Using all but the cluck

I am sure you have heard the expression of using all but the squeal of the pig.  Well I think I have almost accomplished that with a chicken.  I was lucky to find whole chickens for $.98 a pound the other day which is cheap for here.  Pay more than that for legs or thighs.  These are name brand and weigh about 5 pound so are more than enough for 2 meals for my brother and I.  I like them because unlike most chicken you buy today it actually has fat on it.  Great for making gravy which we love.  Well to keep it short I did the usual, simmered it for chicken, biscuit and gravy.  Saved just enough of the broth to make enough gravy for that nights supper and enough for a chicken pot pie later in the week.  The bones, skin, etc. then went back into the a bigger pot with the leftover broth, some carrots, onions, celery stalks, bay leaves and rosemary to cook up a fresh stock.  Once the stock is strained I always put it into the refrig to gel up and for the fat to set up on the top to be skimmed off before canning.  Yesterday I skimmed the fat but didn't throw it out as usual.  I thought, they save duck fat for cooking why not chicken fat.  It would be good to make a rue for a nice chicken gravy with my canned stock.  So I canned up the 3 1/2 quarts of stock then warmed up what I had skimmed from the top of the stock so I could pour it.  Now when you skim you always get some gel and I other things from the stock and I wanted pure fat so strained it through a coffee filter into a clear tall narrow measuring  glass and let the fat come to the top.  Put it into the freezer until it set up and was able to lift the fat from the liquid very easily.  I got 4 tablespoons of pure fat.  May sound like a lot of work but didn't take that long and it will taste so cook in gravy at a later time.  Put it into 2 T containers in the freezer and it will now be removed to a resealable vacuum sealer bag for freezer storage.

After straining through coffee filter and separating.