How I Stretch a Hen

The cheapest way to buy organic chicken is, like any chicken, as a whole.  Most of the chicken recipes in the mainstream cookbooks and magazines (and most of the ones I used in my earlier housekeeping years) call for boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  But, those cuts are least economical and least flavorful and you lose out on the chicken stock.  There's also something about knowing how to use the entire animal, that seems more respectful.

When I can't afford to buy an organic chicken, I get a "Free From" chicken (President's Choice Brand, available at Superstores in our area), because they are at least free from superfluous antibiotics and other chemicals.  They only cost a bit more than the average non-organic chicken.  Henny Penny for a pretty penny.  I specifically choose the bird to fit my slow-cooker, which is round instead of the sensible oval shape (grrrr...).  That usually means I'm getting the smallest chicken of the bunch, and it makes only two suppers for four.  Bigger hens feed you for longer.

When I get home, I take Henny Penny out of her packaging, give her a 'shower', remove the stupid rubber-band-thingy from around her legs (is that intended to keep the hen in a modest pose so as not to offend prudish shoppers?), and I carefully arrange the hen into a plastic bag and put it in the freezer.  I learned the hard way that if I don't arrange the hen in a tight fetal position before freezing her, but instead let her lounge comfortably, she will not fit into my obnoxiously circular slow-cooker later.  I only did that once.  Blonds can learn.  And yes, that's right: I happily break all those food-safety rules by always putting fully-frozen hens directly into slow-cookers without thawing them first.  But I should probably not promote such barbaric flouting of food-safety rules.  So: Don't Do That.  

Day 1: 
Slow-cooker Hen:
When I first get up in the morning, I toss the rock solid hen into the slow cooker.  (I assume yours is thawed...ahem.)
Add: a small minced onion, salt and pepper,* and about 1/2 cup of water.
Close the slow cooker and turn on to the low setting.
By supper time, or even a little before, she is tender and perfectly done.
**There are plenty of yummy ways to season the bird, but when I'm planning make stock and other meals out of her, I keep the flavors plain.  That way it'll suit any sauce or seasonings I add later.

Perfect Gravy from the Hen:
When the hen is done, spoon the hot liquid from the bottom of the slow cooker into a sauce-pan on the stove (and put the cover back on the chicken to keep warm until the meal is ready).  It doesn't matter if there are 'bits' in the liquid as it just makes the gravy heartier.  Mmmm.  Rustic gravy.
Then in a tall cup-shaped container that has a tight-fitting lid, pour 3/4 cup COLD milk and add 2-3 TB of flour on top of that.  Put the lid on and hold it on tight while you shake-shake-shake the milk and flour together.  The milk has to be cold from the fridge so that the flour will not make lumps.  Putting flour directly into a warm or hot liquid is what makes lumps in gravy.  Slowly stir the milk mix into the warm hen juice in the sauce pan.  Turn the heat onto medium-high, and whisk it until it begins to boil and thicken.  While whisking, I add more salt and pepper and lots of sage, until it tastes just right.  You might like rosemary, too, or other seasonings.

I usually serve this with potatoes and salad or steamed veggies.  If I serve plenty of veg then my family will be less likely to take seconds of the chicken (though they're welcome to).  I just put the whole slow-cooker on the table with a pair of tongs and serve chicken directly from there.  It's pretty hard to move the hen onto a serving plate once it's cooked, since the meat is sliding off the bones.

Pull off the rest of the meat!
If we had guests for supper, there will be no meat left on the hen.  But if it was just the four of us, I take the rest of the meat off the carcass after supper.  Actually, my hubby usually does this, while I do the dishes.  He's very thorough!  Typically, we'll have about 1 1/2 to 2 Cups of pulled chicken to use for the next day's meal.

Making Chicken Stock:
My bosom friend Jo is the person I call whenever I want to know how to do anything the old-fashioned, simple, economical, alternative way.  Here's how she taught me to make chicken stock:

While I'm cleaning up the hen supper, I coarsely chop up three carrots, three stalks of celery, and one large onion.  If they're clean, these veggies don't have to be peeled at all, and I really only need to cut them so they'll fit into the pot.  These I put into the slow cooker which still contains the carcass of the hen.  (No meat left on it. Bones and skin are all it takes to make a lovely rich stock!)
Then I fill the slow cooker with water to about an inch from the top, cover, and set it on low for the night.

As soon as I'm up in the morning I turn the slow cooker off.  The house now smells like a thanksgiving dinner, which takes some getting used to!  After breakfast, the stock is cool enough to deal with.  I place a huge basin on the counter and a pretty large colander inside that.  I pour the entire contents of the slow-cooker pot into the colander and the stock is collected in the basin.  Those detailed straining instructions are for the rare person out there who, like me, might unthinkingly put the colander in the sink as for draining pasta, and lose the stock down the drain.  I only did that once.  Blonds can learn.

At this point, I chuck what's left of the chook (That's Aussie slang for chicken- ain't it cute?!).  I dole out 1 cup portions of stock into small containers and chuck them into the freezer.  I usually get about 8 cups of broth, just for the cost of a few cheap veggies.  Best of all: no suspicious chemicals or wasted packaging.

With the Rest of the Chicken Meat:

I might make one of these for supper: Hot Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, Mexican Soup, Chicken Coconut Curry, Kings Ranch Casserole, Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken Fajitas, or Chicken Marinara.
But usually it just becomes lovely cold chicken sandwiches with mayo and pepper.  Maybe I'll get some of these other recipes up here soon.

So that's how to stretch a hen.  Figuratively speaking.