Please bear with me on this!

Over Christmas I got a Mason & Cash terracotta roaster and I used it for the first time last night to roast a chicken. Lots of fat and juices had collected in the dish.

This morning when I went to empty the now-cooled dish, there was a deep layer of clear jelly on top, with juices underneath.

My question is, is this jelly just the solidified fat, in which case I will throw it away? I ask only because the jelly is lovely and clear, not opaque like I would expect fat to be. It looks just like good stock and if it is full of the flavour and 'goodness' from the meat, not just fat and 'badness' I will hang onto it and use it in the soup I'm making tonight.

I agree with you - solidified fat is generally opaque, not nice and clear. You could heat a tiny bit up in small saucepan and test it for flavour and greasiness before using it for your soup.

If you put it in a jar in the fridge the fat will rise to the top and solidify, then you can skim it off

whats left should be jelly and that's what you use for your stock - it turns to liquid when you heat it

That's the lovely bit of stock. Don't throw it away.

You may as well boil the carcass (skin, bones and all) with a few herbs, onion etc to get more stock. Just let the liquid cool, then put in the fridge and scrape of the fat when it has cooled. Perfect base for soups.

If it's for soup I use a little of that fat to soften onions and other veg and ditch the rest. If for a future stew or casserole I would keep everything.

What smudgesdad said. But not what littlefro said. It's stock and the fat will solidify to scrape off when it's cold after being in the fridge.

Thank you all!

If its clear then its gelatine, once heated it will turn back into a liquid. Great flavour.