07/27/2025
My latest trick, portioning out birds when processing them into meaty legs with thighs, breasts, meat bits, and bones with skin and fat. The thighs and breasts are spread out to be individually frozen, and then stored in large gallon bags ready to be used at any time. The meaty bits we freeze In snack bags in 3.5 oz individual servings for any recipe calling for ground meat.
The legs and breasts can be used easily in any chicken recipe calling for boneless/skinless breasts or chicken wings. Tonight I'll be using quail breasts to make my favorite cherry chicken recipe, but with apricot instead. I'm thinking of later making a chicken hot wing recipe but with quail legs.
The meaty bits that come from things like the quail tender underneath the breast can be used easily in any recipe calling for ground meat.
And the bones today are becoming quail broth. Here's my favorite recipe using the pressure cooker function on my Ninja.
In the Ninja pot add the following:
2 lb of quail bones, wings, skin, and fat. You can also include quail legs and feet if you want. Either fresh or frozen is fine.
Two cut celery stalks. About 2.5 oz. Here I'm using some frozen celery that I had set aside.
5 smashed fresh garlic cloves or 1 tbsp. Prepared crushed garlic.
One large bay leaf.
Three to five sprigs of fresh thyme or 1.5 tsp dried
A handful of fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried.
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Water to the maximum fill line.
You can cook using the slow cook process. But I like to do the pressure cooker function for 90 minutes. Please note that if you use the pressure cooker function, the maximum fill line is lower than if you use the slow cook process.
Once it's done, let it cool. Then filter off the broth for use later in any recipe. You can debone the meat from the bones to also use in recipes. I'm also thinking of skimming off extra fat and purifying it into lard to be used when curing homemade cheddar cheese. All in all, a wonderful way to use up the rest of the bird ♥️
Today I'm using lemon thyme because that's what we have growing in the garden 😉.
