Experiments in Cooking: A Whole Chicken in a Crockpot

[radiantbaby]

So, I made my first whole chicken today [well, minus the disastrous attempt I made at 21 to do so before -- which still gives me nightmares] and it -- lo, and behold -- came out quite nicely, I think.

I'm not gonna lie, the idea of cooking a whole chicken scared the pants off me before tonight [I'm not a very experienced cook, especially when it comes to meats], but a friend of mine recently told me how easy it was to do one in a crock-pot, so I thought I'd give it a go. I mean, justben and I are trying to save money by eating more cheaply at home, and a whole chicken is actually quite cheap comparatively, so it all seemed like a perfect -- if not worrisome -- idea.

My friend had suggested to put it atop a bed of carrots in the crock-pot, but I couldn't find the carrots I thought I had on hand, so instead I grabbed a can of green beans and potatoes and put the chicken atop them. I didn't add much else in the way of seasonings, really, except for some garlic and a tiny bit of water, as I wanted to chicken to be pretty versatile [i.e. be used for anything from Chinese to Italian-themed meals]. Then I turned it on and let it go for 8 hours (2 on high and 6 on low).

Tonight, when it was all done, the meat was perfectly tender and well-cooked. I told my friend I was nervous about cutting a chicken up, but she said there was no need, that the meat will be so tender it will fall apart as you pick up the bird. She was definitely right. justben and I had an interesting time getting the fella out of the pot. She also said there would be no need to baste it as it cooks it its own juices and she was definitely right there as well -- there was a bunch of liquid in the crock-pot when things were done and the meat itself was quite juicy as well.

Anyway, justben and I cooked up some yellow, saffron rice [which we flavored with some olive oil and fresh rosemary] and pulled off bits of chicken to serve on top of it. It was all surprisingly good. :)

Then, after dinner, I pulled all the meat from the bones and packed it away for the next few days of meals. Then I strained the liquid in the crock-pot into a container and put it in the fridge. It looks like a proper broth/stock. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow after I scrape off the fat.

So, in the end, the whole experience leaves me with a few questions:

1) I ended up tossing the bones, but I was just now reading on the internet to keep the bones when you cook meats for future broths/stock. Should I keep the bones in the future or did the slow cooking method of the crock-pot already use up their flavor?

2) Do I eat the vegetables that the chicken was cooked with (the green bean and potato mix)? I've put them in a container with a bit of the broth and hope to try them tomorrow. Not sure if that is normal, but I thought they might make a good part of my lunch. We'll see.

Any advice is appreciated. I am quite new to this whole thing.

Hmm, methinks I need another cooking icon as well. Maybe one of Tennant on 'Ready Steady Cook'. Will have to check the internet. The internet knows/has all.

Comments

[lost-star87.livejournal.com]

We tried boiling the bones to make broth last week but usually we just throw them out after...

I think it is fine to eat the veggies. If you boiled the bones you could I suppose but the veggies in with that and have soup from it, but it is not really worth it.

As an alternative to the crock pot try roasting it. You can buy these easy easy to use roasting bags these days that you just shove the chicken in, stab some holes and tie it up. Plonk it in a deep tray and it will, without any extra fat, cook itself up lovely. Usually about 1 hour 45 minutes depending of course on the chicken. But this way you get a chicken where the meat falls off the bones and can be used for anything as all it has been cooked with is itself!

Hope this helps in some small way!

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen those roasting bags around. I'll have to give them a go sometime. :)

Thanks for the info! :)

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

I have eaten the veggies from crock pot chicken with no ill effects. (I usually make a kind of soup out of the saved liquid and the veggies, with some of the shredded meat added.) I've never attempted stock with the bones, so I can't help you there.

I haven't done crock pot chicken in a while. Maybe I should do it again sometime.

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

I ended up eating the veggies in some of the chicken stock [most of the stock I've frozen for later]. It was pretty good, actually. Probably would have been better had I cooked the chicken in more herbs, but I didn't want to flavor the chicken too much. Still, it was quite nommy and very easy. :)

[nonelvis]

The vegetables should be perfectly fine to eat. They'll probably be mushy after 8 hours of cooking, but that's the only issue I can think of with them.

If you'd roasted the chicken, I'd tell you to keep the carcass to make stock out of. But 8 hours in a crock pot should have gelatinized all the cartilage and bone matter it could and cooked all the flavor out of it. Tossing the bones is fine at this point.

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

The vegetables should be perfectly fine to eat. They'll probably be mushy after 8 hours of cooking, but that's the only issue I can think of with them.

Yeah, they were a bit mushy, but not too bad. I just made a little soup with them and some of the stock and it was good. :)

If you'd roasted the chicken, I'd tell you to keep the carcass to make stock out of. But 8 hours in a crock pot should have gelatinized all the cartilage and bone matter it could and cooked all the flavor out of it. Tossing the bones is fine at this point.

That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure just in case. Thanks for the info! :)

[tyme.livejournal.com]

A few quick notes:
1. If you want a mini lesson on disassembling a bird let me know and bring over a roasted chicken one day. :)
2. You can save the bones, but personally I always end up with more bones than use for them so I do toss them. I will occasionally save the bones from roasting though as mentioned above. I try to make congee from the stock after a turkey.
3. Your 'stock' from slow cookering will be gelatenous, no way around it. It comes from slow cooking the bones and cartilage. Still usable as stock for cooking and stews, but not so good for 'soup' in the traditional sense.
4. All the veggies are great for eating.
5. I prefer slowcooking over roasting because of the energy involved and also I can slow cooker on our screened porch and not introduce a ton of heat into the house.

-Tyme

[tyme.livejournal.com]

Here's a fast version of 'breaking down a chicken'. I am not 18 seconds but I can break down a roasted turkey in about a 2 minutes if it's cool enough for me to hold.

There is an old adage in Chinese cooking that the a good cook never has to sharpen their knives. Sharpening is from hacking, and if you are skilled you can cut the emptiness between bones and there is nothing there that will dull a knife. :D

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EztXjmtPY&feature=related

-Tyme

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the awesome and detailed responses, tyme!

You said that the stock is good for cooking and stews, is that because it's so thick? I went ahead and froze it, but I expect to try and use it for something down the road (I'll have to do some google-ing for some ideas).

[eriolgal.livejournal.com]

To echo others, once you've used a crock pot, the bones are pretty much used up. Toss 'em.

The veggies will be fine if you don't mind them being kind of mushy from all the cooking. I've always had issues with potatoes after they've been cooked in a crock pot, usually they turn out too soft and crumbly for my tastes, but you might like them that way.

Tangent, remember the Japanese curry I made you try? The non-instant kind cooks up really well in a crock pot. Just buy some of the curry roux, then throw it in the pot with some chicken, carrots, potatoes, and onion. As a side note, Japanese curry also freezes really well, so just make a ton at once and freeze it in meal-size proportions. You can then stick it in a pot on the stove and thaw it over low heat until the curry is warmed all the way through.

If you need any recipe ideas (crock pot) or otherwise, let me know! I have a stash of good ones.

[radiantbaby.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I might hit you up for some crock pot recipes sometime (I really want to use it more than I do). I think I have a crock pot cookbook somewhere, but I think it's still buried in the basement in the boxes I'm working through.

P.S. Thanks so much for your hospitality last night, btw. I look forward to making that curry some night soon. And I've added a related LJ note for you: "provider of yummy curries". :)

[eriolgal.livejournal.com]

That's me. Though the term I usually use is "Curry Enabler"