Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Skimming the Fat

When I make my chicken soup I usually use a whole fryer. I stick it in a pot of water with some chopped onion, the tops of the celery and cook it till it's done. Usually I'm making it to eat that evening so really there's nothing I can do to get the fat out of it (and no, I don't peel the skin off it before it goes in the pot). One negative to this is that if we don't use up all the soup and it finds its way into the fridge, the next day the fat is sitting at the top along with all the seasonings I put in there. So I usually just heat it back up and leave it alone. Last night I cooked up a chicken in water to use for a soup I'm making today. I did it a day ahead because I wasn't sure I'd have time to cook the chicken today, etc...(yes, I know there are easier ways to do it, like just using chicken breasts or something, but I love the whole chicken). So, I made the broth last night and put it in the fridge. This morning I took it out skimmed the layer of fat (which looked disgusting) off and continued to make the soup. So....the tip....take the time to make your broths ahead of time and then place them into the fridge. This enables you to skim a good portion of the fat off the soup without losing seasonings or other things along with it. With Joy UNquenchable,