Excessive Oils in Soup

[sardia]

I made some chicken and wild rice soup but it turned out really oily. I ended up skimming it off every 5 minutes a few times. Did I overcook it and break apart the roux? Or is it simply a case of having chicken that is low grade/too fatty? What can I do to correct the problem after it happens? Should I try to soak up the fat particles with flour? What about flour and water mixture, or does that prevent the flour from coating the oil?

To prevent it, I need to remove the fatty skin on the chicken, right? Or is that oil useful in the soup?

[Bakemaster]

Are you saying you used skin-on chicken in your soup? Exactly what cut of chicken did you buy, and how did you prep it? Fat can hold a lot of flavor, but most people I know are put off by a lot of fat in a soup that has a vegetable or chicken base, as opposed to a cream base or a thick stew. The reason being that, as you noticed, it just floats there on top looking oily. The best solution I know of after the fact is to skim off as much as you can with a big flat spoon.

[sardia]

It was chicken thighs, skin on. I deboned it, and threw the bones in as well. I didn't want the fat there because it changed the texture and made it look bad. However, if I could incorporate it into the soup with flour or starches, that'd be great as well.

[PAstrychef]

Thighs tend to have a big lump of fat, which should be removed. The easiest way to remove excess fat is to chill the soup. The fat will solidify on the top and you can lift it off with a spoon. (this works for other braises as well). It's really hard to bind fats to starches once there's a lot of liquid involved-usually you start with the roux and work from there. If you wanted to render down the fat from the thighs and use that in a roux you could, and it should work out ok.

[Bakemaster]

What's a good way to do that—to render down the fat, and incorporate it into something else? It sounds interesting but I don't imagine it's as simple as throwing the chunks of fat in a pan, you'd just end up with fried fat...?

[Azrael]

I'm interested in the whole skin-on part, that seems unusual to me -- and possibly a source of your excess fat.

[PAstrychef]

I cut the fat and skin into pieces and put them in a small pot with a bit of water and cook it over low heat until much of the fat has melted, then I take the cover off and the water boils off and the skin gets nice and crispy. It has turned into a snack called gribness in Yiddish. I often brown chicken pieces with the skin on and then peel the skin off before finishing the dish-like chicken and dumplings. This cooks off much of the fat, which you can use some of to brown your onions, etc. I then proceed with the rendering procedure above to get a nice stock of schmaltz to have on hand. And gribness is one of my favorite horrible for you snacks.

[PatrickRsGhost]

I cut the fat and skin into pieces and put them in a small pot with a bit of water and cook it over low heat until much of the fat has melted, then I take the cover off and the water boils off and the skin gets nice and crispy. It has turned into a snack called gribness in Yiddish. I often brown chicken pieces with the skin on and then peel the skin off before finishing the dish-like chicken and dumplings. This cooks off much of the fat, which you can use some of to brown your onions, etc. I then proceed with the rendering procedure above to get a nice stock of schmaltz to have on hand. And gribness is one of my favorite horrible for you snacks.

That...sounds...AWESOME! Maybe throw in some poultry seasoning for flavor, or spice it up with cayenne and OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM...

But in relation to the OP, what everyone else had said. Also, look into using white chicken meat (breast meat) next time. While dark meat does have more flavor, it's also where most of the fat lies. If you prefer to use dark meat, or want a combination of both, use the drumsticks, which IIRC, has a lower fat content than any other "dark meat" part of the chicken. Make sure to remove the skin first, though. While a bit more expensive, the boneless, skinless chicken breasts are the best way to go. Very little fat remains on them, and they won't affect the flavor of the soup all that much.

[Nath]

...they won't affect the flavor of the soup all that much.

Wait, that's a good thing?

[Azrael]

I think he meant this:

...using them instead of dark meat they won't affect the flavor of the soup all that much.

[sardia]

Ok, so you guys think the same thing I was, it's the fatty skin. I thought I had overcooked my stew/soup and all the fat surrounded by flour came back out.

[Decker]

I'm surprised this hasn't been said, but a good way to get rid of the oil is to refrigerate the soup when it's done. All the oil will solidify and you can pick it right off.

Not very helpful if your eating it NOW, but it might help.

[Zohar]

You'll be surprised by this, then!

Spoiler:

The easiest way to remove excess fat is to chill the soup. The fat will solidify on the top and you can lift it off with a spoon.

[Bakemaster]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udpbsn7iSFQ&t=19

[Decker]

You'll be surprised by this, then!

Spoiler:

The easiest way to remove excess fat is to chill the soup. The fat will solidify on the top and you can lift it off with a spoon.

Shock!

I need to read better.