond memories of Monday tea as kids, and equally fond memories of slightly wealthier friends being gobsmacked when invited for tea on Mondays.😁

Then everything else gets frozen back in shreds, ready to be pulled out as needed.

We keep decent sized wings that the dog doesn't get frozen too. Every now and then I make BBQ sauce and we get messy 🙂

Should have added, we strip it down and make stock/soup on Monday afternoon / early evenings

I generally prefer freezing it @haveanicefuckingday to avoid having to use it til I'm ready. Sometimes I'll plan two chicken meals back to back but, like today, I've made lovely chicken and leek soup for the freezer and it will be much more appreciated another day.

Chicken and pearl barley soup with the left over carcass..
2 onions 2 carrots 1 large leek. 200g pearl barley
Cook chopped veg for 15 mins until soft. Add 2 litres of water. Simmer 1 hour. Remove surface scum. Remove chicken, strip of any meat put 2 1 side. Add pearl barley and carcass. Cook another 25 mins remove carcass add chicken pieces a couple of handfuls of peas and Cook for a further 5 mins. If your stock doesn't have enough flavour you can always add a stock cube. Lovely and filling with some bread

chesirecat99 I like crispy c hicken skin but I doubt I’d be in a mood to ever buy “cock scratchings”!!

@haveanicefuckingday yes that would be about my limit too. That's plenty for us now I have 2 teens, but anything you're not going to eat you can freeze. Slices frozen in gravy reheat really well for another roast dinner, or handfuls of smaller bits are fine frozen dry for stir fries, risotto etc.

I find a chicken can genuinely stretch to several meals. There's nothing mythical about it but it does involve bulking them out with carbs, veg, beans. If you slice it up for sandwiches it'll go much less far than if you bung a handful in a risotto.

Yes, always a big one here.

I’ve always got little packets labelled ‘chick bits’ in the freezer, handy for stir fries or main meal soups, etc., and the carcass always makes a lovely stock.

I’m a convert to boiling my MN chicken because I’m a bit squeamish about picking roast meat off a skeleton.
So I pan fry the whole chicken or chicken pieces like thighs for ten minutes (more flavor), fry some chopped onions and garlic in the leftover oil, then transfer to the pressure cooker with whatever vegetables I like, a stock cube and some thyme. 30 minutes cooking.

That makes fall-off-the-bone meat* (I use kitchen tongs) and about 5 liters of amazing stock for:

Tortellini in chicken broth
French Onion soup
Mushroom risotto
Stroganoff

And two or three of these “added flavour” dishes:
Chicken and Vegetable soup
Chicken and roast peppers
Chicken wraps or sandwiches
Chicken curry
Mexican chicken and rice.

*Admittedly the boiled meat isn’t as tasty as roast but it’s more to create base ingredients than “leftovers”. Commercial kitchens do the same.

Soup...just keep adding water !!!

‘Boiling fowls’ used to be a thing in the U.K. - bigger, older birds not considered suitable for roasting.

That was in the days when chicken was relatively expensive, i.e. before mass production battery farms.

@Peachandpearl

I used to make 'Mexican lasagne' which wax tomato pasta sauce, mixed with sweetcorn, chopped peppers and shredded leftover roast chicken, between layers of tortilla. Then the top layer was covered in a thin layer of tomato pasta sauce, then loads of grated cheese and jalapeños.

Oh my goodness, this sounds absolutely divine! I’ll be cooking this tomorrow

Well, yes, @DrinkFeckArseGirls they are delicious but the name cock scratchings is grim. TBF, the pubs I've seen them on sale have been the kind of places who like an ironic name, a bit of "witty banter" on menus and signs, give the prices as 7.5 instead of £7.50 and serve things in flower pots or on manky wooden boards, which is a bit too.

Not in this house but we're all greedy pigs!

I've got a 2kg Chicken roasting on the oven just now. It will all be eaten tonight 2 adults and 2 older teens, none of us are over eaters either. Honestly the portions must be chickenless!

@Twinkleylight

I usually make a chicken biryaani for Monday night dinner after a Sunday roast. Biryaani is good for using up left over roast meat and vegetables.

Oh yum. Recipe? 🙏🏻

@Peachandpearl

I used to make 'Mexican lasagne' which wax tomato pasta sauce, mixed with sweetcorn, chopped peppers and shredded leftover roast chicken, between layers of tortilla. Then the top layer was covered in a thin layer of tomato pasta sauce, then loads of grated cheese and jalapeños.

This is an amazing idea!!

@mumofEandE

Well done - I am too greedy sadly But 'chicken skin snack'??

Yes!! Just cover it in salt and pepper and reheat on a baking tray until super crispy. It's amazing. Or can make a lovely crispy topping for a risotto or similar.