Have I cracked the mumsnet chicken?

[TerfranosaurusVagina]

Or did I cheat?
Full disclosure, I started off with 2 chickens, but the 1st meal fed 7 adults and 1 toddler.
1st meal - roast whole chicken + trimmings
2nd meal - leftovers chicken leek and mushrom pie, topped with sliced roast potatoes - didnt finish this - i reckon theres 1 stingy portion left if its eaten with something else - served 2 adults and 1 toddler
3rd meal - simmered down the bones and skin after stripping the meat off it. Added in gravy and fresh blanched veg and stripped meat to make enough chicken soup for at least 2 meals for 2 adults and 1 toddler. Especially if served with bread.
Is 2 chickens cheating if I served 8 in the original meal, or have I recreated the mythical mumsnet chicken?

Beef shin is wonderful for stew. You can make it stretch a lot depending on what else you add. I don't cook this kind of thing much any more as the other occupants of this house have decided they don't want to eat beef but very occasionally I make myself a stew, portion it out and freeze the extra portions so I can have that on a night when I'm only feeding myself, or I give the rest something else. The simplest beef stew I make is beef in beer, which is just beef, onions, beer, mustard, bayleaves, a little thyme, seasoning, stock cube/pot/powder and a bit of oil to brown the beef and soften the onions at the start. Perhaps a little flour too for coating the beef before browning.

You can add lots and lots of veg to a stew but by the time the beef is soft (hours in a low oven or overnight/all day in my 1980s slow cooker) the veg will be very soft indeed, so I prefer to go for a simple stew and serve it with lots of accompanying veg.

@TastesLikeFlavourlessFizz

Just as an aside, and I have to say this because it’s pretty funny, this emoji 🤌🏻 is a gesture that Italians use for “va funculo”, which translates as “go fuck yourself”.

I think you should use this emoji 👌🏼in future if you want to say “perfect”!!

😀😀

Yeah I know the va funculo gesture.

We all use this emoji as ‘chef’s kiss’. I’ve only ever seen it used that way on social media, tbh. Wasn’t trying to say ‘perfect’.

A quick Google suggests it could be either.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g that sounds lovely. DH saw a video about Willie's pies on LinkedIn and the beef shin one looked lustworthy.

To get rid of hairs from pig skin/rind you need to take a chef's blowtorch or portable gas ignition lighter gadget (that you use for lighting gas burners on your cooker after your electronic ignition has died) and singe the hairs till they have all burned off. Best done before you start cooking the pork.
It doesn't smell that great but it works.
www.amazon.co.uk/Safety-Gas-Lighter-matches-Everbright/dp/B001RI4ZPK/ref=asc_df_B001RI4ZPK/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310843163501&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5879031767505783330&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006598&hvtargid=pla-700138526765&psc=1

Does that work for chicken feathers too?

I've frozen about 4 servings of chicken soup and ate the rest today. I've also made a chicken, saucisson and butterbean pie with sweet potato mash on the top. That's going in the freezer.
Yesterday I went to our local meatfarm where they raise their own animals without antibiotics or growth hormones and they butcher them onsite. I got 3kg bone on beef shin for £22, which is pretty good value. I cut 800g meat off so it would fit in my casserole pot and I'm going to turn that into some kind of steak and ale thing later in the week. The other 2+kg is in the oven at the moment slowcooking into Jamie Olivers Mexican beef chilli. It smells amazing and it looks like I'll be making variations on this with the leftovers going into next week!
Mexican cottage pie anyone?!?
This is it about to go in the oven. It was too big for the slow cooker...
Has anyone got any recommendations for larger slow cookers that combine pressure cooking and other options?

I love a good roast chicken which then does sandwiches for DH and a pie the next day. From there I make stock with the bones. But then I continue to pressure cook the carcass until all the bones are completely soft and then I mash it and give it to the dogs. I'm sure lots of people will worry about that but if they are cooked for a long time it's fine. Feeds them for about a week along with their kibble.

The only reason chicken bones are a worry is that they are sharp and brittle once cooked. If they've gone soft thats an ace idea. Literally zero waste.

Its done and it tasted divine. I've hoiked out the bone (minus the marrow) and the gristle for next doors dog to chomp on. After simmering for 5 hours and minus bone, theres about 1.5L in all. Tomorrow its jacket sweet potatoes and this I think! I reckon I can also get a pie or 2 out of it too. Plus the meat I haven't cooked yet.

I made an extra 2 large pies with sweet potato topping and 3 small ones which had the meat stuffed inside cannelloni tubes and topped with bechamel. The rest of the meat is going to be slowcooked into a steak and ale pie... or 2