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how to make a $7 chicken last three days
One of our great discoveries this summer was the wonders of the grilled whole chicken. At $1.39 per pound or so, a whole chicken from the supermarket is a pretty good bargain and for two people, it goes a long way. I recently stretched the chicken and its leftovers for four meals. Here they are.
We start with a 5-pound whole chicken from the supermarket. You could go with an organic or free-range chicken, but your costs will rise significantly. I’ve found that grilling the chicken produces the best flavor and makes it quite juicy. I prefer a charcoal grill, but you could use a propane grill and adjust your technique accordingly.
I like to cook my whole chicken butterflied, meaning that I cut out the backbone and spread it wide open. This lets it cook evenly on the grill because it has a more uniform thickness and it also means I only have to flip it once. I also like to brine the bird, meaning soaking it in a sugar/salt/water solution that plumps up the bird with water and flavor, meaning it will be more juicy when done and not dry.
Another trick I like to use to add flavor is to take 4-8 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter and mash it together with herbs and spices and then smear that between the meat and the skin, including the breasts and thighs. This adds flavor without leaving the herbs and spices on the outside to burn and then get pulled off anyway when you remove the skin. The great thing about this technique is that you can use whatever combinations you want. For a Tex-Mex taste, mix in chili powder and cumin. For something a little more Southwestern, add some chipotle or ancho chile powder to the cumin instead. Want something a little more French? How about thyme and tarragon. For something more Mediterranean, there rosemary and lemon slices. Italian? Use some pesto instead of the butter. Indian? Curry powder, turmeric, coriander, garam masala (if you have it). The possibilities are endless. Just keep in mind that you’re going to use this chicken for other dishes too so any strong flavors will have to be compatible with those as well.
[See links to all the recipes at the bottom of this page.]
Leftovers
After you’ve had your fill of the grilled chicken, there should leftovers. Stash them in the refrigerator for the next day. One of our favorite leftover chicken meals is chicken enchiladas sometimes with salsa verde and sometimes with red sauce. Another one we like is tortilla casserole. Whatever you make, it’s easy to shred the chicken off the carcass into fork-size strips. If you didn’t eat too much the night before, you should be able to get at least two cups of meat, both white and dark. The more you eat the night before, the less you’ll have the next day. But don’t wait too long to use. You have only a few days before it starts to get funky in the fridge.
Whatever you do don’t throw away the bones. Save them, along with the backbone you removed when butterflying the chicken and the neck that would have been in the bird when you opened the package, for either chicken soup or stock. I like to save them in the freezer in a vacuum-seal bag, dated of course, and when it’s time to make stock I usually have several chickens’ worth of bones to use. And no matter how good you are with a carving knife, there’s always a little meat on the bones to flavor the pot.
It’s not exactly three or four meals for $7 because you have other ingredients to use, but it’s a nice way to stretch the core of your meal and use the leftovers wisely. And that makes my frugal heart happy.
The Recipes:
- butterflied, grilled chicken
- tortilla casserole
- chicken enchiladas
- chicken stock
- chicken-lemon soup (avgolemono)
COMMENTS
Well, I don’t know if $1.39 is the cheapest we could get it in the local chain supermarkets. I think if we looked for a sale, we might find it cheaper, although 69 cents might be too much to hope for. Now if we shopped at the big warehouse places, I bet we could find it for that much there. I’ll keep an eye out for a sale.
I guess as the family grows, the leftovers will decrease. But two chickens should grill up just as nicely as one. Course, then there are turkeys. 
That’s if you have a really big family.
Posted by Domenico Bettinelli on 07/31/06 at 03:30 PMCommenting is not available in this weblog entry.
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