"Home-Made" Chicken Broth

I am posting this because it's so super easy and yet I never knew I could even do it before my Aunt Sue mentioned it as a possibility and my sister-in-law Gwen told me how she does it.

So this year, after Thanksgiving, you can get a whole bunch of delicious turkey broth.  Or, if you find yourself in a rush for dinner and decide to pick up a Rotisserie Chicken at the grocery store on the way home...  Well, you can have some delicious chicken broth, even when it's not right after Thanksgiving :)!

So here's what you do:

1.  Eat all the meat you want to eat off the bird.

2.  Have your husband pick off all the meat that is still edible (or you can do it, if you don't mind doing that sort of thing ;)).  Keep that meat and either eat it for leftovers or freeze it and use it in a meal later on.

3.  Take your bird carcass (plus any other additives, like the skin) and put it in your crock pot. 

4.  Pour water over carcass, at least until it is covering the carcass.  The more water you add, the more diluted your broth will be.  I usually add enough water so there's at least an inch of water covering the whole carcass.

5.  Turn slow cooker on low.  Let it cook 12 hours.  I typically do this in the evening so it sits there and brothifies all night while I sleep.

6.  After 12 hours, turn off the crock pot.  Using a slotted spoon, pull out all the big pieces of bone, skin, etc and discard.  (If you taste them, you will find there is little to no flavor left -- as my husband). 

7.  Using a strainer (a canning funnel with a strainer attachment works best, but use what you have!), ladle the broth into a container.  I use plastic yogurt containers which I wash and keep -- but if you want to can your broth, you could use mason jars and then pressure can the broth.  I freeze my containers after labeling them with contents and date.

8.  Voila!  You have your own "home-made" chicken broth.

And you just got more bang for your buck out of your bird.  And it's really good broth.