Around day 20 of the Covid Quarantine John and I dashed out to get supplies. We were wandering, masked, through the grocery store, eying all the empty shelves.

Then I happened to notice a bunch of cooked chickens in the meat case. They were rotisserie chickens that hadn’t been sold on the day they were cooked, so the store marked the price down for a quick sale.

I quickly I bought six of them. Why not? There was plenty of room in my cart since there was no toilet paper or bleach to be had.

It was time for a marathon bone broth party!

I’ve been making this bone broth for years; not only with day-old rotisserie chickens, but with Thanksgiving turkey bones, and bones of chickens I roast at home. I’ve always called it chicken broth or stock, but I guess bone broth is the new term.

When I got home with my pile of birds I washed my hands thoroughly for 20 seconds. (Long enough to say The Lord’s Prayer, by the way.) Then I pulled out a big bowl and my cast iron frying pan. I put all the bones, skin, fat, and juice into the frying pan, and all the nice pieces of lean chicken into the bowl.

This was actually a two-day project, since I had so many chickens. I made 2 batches of three chickens each.

I put the bones and skin into my big heavy frying pan and roasted it for 30 minutes at 400°.

Meantime I got into my freezer where I had been storing all kinds of carrot tops and peels, celery nubs, and tough broccoli ends. I try not to waste anything, so throughout the weeks I toss the veggie scraps into a big plastic zip-lock bag for the next batch of broth.

While the bones are roasting I bagged up the lean chicken to freeze in resealable vacuum bags.

When the bones are roasted I transfer them to my instant pot. (Before I had an instant pot I used a big soup pot that worked just fine.)

Add the frozen vegetables scraps, and cover with water to the top line of the instant pot.

Set the instant pot for 6 hours.

Strain into a big colander, and throw the used bones away. The bones will be so soft you can mash them with the side of the spoon. But don’t.

Pour the broth from the bowl into a big jar, and let it cool overnight, or until fat hardens on top of broth.

Skim off the fat and pour the broth into smaller jars to freeze. You will have nice savoury bone broth ready when you need it!