My recipe for making chicken broth says to refrigerate the broth and then to remove the fat from the top of the broth when the fat has hardened from being in the refrigerator. I would think that removing the fat would also be removing a lot of the flavor. What do you think about leaving the fat on the top, or just removing some of it? Thanks!
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It depends on whether you can "afford" the fat and calories. I always take it off--I don't believe that the fat is necessary for the flavor. If you have made the broth well, it will have all the flavor you need.
It's pretty difficult to get ALL the fat off when the stock is chilled..... I always leave a tiny bit and I firmly believe it does enhance the taste.
The chicken fat doesn't add much flavor to the soup. And, it's not all that healthy either. I not only coagulate the chicken fat but I do the same for the beef fat when I make beef soup and ham fat when I make pea or bean soup.
personally i think it makes it taste better to take it off. if you leave it on then you have this fatty taste afterwards and it coats everything, which doesnt allow you to enjoy the other flavors.
I say remove it. First, even if you skim off what you think is all the fat, there will still be some that doesn't congeal at the top, so you won't be removing all of it; however, it will be much healthier....lower in fat and calories.
Think of it this way; when you put the broth in the refrigerator to cool, and the fat rises and hardens, that's kind of what it does inside your body as well. Do you really want your arteries to be narrowed by all that fat? You know how hard it is to remove; better not to have it there to begin with!
slw
Actually - that's not true, this is not what fat does to arteries
I personally take as much fat off as I can since I don't want it in my body. I also personally don't like the feel of al that fat coating and congealing in my mouth and on my lips.
Why don't you just try it for yourself? Take the fat off as suggested, and then taste the fat all by itself to see what flavor it has and if you like it. If you do, you can always add some of the fat back, bit by bit, into the warmed broth, until you achieve the right compromise of flavor vs healthiness for you.
i leave on most of the fat as you are correct in assuming you lose a lot of flavor without it. if i'm going to thicken like gravy or a sauce i will leave less than if i am simply using the broth as a base.
I always leave a little bit on like Annie does :-)
Jennifer
Northern Virginia
Both my grandmother and her mother lived to be in their late 90's, never weighed over 100 pounds soaking wet and both worked hard every day until in their 80's. They were farmers, grew their own veggies, raised and butchered their animals, using that lard to fry everything and I know they didn't give a second thought to using chicken broth without extracting the fat.
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