Chicken Backs - Never Throw Them Away

[MacEggs]

When 3-packs of whole chickens go on sale at Costco, I like to pick up a couple packs.

I will then proceed to cut each bird into halves, vacuum seal the halves in pairs, and then into the freezer.

Before I vacuum seal the backs, I sprinkle some Kosher salt on them, seal, then toss them into the freezer. 

This past weekend was time to give these backs some kettle love.  Fall weather has arrived, so soup was on order for Sunday.

Found another 3 backs in the freezer, so I had a total of 9 backs on the Performer, along with some BSCTs.
Used some apple and cherry wood for smoke.










I also found a couple Ziplocs in the freezer containing scraps from a turkey carcass that had been smoked this past Easter.

The backs were smoked on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon was the day to make soup.

All of the turkey scraps and the chicken backs into the pot and covered with water.







I like to let that go at a nice rolling boil for at least an hour.  While it's doing that, I cut up the veggies - celery, carrots, onion, and garlic




I then strain this concoction and separate the scraps to be dealt with shortly .... Got 6 litres / quarts of broth.




I bring this back to a boil, add the veggies, and a cup of pot-barley.  A little later I added another quarter cup of barley. Salt & Pepper to taste.




... Now, the tedious task of picking at the carcass and backs to get as much meat off of them as possible. 
Lots of meat here that would otherwise be tossed into the trash.









Ended up with 7 quarts of soup.

It may seem to be a lot of work, but it's not, really.  More time than anything.  I believe that it is always worth the little effort to make something great.

Everytime I make this, I say, "This is the best soup that I have ever made."  It truly is awesome soup for cool, Fall weather.

[austin87]

I just made stock with frozen pieces of various smoked poultry parts... I think I had turkey wing tips, a duck carcass, a couple chicken backs, and a bunch of wing tips. Agreed that it is the best base for a great chicken soup!

I like the barley in place of noodles too. Very nice!

[WNC]

That soup looks great! Nice job putting in a little extra work to make it right

[Harleysmoker]

I know that soup was good!

I have several bags of chicken back bones and several bags of wing tips I have been saving to make chicken broth and freeze into individual servings for different recipes.

I also told my wife to start saving and freezing onion, carrots, celery scraps to add to the pot when making the broth, then strain it.

[Idahawk]

 Great idea saving them up like that , I think I'll start doing that myself !


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[Troy]

Love it man!! I need to start saving the backs

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[weldboy]

I need to try this! Looks great


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[Jon]

I love to make chicken stock, but I never thought to combine with grilling. Thanks!

[Metal Mike]

Guilty, I need to clean my freezer out too...

[SmokenJoe]

@MacEggs, I love to make soup too.  I favor Minestrone made from the left overs of my weekly smoked chicken.  The skin is already spiced and the extra meat is very smokey.  Trouble is, it takes us several meals to use up all the soup that we end up making                                SJ

[Heyjude]

Smoked Soup, its whats for dinner on that cool fall night..
Love it! 

[bama bbq]

I've always heard it's easy to make chicken broth and it's 10X better than store bought.  You've inspired me to do it  ...soon.

[Lumpy Coal]

@MacEggs, I love to make soup too.  I favor Minestrone made from the left overs of my weekly smoked chicken.  The skin is already spiced and the extra meat is very smokey.  Trouble is, it takes us several meals to use up all the soup that we end up making                                SJ

We make soup regularly and like you it usually takes days to finish it so we got into canning it.   This last Thanksgiving we made soup from the carcass, had our meal and canned 9 500ml (pint) jars which are the perfect size for a bowl.   I absolutely hate store bought soup so this makes it great for us.  Going to be making some more just for canning in a couple days. 

[SmokenJoe]

LumpyC  My wife & I just got into canning this past season.  Thanks for the idea on saving our soup that way, we'll give it a try.                        SJ