Are you chicken or something?

My passion for skin-on, bone-in chicken goes back to my childhood, when we very rarely had chicken breasts for dinner. We raised our own chickens, and my mother often fried or baked a whole one. Each person would get to pick which part s/he wanted, and you couldn't leave the table until all the meat had been cleaned from the bones on your plate. Sometimes you were lucky enough to get the wishbone, in which case someone else volunteered to crack it with you and whoever ended up with the larger part was granted a wish.

After the meal, my dad was always the Chicken Cleaner. While we were busing dishes and putting away leftovers, he sat at the island in the kitchen and carefully disassembled the remaining chicken. The breast meat he cut in great big slabs to be put in his sandwiches for lunch. Everything else he carefully separated from the bones and fat and put in a large Tupperware. Later in the week we would have pot pie, chicken salad sandwiches or chicken

and gravy over mashed potatoes. Delicious!

Since I've been married, I've become the Chicken Cleaner. My husband is much more fond of chicken breasts, and though he will eat chicken pieces, he's not about to sit around after supper picking apart the extras. I don't mind - I've come to enjoy it. The meat shines with broth and melted chicken fat, and in the way only a foodie can, I think it's luscious and beautiful. While I'm pulling meat off the bones and fat off the meat, I think about the times my father has done the same, and the many meals I shared with my family.

Even more than this, I feel like cleaning a chicken is a way to be mindful of the gift we have in our food. Trying not to waste any is just common sense when we think of all it took to get that food to our plates. And besides, Mother won't let me leave the table until all the chicken's cleaned off my plate.

4 Easy Steps to Cleaning Chicken

(recipe inspired by Emily at Zweber Farms)

Leftovers from our supper last night.

1. Put frozen chicken pieces ("pieces" means wings, drumsticks and thighs. I do anywhere from 3 to 9, and the more you do the more efficient it is.) in a crockpot set to "low."

2. Pour in a cup of wine and sprinkle with herbs (last time I did red wine with 1 tsp. parsley and 2 tsp. oregano). Cover the crockpot and leave for work, start the laundry, watch the morning news, etc.

3. In 8-10 hours, pull out the chicken pieces and enjoy for supper. (Great go-withs: spinach salad, wild rice and green beans)

4. After supper, sit down at the table with the extra chicken on a large plate or jelly roll pan. Pull off any skin, fat or bones and discard. Keep the rest and make delicious leftover meals!

BONUS

Run the juice from the crockpot through a strainer. Discard the bits in the strainer. Put the strained juice in a covered dish in the fridge. Tomorrow, discard the hardened fat and you'll have amazing chicken broth!