I forget now If I’ve done a write up of my chicken soup methodology before, but it has evolved recently and anyway bears repeating. I found myself sick this past week or two and ove the weekend I brewed a soup that knocked the shit out of a nuclear flu. So keep this in your arsenal. It takes a while but it’s a lot of easy stages so its not so bad.
Stock
Get one chicken carcass. I’ve found the best way to do this
is to get a rotisserie chicken, as they are ultra cheap, and generally pretty
well made. I also save chicken wing tips when I roast my own chicken and freeze
them in bags along with the giblets. I think for this one I used a rotisserie carcass,
a few wing tips, and a few neck and giblet sets. They go into the pot with like
an onion roughly chopped, some garlic, and a liberal amount of salt and pepper.
The flavors at this stage aren’t really important. The important thing is that
you cover that shit, bring it to a boil, reduce to a low simmer, and then let
it cook for like 8 to 12 hours, topping up the water as needed. Drain into a
container and discard the bones. You can refrigerate for a few weeks, probably
more, and freeze for much longer. This way you can make the stock any time you
have chicken, and have it on hand for when you get ill.
If this seems inexact, its cause this stage is really more about chemical components and texture rather than flavor. Certainly quality ingredients never hurt a body even at this stage, but the real point is to extract the gelatin that hides in a body’s connective tissue. Carcasses are full of the stuff because in its unboiled state it is basically an inedible fiber, and because it tends to hide out with other fibers that will never ever boil away. As such the inedible bits we leave on chicken bones are full of the collagen that, when boiled, dissolves into gelatin. You will know this has worked because if you refrigerate your stock it will turn into a solid. If you filled this with vegetables and preserved meats you would have the basis of an aspic. Aspics are pretty gross but soups are not so let us move on quickly.
A Word About Pepper
I am between pepper grinders, by which I mean I had a disposable one and then accidentally bought whole pepper corns without a grinder. Luckily the wife and I had received a magic bullet from her grandmother for our wedding. I had already been using it as a spice grinder, and since the bullets come with shaker covers it made sense to turn to pregrinding my own pepper. This also opened the opportunity for playing with the usual pepper assumptions. After some experimentation I found that dropping three cloves into 3 tablespoons of pepper corns before grinding the whole thing makes a pepper blend that is pretty much the best thing ever. I use that for everything I describe as pepper in this recipe.
Broth and Soup
As Stock requires the infusion of gelatin from boiling bones, Broth requires infusion of flavor, in this case by boiling mean and veggies. Start by dicing a large onion, two stalks of celery, generous quantities of garlic, and a large carrot. Saute in a 16 gt stock pot with salt and pepper intil they start to take some color. Now is time for the meat. I got a pound each flat of drumsticks and thighs. I placed these in the pot with the stock, a package of fresh thyme, and enough water to equal the amount of stock. I brought this to a boil and then simmered until the chicken was done, probably about 20 mins. I then fished out the chicken pieces and let them cool. Once cool shred the chicken meat and discard the bones and skin. Toss into the soup with a cup of brown rice and a few more stalks of celery and a bunch of celery leaves, sliced, and some frozen peas. Simmer until the rice is cooked.
Of the above, the mirpoix of onion, carrot, and celery is all that is really necessary for chicken soup to taste like chicken soup other than the chicken. I always like my chicken soup to be heavy on the celery, thus the late addition of more. It also adds to the freshness. Mushrooms also go well, and pretty much anything you have in the kitchen. You could also add cooked noodles instead of the brown rice and serve without further cooking. Kreplach is traditional in chicken soup amongst my people, so any kind of frozen wonton will work. Go nuts. Have fun.
If this seems inexact, its cause this stage is really more about chemical components and texture rather than flavor. Certainly quality ingredients never hurt a body even at this stage, but the real point is to extract the gelatin that hides in a body’s connective tissue. Carcasses are full of the stuff because in its unboiled state it is basically an inedible fiber, and because it tends to hide out with other fibers that will never ever boil away. As such the inedible bits we leave on chicken bones are full of the collagen that, when boiled, dissolves into gelatin. You will know this has worked because if you refrigerate your stock it will turn into a solid. If you filled this with vegetables and preserved meats you would have the basis of an aspic. Aspics are pretty gross but soups are not so let us move on quickly.
A Word About Pepper
I am between pepper grinders, by which I mean I had a disposable one and then accidentally bought whole pepper corns without a grinder. Luckily the wife and I had received a magic bullet from her grandmother for our wedding. I had already been using it as a spice grinder, and since the bullets come with shaker covers it made sense to turn to pregrinding my own pepper. This also opened the opportunity for playing with the usual pepper assumptions. After some experimentation I found that dropping three cloves into 3 tablespoons of pepper corns before grinding the whole thing makes a pepper blend that is pretty much the best thing ever. I use that for everything I describe as pepper in this recipe.
Broth and Soup
As Stock requires the infusion of gelatin from boiling bones, Broth requires infusion of flavor, in this case by boiling mean and veggies. Start by dicing a large onion, two stalks of celery, generous quantities of garlic, and a large carrot. Saute in a 16 gt stock pot with salt and pepper intil they start to take some color. Now is time for the meat. I got a pound each flat of drumsticks and thighs. I placed these in the pot with the stock, a package of fresh thyme, and enough water to equal the amount of stock. I brought this to a boil and then simmered until the chicken was done, probably about 20 mins. I then fished out the chicken pieces and let them cool. Once cool shred the chicken meat and discard the bones and skin. Toss into the soup with a cup of brown rice and a few more stalks of celery and a bunch of celery leaves, sliced, and some frozen peas. Simmer until the rice is cooked.
Of the above, the mirpoix of onion, carrot, and celery is all that is really necessary for chicken soup to taste like chicken soup other than the chicken. I always like my chicken soup to be heavy on the celery, thus the late addition of more. It also adds to the freshness. Mushrooms also go well, and pretty much anything you have in the kitchen. You could also add cooked noodles instead of the brown rice and serve without further cooking. Kreplach is traditional in chicken soup amongst my people, so any kind of frozen wonton will work. Go nuts. Have fun.
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