By the way, when I served the wings and legs for dinner, the compliment I received was that it was the tastiest chicken ever. It really is better tasting than the boneless, skinless stuff.

Add a couple of bay leaves to flavor the broth, cover the bones with water.

I started to write the details of how to but here is an excellent article instead:

http://gagainthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/pressure-cooker-chicken-stock.html

The above suggestion of using veggie trimmings instead of vegetables is a great idea as long as they are clean. Heat diminishes the flavor of salt so for the sake of lower sodium I never include it when making broth.

The broth seems to freeze better with the fat on it and since I feed the bones to my dogs and cats the fat is a treat for them at a later time when I use the broth.

My pressure cooker is not only a time saver but saves energy as well since it still cooks after the stove is turned off.

I bought a rotisseried chicken at the grocery store yesterday for $7.50. I picked out every drop of edible meat and weighed it – it yielded exactly 1 pound of meat – the rest was all skin, fat and bone (which will go into stock, then be strained out for dog food). That is very little actual meat.”

Yes, and that is why it is much more economical to buy 7-8 lb roaster chickens as opposed to 3 lb fryer chickens. It seem sot me that there is a big difference in the ratio of muscle to bone between the two sized of chickens sold for cooking.

“Simmering the chicken for “all day” or “4 hours minimum” is not what i consider frugal use of power,and it’s really not necessary to make a good pot of soup or broth. 1 hour is plenty.”

This is incorrect. It take at least four hours to get the cartilage to gelatinize out of the bones and joints.

If you’ve been doing it for only an hour for your whole life, you’ve been missing out on an important aspect of stock.

This doesn’t take a lot of energy when you use a covered pot and have the heat on low–a simmer is anywhere from 180-190F, not boiling.

And such a stock is not “reduced” at all–it is simmered with the pan cover on and hence little moisture escapes.

Beer can chicken is delicious, by the way! I endorse it :)

The article began with a idea… “is it better to buy a whole fryer or skinless boneless breast”. So the question i have is what is the weight of the bones and skin.

Sure I make broth with my waste parts. But organic chicken broth can be purchase too. When calculating the total costs of each you need the facts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUvnsQgvCQ

They are smaller than the birds you buy at the store, but they still make an excelent broth.

Do your research though, what’s good enough for me may not be for you. Google “beer butt chicken”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHYflYe0cpY&feature=related

Re: leftover veg – whenever we have leftover veggies at dinner (corn, peas, carrots, green beans, lima beans, even Northern beans, black beans or chick peas… etc.), I put them in a big tupperware container in the freezer. When the container gets full, I’ll use some leftover meat (chicken, but beef is great), some broth, and a can or two of diced tomatoes (juice and all) to make vegetable soup. Add some barley to make it even more filling, and barley is CHEAP.

Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

However if you want to cook it gently for 4 hours plus, what you get (assuming you leave it uncovered at least partially) is a Reduced stock, which is more concentrated and with deeper flavors, which I’m sure is what the writer meant.
:)