Beyond broth: the essence of chicken

Hot Bird Elixir or Bone Liquid, anyone..?
Having been off social media for almost a week in order to replenish the system, what better way than to give the body an additional leg up than with chicken essence? Chicken essence is often served to those who are feeling fatigued, stressed, recovering from an illness or operation or just to pep the body up a notch or two for important days and events. Even more en vogue than bone broth, it is the preserve of the orient, and is widely believed to be the panacea for most ailments. Right.

But as I bang on about chicken essence, many of us would be wondering: what is chicken essence, or my personal nickname for it: Hot Bird Elixir? It is the liquid yielded by the bones and flesh of the chicken when double boiled over medium slow heat for at least 3 hours - hmm, "bone liquid" does not sound the most appetising and may induce a snigger or two, but it is all wholesome soul and goodness. It is imperative here to buy the highest quality free range and organic chicken you can afford - we are looking for a quality fit bird, and by that I do mean a fit bird - one which has minimal fat, is toned and supple from daily exercise, and which adopts a healthy eating and living style. Where possible, we could even be specific on breed and breeding of the bird: a black bird (the Chinese Silkie) is the preferred, but these are difficult to get a hold of and we would settle for a gamey bird, but never one which is corn fed... These can be got from local butchers and in London, the Ginger Pig, Parsons Nose and the posh local in Hammersmith should also do well.

Whilst there are many different interpretations of the method of preparation, there is really only one way to make it, and for the strictest of us, even the pot in which it is made must be vintage enamel. When fit bird is in hand, plucked and readied, you would need a cleaver and a large chopping board - please do wear an apron too as that bird would likely be flying about, as birds usually do. I would chop up the chicken into quarters and then begin to mince it, bones and all. It should be finely minced, so this could take some time (both the mincing and the post mincing health and safety sanitation), but it is so worth it, not least because any (work, life, general humdrum, unexplained) frustrations can be unleashed! Just three hours later, the liquid from the bird would be ready to be served, piping hot.

The conundrum here is when one is tired and needing a boost, chicken essence would be just what the doctor ordered, but all the mincing and cleaning do indeed tire one out, as therapeutic as getting one's hands on a fit bird is... oh well.

Equipment required:

- vintage enamel double boiler or double boiler 

- medium ceramic bowl

- cleaver

- chopping board

Ingredients

- free range, organic, non corn fed chicken, about 1.2kg to serve two

Preparation time

- 30 minutes prep

- 3 hours cooking

Method:

Place ceramic bowl, face down, in the top tray of the double boiler. Quarter chicken and start chopping each quarter with wild abandonment. Make sure the bones are chopped and minced too, as this will allow the essence to yield more easily. Remember, the chicken would not be consumed after cooking as all it's goodness would already have been extracted, and should be discarded. Place the minced raw chicken flesh and bones around and on top of the ceramic bowl, filling in gaps where possible.

Boil some water and place in the bottom pan. The water should not touch the bottom of the top pan when it is placed on. Boil at high heat for five minutes then turn down to medium low heat for 3 hours, remembering to check the water level of the bottom pan regularly. 

After the first hour, you will see flesh and bone liquid surrounding the chicken. After three hours, take the pan off the heat and the top pan off the bottom, and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes. This process allows the liquid in the pan to be sucked into the vacuum in the ceramic bowl. Carefully scoop up all the bones and flesh, making sure the bowl is not dislodged. Becareful as the minced chicken would be hot. 

When all the bone fragments and flesh have been discarded, tilt the pan slightly and prise the bowl off the bottom of the pan - it is "suctioned" on, so tilting the pan would release some liquid from the bowl which would allow the bowl to be removed more easily.

Serve the essence whilst it is still hot: My hot bird elixir.