When boning out whole processed grocery store chickens, the weight ratio if what you are left with (after subtracting giblets & neck if included) will be about 52% boneless meat, 20% skin and 28% bones.
So, for instance, to wind up with 12 lbs of bones you may need over 40 lbs of poultry.
Game birds may have different ratios, but not dramatically so. You may just have to keep track - and if you have too little for the size batch you want, you can always supplement with chicken.
Whether wild or store-bought, save the skins! Roasted and crumbled into the stockpot they add tremendous flavor. And for commercial chickens or turkeys, it lets you harvest much of the fat. Of course with wild birds that means you need to do a thorough plucking job... which can be a big hassle.
Normally the limiting factor for the number of "Servings" is either the weight of bones you have available, or the capacity of your stock pot.
So fiddle with the pot size below until you come up with a number that is both a) not bigger than your biggest pot and b) not more bones than you expect to use. All of the other ingredients will fall into line.
Some of the boned meat will be called for in the stock recipe. It will be mostly leg meat, wings and if necessary some of the boneless thighs or breasts - depending what you prefer to keep for other purposes.
If starting with whole birds you're likely to have a lot of boneless meat left over - plan in advance for how you want to use it. When I'm done processing the birds, I salt the extra meat as if dry-brining (google it), then vacuum seal in meal-size packages and freeze. It will partially dry-brine as it freezes, then the process completes when thawed for cooking. It's super convenient - and dry-brined poultry is outstanding (adjust your recipes to accommodate the salt that is already in the meat). It's more chicken than I normally need to have handy, so I share it with friends, neighbors or relatives.
Some stock recipes (including mine here) call for adding chicken feet for body. I always do that, but it becomes extra important if you are saving the chicken wings for other purposes (om nom nom). Even though the wings are great for stock, I usually do the freezer dry-brining trick in quantities of a dozen or so.
So, for instance, to wind up with 12 lbs of bones you may need over 40 lbs of poultry.
Game birds may have different ratios, but not dramatically so. You may just have to keep track - and if you have too little for the size batch you want, you can always supplement with chicken.
Whether wild or store-bought, save the skins! Roasted and crumbled into the stockpot they add tremendous flavor. And for commercial chickens or turkeys, it lets you harvest much of the fat. Of course with wild birds that means you need to do a thorough plucking job... which can be a big hassle.
Normally the limiting factor for the number of "Servings" is either the weight of bones you have available, or the capacity of your stock pot.
So fiddle with the pot size below until you come up with a number that is both a) not bigger than your biggest pot and b) not more bones than you expect to use. All of the other ingredients will fall into line.
Some of the boned meat will be called for in the stock recipe. It will be mostly leg meat, wings and if necessary some of the boneless thighs or breasts - depending what you prefer to keep for other purposes.
If starting with whole birds you're likely to have a lot of boneless meat left over - plan in advance for how you want to use it. When I'm done processing the birds, I salt the extra meat as if dry-brining (google it), then vacuum seal in meal-size packages and freeze. It will partially dry-brine as it freezes, then the process completes when thawed for cooking. It's super convenient - and dry-brined poultry is outstanding (adjust your recipes to accommodate the salt that is already in the meat). It's more chicken than I normally need to have handy, so I share it with friends, neighbors or relatives.
Some stock recipes (including mine here) call for adding chicken feet for body. I always do that, but it becomes extra important if you are saving the chicken wings for other purposes (om nom nom). Even though the wings are great for stock, I usually do the freezer dry-brining trick in quantities of a dozen or so.
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quart pot
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Ingredients
- 7 lbs bones Use the knife to expose as much bone surface as you can.
- 2 lbs meat Take into account that the carcass parts including neck and back may have a good bit of meat.
- 25 lbs estimated total whole carcass weight How much dressed poultry you will need to come up with the bone weight specified above.
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Skin the bird, removing and tossing any obvious fat into the fat pile. SAVE THE SKIN! At some point you'll want to process it into the largest flat pieces you can handle (still reserving the smaller pieces), and harvesting any obvious globs of fat. No need to be a fanatic about it, most remaining skin fat will render and can be recovered when you roast the skin.
- Remove & section wings, tossing the tips into the cracked bone pile. Optionally save and package the wings to make chicken wings (duh), or toss them their own pile which you will count as half bone and half meat by weight.
- Process meat into separate into 7 categories:
- Boneless breast
- Boneless thigh
- skin
- boned drumstick meat
- wingtips and cracked bones
- Wings (If using in the stock, count as half bone, half meat)
- remaining carcass parts & necks & giblets (except liver unless that's your thing)
Dry-brine and package any boneless meat and optionally dry-brine the wings for other uses. If you fall short on the meat weight for the recipe, you should dip into the thigh meat and/or wings to make up any shortage of meat weight. Just remember that the wings are only 50% meat. - First removing the wishbone, remove boneless breasts from the carcass and package/freeze for other uses. Dry-brining it before freezing is an EXCELLENT idea (google "dry brining" if you're not familiar with it).
- Remove the leg/thigh, taking a little care to capture the "oyster", a small chunk of meat forward of the joint and adjacent to the spine. Then separate leg from the thigh, leaning toward keeping more of the meat on the thigh. Bone out the thigh, toss the bone in the bone pile and package/store the meat for other use, though you may need to use some of it to achieve the meat ingredient weight.
- Bone out the drumsticks (it's a little fussy but not terrible) tossing meat into the meat pile, and bone/tendons into the bone pile. This will be your primary source of added meat for the stock.
- Cut out spine, separate into 2 or 3 pieces and toss in carcass pile. If the neck or heart came with the giblets - maybe even the gizzard - they go there too. Some folks even put in the liver - I just can't go there myself.
- Weigh the piles except skin & fat. If boned drumstick meat is not enough for the recipe, use boned thigh meat to make it up.
If still not enough dip into the breasts - starting with the tenders.
Make some mental adjustments to include how much estimated meat is on the back/spine and the neck. It won't be much, no need to be precise. - After patting the skin to remove significant surface moisture, roast in a foil lined pan at 400°F until golden to medium brown (about 20 min). Recover any rendered fat from the pan. Set aside to cool. When ready to make the stock, rough dice or crumble the skin into your stockpot.
- Lightly crack each leg & thigh bone. A good tap with a butcher knife or cleaver does the trick. You don't need to cut them in pieces. It can be simpler to handle them through the roasting step if they stay slightly connected.
- Use all your cracked bones then remaining carcass bones to get to your bone weight. If using the wings count them as half meat half bone.
- Reserve all of the fat, including the fat recovered from the skin browning step. After your stock has been fully chilled, if there is a hardened fat-cap add it to this pile as well. Then you render it all into schmaltz — which has many uses. Google will tell you how to render it. Just start with a couple ounces of water on the bottom so the fat doesn't scorch before it starts to render.
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