Making Chicken Stock with Cornish Game Hens and Chicken Thighs?!
I'm making some homemade noodles and chicken for the superbowl. I make the noodles all the time but I usually boil lthe noodles in chicken broth made from bullion cubes. I'd like to try to make some "real" stock this time, but all I have is a cornish game hen and a few baked chicken thighs that are left over from the other night. Is there any way that I could use these to make the stock? I've read that using the carcass of a roasted game hen gives the stock a lot of flavor. Thanks for any advice!
Answers:
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Yes you can use the cornish game hen and the baked chicken thighs. Just cover in water and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Toss the chicken skins from your thighs, pull the meat off the bones and save it for salads. Pull all the meat off the game hen and use that also for salads or sandwiches or even soups. Toss the bones. Cool the broth to just above room temperature and then put in the refrigerator. The grease will rise to the top when it's cold. Then just scoop off the grease and toss it. You now have fat-free broth to use with your homemade noodles.
I do that all the time. You can also use vegetable broth in place of the water to cook the chickens for added flavor. Whenever I cook veggies, I always save the liquid for making soups. I just pour it into a tupperware container when just above room temperature and then I freeze it. I just keep adding to it until the container is full.
Hope that helps.
You can in a pinch, but I would use the cornish game hens for another dish. Cornish game hens are really just young chickens and their bones haven't really matured enough to develop flavor. Their size is advantageous for presentation purpose. Making stock out of them doesn't do them justice. A good rich stock comes from extracting collagen from the bones and connective tissue of an animal by simmering in water and aromatics for a long period of time - around 6 hours. If you must, roast the game hens separately, strip the meat off the carcass and set it aside, then simmer the carcass along with 2-3 lbs. of chicken wings and backbones and of course the usual aromatics. The same goes for the thighs. Add the leftover meat from the Cornish game hens and thighs to the soup after the stock is made. Don't cook the meat along with the stock for that long period of time unless you plan on discarding it.