A single whole chicken, used correctly, will generate several meals

By Shannon Hayes

Pardon the pun, but the one cut of meat I am most likely to see a new customer “bawk” at is a whole chicken. Our price for whole birds last year was over $6/lb, 35% less than a pound of grassfed ground beef. Poultry is the cheapest meat at our farmers’ market booth. Interestingly, it is also the most expensive for us farmers to bring to market, owing to the cost of grain and the amount of labor required to produce and process a healthy pasture-raised chicken. Paying $25-30 for a whole chicken may feel like a stretch for someone who is accustomed to cheap* factory chicken from a grocery store, but truthfully, it is the best bargain at the market. A single 4 1/2-5  pound chicken can usually generate 3 different meals for a family of four, making a total of 12 servings. Thus, a 4.75 pound chicken winds up costing $2.38 per serving, a modest sum when you figure that a side serving of fresh local swiss chard costs $1.13 per serving, or that a side portion of decent quality potato chips costs $1.25 per serving.

The mistake too many people commit when purchasing a pasture-raised bird is serving it for one meal, then discarding the leftovers and the carcass, sadly assuming that they don’t have time to bother with the rest. However, the subsequent meals that the leftovers and bones can generate are actually less time-consuming than that first initial meal. Once you’ve gone to the labor to prep and clean up a roast chicken dinner, most of the work for your subsequent meals is complete. Here’s how it is done.

1. Remove your bird from the bag. Examine how it was processed. Most farmers in the United States do not leave on the heads and feet (many Americans are frightened to come into contact with this part of their food), but if they were included (or if your farmer will sell them to you for cheap), you’ve got a bonus. Remove the head, the neck and the feet. Toss them into a stock pot or, if you won’t be home much, into a crock pot. If you find any giblets in the cavity of the bird, toss them in as well. Proceed with roasting your chicken and having a terrific dinner.

2. After supper, tell someone else to do the dishes, then grab a storage container and sit down at the kitchen table and get intimate with what remains of the chicken carcass. Pick off any remaining bits of meat at this time. Run your fingers along the breast bone to pull off the remains of the white meat; flip the bird over and discover the tidbits along the back and the “oysters” (the two luscious pieces of dark meat located on the back of the bird near the thigh). Check your kids’ plates. Did they leave a drumstick or thigh half eaten? Don’t let that go to waste. Pull them apart and salvage any meat. Don’t waste a good meal simply because little fingers touched it at supper time. By golly, those little hands and mouths have touched far worse before hugging and kissing you. Pull off the wings and salvage the meat there, as well. It is tempting to put all this leftover mess in the fridge and deal with it another day, but trust me. The time to do it is right after supper. The bird is a lot easier to pick at room temperature than when it is cold, and you are less likely to forget about it and lose a potential meal. Trust me: As one who has discarded too many rancid meat-laden carcasses that were “left til later,” I speak from experience. Dice up all the meat you have left over. As long as you have a minimum of two cups, you are set for another meal. You can use it either for a chicken salad, or chicken and rice, or a stir fry.

3. Now that you’ve got a picked-clean carcass, it is time to turn your attention to those remaining bones. Add them to the stock pot or crock pot. Look around at your dinner mess. Surely there are some other items remaining on people’s plates or on the kitchen counter that would help add nutritional density and flavor to your broth: broccoli and carrot stems, celery leaves or stubs, lettuce or cabbage cores, onion roots and peels, cauliflower leaves, this list goes on and on. Essentially, if it is a part of a vegetable plant, either raw or cooked, that was not eaten, it has something valuable to offer to your broth. Got any egg shells leftover from breakfast? Add those, too. If you’ve got any leftover gravy or pan juices, either from the chicken dinner or from something else, add that, too. Pour in a few tablespoons of wine or vinegar, fill the rest of the way with water, cover the stock pot or crock pot with a lid and allow it to rest for about half an hour before turning it on. Allow the broth to simmer 24-36 hours before straining.

4. Now that you’ve got a rich broth, you have the base for amazing soup. Skim off any fat and keep it in your fridge. Drink it just plain (cold or hot) for a deeply satisfying and quick breakfast, or use it for your next supper. This broth will be so nutrient dense, you won’t need to add a lot of ingredients to make a satisfying soup. You might simmer some diced carrots in it, then add some tomatoes, followed by a few handfuls of diced greens just prior to serving. If you want to make it extra-rich, float a soft cheese, such as camembert, on top.

So there you have it. Roast chicken. Chicken salad. Chicken soup. All from one generous bird. Three delicious meals, a well fed family, and the deep satisfaction that comes from delicious frugality. If you are totally new to roasting chickens, making chicken salad and making soup, here are a few recipes ideas to get you started, taken from my newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, which is due out in September.

*Note: factory farmed chicken only appears cheap. Learn more here .

CHICKEN DINNER 1:
No Frills, Straightforward (and really tasty) Chicken

Taken from: Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, by Shannon Hayes

Lately, this is the recipe I use to prepare 90 percent of the chickens I roast at home. It is fast, easy, delicious, and the minimal seasonings enable me to take the leftovers in any number of directions. The simplicity of this recipe also lets me use the delay-bake feature on my oven. On farmers’ market days, I prepare this chicken before I leave in the morning, then set the oven to begin roasting while we’re out of the house. When our family gets home, exhausted at the end of the day, dinner is ready.
Serves 6
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 4–5-pound chicken
1 to 2 tablespoons coarse salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 whole clove garlic, peeled

Preheat the oven to 350º F.
Thoroughly brush the melted butter over the surface of the bird, sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper, and place the garlic clove in the cavity. Put the chicken, breast-side-up, in a large cast-iron skillet or any roasting pan that can be transferred to the stove top when you are ready to make the gravy.
Roast the bird approximately 1 ½ hours until the juices between the cavity and the thigh run clear; the internal temperature of the breast should read 160 degrees, and the internal temperature of the thigh, taken on the inside at the meatiest part, 165 degrees. Serve the chicken au jus, or make the gravy recipe that follows.
Leftovers: This chicken recipe sets you up to use any number of the chicken recipes. The minimal seasonings make it compatible with everything … Don’t forget to save the bones for broth!

Estimated Carbohydrates:
Black pepper: 2.94 g
Total carbohydrates per recipe: 2.94 g
Total carbohydrates per 1/6 serving: 0.49 g

Pan Gravy for Roasted Poultry and Meat
This gravy recipe works for any roast meat … but it is pretty fun to make it with a roast chicken.
Fat and pan juices from the roast, separated with a fat separator
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups meat broth, such as Shannon’s Meat Broth, Chapter 3, or chicken broth, preferably homemade (see Meat Broth, Chapter 3)
Coarse salt and ground black pepper

Remove the roast to a warm platter, pouring the fat from the roasting juices back into the roasting pan. Add the butter to the roasting pan and set it on the stove top over medium heat. Once it melts and bubbles, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Continue to whisk 1–2 minutes longer, until the paste has browned. Slowly whisk in the pan juices and broth, and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow the gravy to simmer for 5–10 minutes, until it thickens to your preferred consistency, stirring often to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Estimated Carbohydrates:
Butter: 0.02 g
Flour: 23.07 g
Meat broth: 2.8 g*
Total carbohydrates per recipe: 25.89 g

CHICKEN DINNER 2 (CHOOSE ONE):

Chicken (or Turkey) and Wild Rice with a Sherry Cream Sauce
Taken from: Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, by Shannon Hayes

This recipe is an easy-to-make treat in our household, giving us something to look forward to the day after we’ve enjoyed a roasted chicken.
Serves 4
4 tablespoons butter or lard
2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
3 tablespoons almond flour (or another flour of your choosing)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups meat broth, such as Shannon’s Meat Broth, Chapter 3
2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey
1 cup heavy cream (or milk)
2 tablespoons sherry
Coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 cups cooked wild rice or wild rice blend

Heat 2 tablespoons of the fat in a large skillet over a medium flame. Add the carrots and sauté 5 minutes, then add the onions and celery. Sauté until the carrots are crisp-tender and the onions are clear. Remove the vegetables to a bowl and return the skillet to the heat. Add the remaining fat and let it melt. When the bubbling subsides, whisk in the almond flour. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute, then slowly whisk in the mustard and 1 cup of the broth, stirring constantly. Simmer until the broth has reduced by half, then slowly whisk in the remaining broth. Simmer 10 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken further. Stir in the meat and vegetables, cook 1 minute, then stir in the cream. Cook until it is just heated through, about 2 minutes longer. Stir in the sherry, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and serve over rice in shallow bowls.
Estimated Carbohydrates:
Carrots: 11.68 g
Onions: 20.54 g
Celery: 2.38 g
Flour: 17.3 g
Meat broth: 2.8 g*
Heavy cream: 6.64 g
Sherry: 1.5 g
Wild rice: 139.99 g
Total number of carbohydrates per recipe: 202.83 g
Total number of carbohydrates per ¼ recipe: 50.58 g

* Number of carbohydrates in homemade broth will vary.

Tomato Garlic Chicken (or Turkey) salad
Taken from: Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, by Shannon Hayes

The whole cloves of garlic are a surprising ingredient for this salad with a pronounced Provençal flavor; but blanching them first turns their bite into a nutty and mildly sweet flavor.
Serves 4
2 large heads garlic
4 medium fresh tomatoes, diced
½ cup diced green olives (with or without pimentos)
2–4 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup apple cider or red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon coarse salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese, optional

Separate the garlic into cloves and peel them. Bring a pot of water to a light boil over medium heat and drop in the garlic. Boil until they are tender when pierced, about 5–8 minutes. Drain and combine them with the tomatoes, olives, and chicken in a salad bowl.
In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard until it has emulsified. Pour this over the salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the goat cheese and serve.
Estimated Carbohydrates:
Garlic: 11.88 g
Tomatoes: 19.14 g
Green olives: 0.96 g
Cider vinegar: 0.56 g
Black pepper: 0.38 g
Dijon mustard: 0.33 g
Goat cheese: 2.88 g
Total number of carbohydrates per recipe: 36.13 g
Total number of carbohydrates per ¼ recipe: 9.03 g

CHICKEN DINNER #3:

Use the broth to prepare a simple vegetable soup as described above, or follow this easy recipe for something more filling.

Potato Cabbage Soup
Taken from: Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, by Shannon Hayes

Inexpensive, filling, colorful and tasty. This is a great soup that is easy to prepare, and a terrific way to use up some leftovers.
Serves 6
4 cups green cabbage, diced
3 medium potatoes, diced
2 medium red onions, diced
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon allspice
2 quarts broth
1 pound diced cooked sausage or cooked lamb, pork, goat, beef or poultry (optional)

Layer the cabbage, potatoes and onions in a slow cooker. Add the salt, pepper, thyme, allspice and meat broth. Cover and cook on low until the potatoes are tender, about 6 hours. Add the cooked meat, cover and cook until the meat is heated through, about 15 minutes longer.

Estimated Carbohydrates:
Cabbage: 20.65 g
Potatoes: 101.60 g
Onions: 20.54 g
Black pepper: 1.47 g
Thyme: 0.45 g
Allspice: 0.34 g
Meat stock: 11.2 g*
Total number of carbohydrates per recipe: 156.25 g
Total number of carbohydrates per 1/6 recipe: 26.04 g

Shannon Hayes, host of GrassfedCooking.com, is the author of The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, The Farmer and the Grill, and Radical Homemakers. She works with her family raising grassfed meat on Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York. Her newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lovers’ Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously, is due out in September. Copies of her books are available through GrassfedCooking.com and ShannonHayes.info at wholesale and retail prices.

Comments
June 20, 2012 3:49 PM EDT
Thanks for post this story. It amazes me how many people can use 1 chicken for 1 meal only. I can easily get 3-4-5 meals from 1 bird, not including the stock for soup. Glad I’m not the only one still getting intimate with their dinner.
– De
June 28, 2012 8:45 PM EDT
This is so true – It never ceases to amaze me when poeple throw out a roast chicken because they never used the left overs. My boys love chicken and mayo sandwiches for school lunch. I always do my roast chicken on a Sunday and before it has even got to the table remove a breast and set it aside then when dinner is done I remove any meat that is left and add it to the already reserved breast ,depending on how hungry they where we have at least two days of school lunch and sometimes even three- then I make stock to use for soup etc. Most of what I do I learnt in my Grandmothers and mothers kitchen – but it was not until we had to start living on one income that we I really started to use the skills that actually I always had and now I am regularly trawling the internet and recipe books to update and improve my cooking skills!
-Sandi Olgivie