Hi Sue and everybody-
 
I just made a batch of chicken gravy yesterday, so I feel obligated to
write in response to Sue's questions about it.  I've tried different ways
of making it in the past- even bought a heavy duty meat grinder to grind
everything (didn't work at all on bones, raw or cooked, and was a pain in
the butt with everything else).  I'm not sure of Bob's exact procedure,
but this is what has worked well for me the last several times I've made
the stuff.
 
Yep, the recipe calls for a whole chicken.  Rather than try and cut one
up, which I personally hate doing, I just buy one already cut up and
packaged (it'll say "whole chicken- cut up) and throw the pieces in a
large pot with water.  I also buy some extra fat, since I don't cook
often enough to have my own fat trimmings to save.  I try to ask the guy
in the meat department if they have any and they usuallly do, but I've
also used a disgusting thing called "pork jowl" (yuck) which is basically
a hunk of the fattiest bacon you ever saw, still on the skin (which I cut
off).  Yesterday I used beef fat trimmings.  Anyway, I let the chicken
and the fat cook for several hours until the chicken pieces are just
falling apart, then I add all the other stuff (Nutrical, ferret kibble,
etc) and let it cook for a little while until it's the consistency of a
thick soup or stew.  I let it cool until I can get my hands in it (this
is the messiest part) and I pick out all the bones by just squishing my
fingers through all the stuff and feeling for them.  I personally have
never been able to get the bones soft enough to go through my blender or
a grinder, but I know that the marrow is important, so I use a sharp
knife to chop as much of the bones up as I can (usually the ends are
softer and I can cut them off in little chunks), then I use a small knife
to scrape as much marrow as I can from the inside of the hard middle part
of the bones.  I throw away these big hard pieces once I've gotten a lot
of the marrow out.  After I mix the bone-end chunks and marrow back into
the chicken stew-stuff I just get my blender out and start ladling
portions of the stew into the blender, pureeing it, and pouring the puree
into another big bowl, until it's all pureed.  Then I get out my little
sealable baggies (either snack-size or sandwich-size), fill and seal
them, and stick them in the freezer.  And that's it!  I don't usually
give it to my healthy ferrets, unless one is sick and then I'll sometimes
make the others a special treat of it.  But my Gus is pretty sick with
insulinoma now, and since he's already had most of his pancreas removed
for it several months ago and there really isn't anything more we can do
surgically, I'm feeding him chicken gravy 3 times a day to maintain is
blood sugar as long as I can.  From what I've read here and experienced
in the past, it's wonderful for insulinomic ferrets.
 
But anyway- that's what works for me.  If anybody has figured out a way
to get the entire bone soft and chopped up enough to put in the blender
I'd love to hear it.  I figure I'm getting the majority of the marrow
doing it my way, though.  And Gus sure loves his chicken gravy!
 
Jamie and the Furry Five
Gus, Hopper, Einstein, Butterbean, and Baby
[Posted in FML issue 3846]