OP here - we have just finished dinner and it was delicious! Thank you all! First I simmered the chicken bones, fatty bits and other good parts with onion, carrots, parsnips, celery, peppercorns for 6-7 hours in the crockpot. Then strained it all, cooked she egg noodles and softened some carrots, parsnips and onions in another pot. Then threw noodles, veggies and leftover cut up chicken meat (not the stuff I used to cook the stock) into the broth, seasoned and simmered it for a little while and voila - awesome and healthy dinner. Adults and kids alike licked the bowls clean

Thanks again, DCUM!

OP,

This is my favorite way to make stock! I know you're set but here's what I do: I cover the carcass with water plus and inch or two, add 1 teaspoon of salt, as well as onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, grounded pepper. I bring all to a boil on the stove and then I let it "smile" -- a gentle shimmery simmer -- for a few hours, checking often to make sure it doesn't start boiling frantically. The flavors from the roast chicken (I baste it with a mustard and honey coating) add to the stock flavor. It's a gorgeous golden color. Thanks for reminding me that I've been meaning to make a roast chicken for this very reason ... Enjoy!

OP here we're simmering away in the crockpot

Anonymous wrote:I would pick and clean the chicken and use a good stock. YOu could try to simmer some of the goodness out of the carcass, but I don't think it will be worth the mess.

How do you know? Have you tried it?

I keep commercial stock on hand for emergencies and have made homemade from whole birds, but the flavor is just not as rich. It's definitely worth the mess.

I put lemon and herbs in the cavity, use onions, celery and carrots as a rack to roast the chicken, then pick and refrigerate the leftover meat and simmer the carcass in the same pot with water and a little wine or vinegar. I have a chinois (cone strainer) that is just big enough for a carcass and fits inside the wide-mouth jar I refrigerate it in. Then just tip the strainer into the trash. Alternatively, sometimes I cook it much longer to make a bone broth, until the bones crumble between my fingers and the liquid is cloudy with calcium. This doesn't have as nice a flavor but is good for making rice, etc. The strainings from that are safe to feed to the dog.

There's almost no extra work to set up the stock and you deglaze the pan and somewhat deodorize the carcass in the process. So simple.

Don't try to make too much stock from a single carcass - just enough water to cover. I poke at it a bit to make sure the joints are falling apart and all of the cartilage is dissolving.

i do mine in a crock pot for at least 24 hours.

and add a little apple cider vinegar to help get all the good stuff out of the bones.

OP, if you find you like making stock, start keeping a gallon ziploc bag in your freezer. Every time you have roast chicken, the bones and carcass go in. (And don't forget all that yummy gelatin at the bottom of the rotisserie container).
When the bag's full, you have enough stuff to make about an 8 quart pot full of stock.
For your vegetable mix, use about 50% onion, 25% carrot, 25% celery by volume. And if you want a richer, darker color, leave the onion skins on. (But be sure to wash them and check the ends for any lingering dirt under the first layer.)

^^^
Now you're talking. That sounds great. Everything but the Better than Bullion--why would you add a chemical processed product to your wonderful scratch cooking? It sounds perfect without it!

I always take my leftover giant rotisserie chicken, after it has been picked clean and throw it in the crock pot overnight covered with water and add onion,carrot, celery and some peppercorns. Next day, I take a whole uncooked chicken, chop it into 8 parts and stick it in with the stock I made the night before (strained) and cook that with some extra water and a tablespoon of Better than bullion base. Cook it for 20 mins, add carrot, celery and onion. Cook for 15 mins more. Take out chicken parts and strip of meat. Put noodles into soup and cool until done. Add back in chicken meat and volia!

OP here - you guys are awesome, thank you so much! So nice of you to take all this time posting to walk me through the steps! I can't wait to make it tomorrow. I will report back with how it turned out. My mom makes any awesome chicken soup but she is six time zones away and I really miss just be being able to ask her, so thank you all for filling in

DCUM at its best strikes again!

There's two different processes here: making stock, and making soup out of the stock. For good homemade chicken soup, you need to do both.

Poster #4 (and to an extent Poster #2) describe the process of making stock. You cover the whole carcass with cold water, add some chopped up onions, carrots, and celery, a few peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves, and simmer slowly for hours. Skim off any scum. After it's simmered, strain it into another pot. Throw out all the solids. Cool it, strain it through something finer (like a fine sieve or coffee filter), put it in freezer-safe jars or ziploc bags and store in fridge or freezer. For more details, you can search "making stock" on this site or on google; there are lots of details out there.

For soup, first you need stock. Don't try to re-use those old vegetables and meat you used to make the stock--their flavor is gone (it's in the stock). Chop fresh vegetables (onions, carrots, celery again), fry in some oil till soft, and add them and some new chopped roast chicken leftovers (just the meat this time, not the bones), along with your favorite herbs or flavorings (garlic, what have you). You can also add a starch--potatoes, rice, noodles, whatever you like.

Only at the end--when your soup's nearly done--do you add salt. If you add it any earlier in the process, your stock or soup could end up too salty if too much water boils off. And just adding water back to dilute doesn't always work out so well--it can dilute the flavor of everything else, not just cut the salt.

Poster #2 described how you can kind of collapse these two different steps to one. I suppose it could work but it wouldn't be quite as good.

If making stock sounds intimidating, you can buy it in a box at the store instead, but it won't be quite as good. And you won't get to use up your roasted carcass.

Welcome to the wonderful world of stock making! It's relaxing fun, makes the house smell good, and gives you good stuff in your freezer for learning all kinds of soups, sauces, and gravies.

Yes. Pick the meat off the carcass and save. Cover carcass with water (about 6-8 cups) in a dutch oven or other big pot. Maybe add a carrot, onion, and piece of celery. Simmer, covered, for at least an hour. When it is "done" just drain the whole thing through a sieve with small holes. Throw away all the bones, etc. Just dump it in a bag and throw it away. Don't bother picking through the bones. It's too hard and not worth the extra effort to get a little bit more of the meat. I then like to refrigerate the broth. When it's cold, you can skim much of the fat off the top and throw that away as well. Make your soup... add veggies, chicken, maybe some extra salt, and broth. You probably want to cook the noodles separately so they don't soak up all the broth then add them at the last minute.

I would pick and clean the chicken and use a good stock. YOu could try to simmer some of the goodness out of the carcass, but I don't think it will be worth the mess.

Cover the carcass with water and simmer it on low for as many hours as possible, then remove all the parts you don't want and proceed with making your soup.

And if so, do I throw the whole carcass in there with whatever meat is left over on it? Or just cut off the meat and cook that in water (or should it be broth instead) along with the aromatics? Sorry, total newbie here - obviously. TIA!