Cooking Tip: Save Your Drippings
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Cooking Tip: Save Your Drippings

[lead dropcap="yes"]To save time and money, we often buy a large package of chicken thighs at the supermarket and then bake and freeze them afterward. Then we can thaw them for recipes like enchiladas, soups, and the like.[/lead]

We use a half-sheet pan with a rack to keep the thighs out of the fat and drippings and when I was cleaning up the other night, on a whim I poured the drippings into my gravy separator and put the drippings into the fridge. Today, making my lunch I noticed some leftover chicken and rice soup from a couple of nights ago. As you know, soup with rice tends to absorb all the liquid into the rice and needs more liquid. Water will just water down the taste so I added the lovely, unctuous collagen-rich drippings to it as I heated up the soup.

via GIPHY

Oh my! That is so good. Like a chicken explosion in the soup. (okay that’s not as appetizing an image as it initially sounded.) What I mean is that adds so much flavor to the soup it’s incredible.

One slight wrinkle is that also adds a lot of saltiness. Luckily the soup needed more salt at the table so it’s not overpowering, but it is something to keep in mind. I could have tempered the saltiness by mixing the drippings with an equal part of chicken stock or water too.

The bottom line is to think like your grandmother (or great-grandmother, if your gramma is a Boomer) and use everything. Think before you throw something away. It’s probably good for something.

Hmm, I think that’s another post.

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