I now have a 12 qt. slow cooker

[LMNO]

Whoa, back up.

BMW, Kai,  relate exactly what you did.

We (I) can help.

I put 5 unthawed chicken thighs in the crockpot (because I didn't have time to thaw them, I thought the whole thing would warm up slow enough so it wouldn't matter) with water, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, rosemary, tyme, sage and pepper. I started it last night at midnight. Around 7 in the morning,  I got up to find it had boiled over somewhat and liquid was all over the counter and floor. That was not something I liked waking up to, and it was sticky and slippery and gross smelling. So I cleaned up, turned it down to low, and went off to work on the caddisfly stuff and drawings for morphology. So, midnight, 6 in the morning....came back at 6, took the chicken out and it just fell off the bone. Some of the bones fell appart too. I put the chicken I took off the bone, the stuff that wasn't too greasy, and stuck it back in the pot with the carrots after draining the water still in a pot through a collinder (I don't have a sieve finer than that). Finding it was so freaking oily, and having already spend all this time and hungry and totally out of energy, I gave up on it, turned the crock to off, and left it there.

A few minutes ago, after trying to clean up the kitchen to the point where I could reheat some chilli, I put it in the fridge to work with maybe this weekend when I have time.

Whoa.

Ok.  you now have chicken stock.  Strain the solids out, and freeze the liquid.  Don't bother trying to eat the stuff, you'll probably get a mouth full of bland chicken bone.

Basically, you rendered the chicken.  All the fat that usually gives the chicken it's flavor was separated during the process.  Sounds like you got the ingredients right, but as said above, you probably had too much water, and definitely had it on too high.

Think about it this way: the "safe" temperature for chicken is 170F, well below boiling.  The point of the cooker is to slowly raise the temperature of everything in it to that temperature.  That's why it takes so long.  If you set it too high, it's like you dropped the chicken into a pot of boiling water for 6 hours.

What I would do is first, thaw the chicken, salt & pepper, and sear it.  You don't have to cook it through, just get a golden brown color on the skin.  This adds flavor.

Lay the veggies on the bottom of the crock pot, put the thighs on top, then add just enough water to come up halfway on the thighs.  Set the crock on low, and let sit for about 6 hours.  That should do it.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Whoa, back up.

BMW, Kai,  relate exactly what you did.

We (I) can help.

I put 5 unthawed chicken thighs in the crockpot (because I didn't have time to thaw them, I thought the whole thing would warm up slow enough so it wouldn't matter) with water, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, rosemary, tyme, sage and pepper. I started it last night at midnight. Around 7 in the morning,  I got up to find it had boiled over somewhat and liquid was all over the counter and floor. That was not something I liked waking up to, and it was sticky and slippery and gross smelling. So I cleaned up, turned it down to low, and went off to work on the caddisfly stuff and drawings for morphology. So, midnight, 6 in the morning....came back at 6, took the chicken out and it just fell off the bone. Some of the bones fell appart too. I put the chicken I took off the bone, the stuff that wasn't too greasy, and stuck it back in the pot with the carrots after draining the water still in a pot through a collinder (I don't have a sieve finer than that). Finding it was so freaking oily, and having already spend all this time and hungry and totally out of energy, I gave up on it, turned the crock to off, and left it there.

A few minutes ago, after trying to clean up the kitchen to the point where I could reheat some chilli, I put it in the fridge to work with maybe this weekend when I have time.

Whoa.

Ok.  you now have chicken stock.  Strain the solids out, and freeze the liquid.  Don't bother trying to eat the stuff, you'll probably get a mouth full of bland chicken bone.

Basically, you rendered the chicken.  All the fat that usually gives the chicken it's flavor was separated during the process.  Sounds like you got the ingredients right, but as said above, you probably had too much water, and definitely had it on too high.

Think about it this way: the "safe" temperature for chicken is 170F, well below boiling.  The point of the cooker is to slowly raise the temperature of everything in it to that temperature.  That's why it takes so long.  If you set it too high, it's like you dropped the chicken into a pot of boiling water for 6 hours.

What I would do is first, thaw the chicken, salt & pepper, and sear it.  You don't have to cook it through, just get a golden brown color on the skin.  This adds flavor.

Lay the veggies on the bottom of the crock pot, put the thighs on top, then add just enough water to come up halfway on the thighs.  Set the crock on low, and let sit for about 6 hours.  That should do it.

LMNO speaks TROOF

[LMNO]

Also, consider that water by itself has no flavor.  Use a combination of stock and white wine, and you'll add to the tastiness.

[Kai]

I don't have anything to put the stock in or strain it with.

Its horrible, I'm so low energy right now I can't even go make food.