chicken soup

                           SUSAN G’S CHICKEN SOUP/STOCK (BROTH)

Chicken Soup and Chicken stock are the same thing, with a few differences. Chicken stock is one of the fundamentals of good cooking, and allows you to make almost any soup, sauce, veg dish, stew, more tasty and professional.  It is usually made in large quantities, the liquid simmers for a longer time to evaporate the water and concentrate the chicken flavor. It becomes richer and darker. The solids are discarded, or the chicken can be used in other dishes, like a chicken salad. Stock can be kept frozen for use when needed in the freezer (about 2 months or so) or used within 2-3 days  from the fridge. Chicken soup has the solids left in, and cooks a shorter time.. If freezing either soup or stock, allow to cool down before putting in freezer.

You will need: for soup  (for stock try to increase ingredients so you have enough to freeze, or have a chicken soup party or know lots of people with colds.) Remember to have freezeable containers ready to fill for freeze or fridge.

First You Need:

1 very sharp 8” or 10” chefs knife.

1 very large, two handled soup pot

1  3-4 lb  chicken cut into parts, add extra wings, legs etc if desired… rinsed, all internal organs discarded,

Remove as much fat and skin as possible, save neck for pot soup.

Approx 5 quarts cold water

 1 tablespoon (TBS) salt

Cover pot and bring water to boil, add chicken, salt , and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until chicken is just done; do not overcook or you will cook out the chicken flavor. ½ hr should do. (For stock, you want all the flavor you can get from the solids into the liquid) so it cooks longer, discard solids.  Cook stock 3 hrs.

A foam will develop on top as soup cooks…it is protein and fats. Skim and discard.

Remove chicken, set aside in bowl. If you like whole pieces in the soup, leave them big, if you like smaller pieces, remove meat with your fingers when meat is cool,

Second You Need:

2        Lg  yellow onions cut into eights.

3        Carrots, pared and cut into 1” pcs                                                                                              

3     Stalks celery including leaves, washed well, chopped and cut stalks into ½ in pcs. Discard lg. ends

2    Leeks (if desired) white part only, then slit lengthwise, while holding leaves loosely, wash very well under       strong flow of water. Leeks are often sandy between the leaves

1        Bunch of parsley, washed very well of any sand. Discard stems, chop leaves with chef’s knife.

1        Tablespoon Chicken bouillon concentrate, do not use bouillon cubes. (Easy to find as “Better Than Bouillon” or other paste-like chicken concentrate. This added to soups really kicks up the flavor.

1     Bag/box wide or thin  Noodles, thick or thin add just 10 min or less before finish time or they will fall apart

1        box of frozen peas, do not defrost

Add to pot all vegetables except peas, simmer until carrots and celery are barely tender. In 15 min, add chicken back to pot and continue simmering, skimming foam as it develops. Be careful not to overcook vegetables or they will be mushy when you re-heat at future time.  Taste and correct for salt and add pepper if desired.  To fortify flavor, add another spoon of chicken paste concentrate, stir well to dissolve.

Remember, you can reduce amount of liquid in soup to enrich flavor, but remove solids so as not to overcook them. Add frozen peas stir well.

NEXT TIME, OTHER SOUPS YOU CAN MAKE USING THE CHICKEN STOCK