How to poach a chicken and make it last the family a whole week
Why poach a chicken? Two main reasons. Poaching means that your chicken meat will be beautifully moist, much more so than a roasted one, and with little effort on your behalf. And secondly, much less fuel is used to cook it, and little heat is generated, relevant if you are doing this in a kitchen in the summer.
1.5kgwhole chicken smaller or larger works just as well
cold water
Aromatics - Optional
3stickscelery
300gcarrots
50gparsley
20peppercorns
2bay leaves
Instructions
Prepare a few vegetables for the pot - typically a couple of sticks of celery, a carrot or two, a few peppercorns and some sprigs of parsley if you have any available.These are all optional, you don't have to use these if you don't have them / don't want to.
3 sticks celery, 300 g carrots, 50 g parsley, 20 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves
Take the chicken out of its wrapping. It is recommended that chicken is not washed as the washing process tends to spread any possible contamination around the kitchen via splashes and aerosol.
Place the chicken in a large pot and the put the vegetables around it.
1.5 kg whole chicken
Just cover the chicken with cold water.I don't usually salt the water. Partly because I've found it doesn't need it, and partly because salt will draw moisture from the bird and we want it be kept moist.
cold water
Bring the water to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. DO NOT BOIL. Boiling will toughen the chicken meat and make it dry. Turn the chicken over and simmer for a further 12 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the chicken in the hot liquid to go cold. Remove the chicken and vegetables from the liquor.
Once the chicken has cooled, pick off all the and weigh it. A medium chicken, on average, will yield coming up to a kilo of cooked meat.
Once you have picked off all the meat, put the carcass and any skin and bones back in the poaching liquid. Add a little splash of white vinegar. The acid of the vinegar helps the calcium to leach out of the bones giving you a bit more goodness in your broth. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2 or 3 hours. A slow cooker is great for this and will save fuel.I know you have already poached the chicken, but you will still be able to get more flavour by simmering the bones on their own. Once the stock has finished simmering, pass through a sieve to remove the skin and bones and discard those, although dogs and cats may enjoy the skin.
Storing the chicken and the stock
If you are following the ideas to use the chicken for a whole week, I've found it is most useful to weigh the chicken meat and store it separately for each recipe - don't forget to label the bag with the amount and the recipe it is intended for. Or store in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Similarly the stock. I would usually divide it into 2 lots and freeze until ready to use, although I make soup so often, it doesn't usually get that far. Or it will sit safe in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Notes
The poached chicken is part of a series on how to use a medium chicken to feed your family for a whole week.