Chicken soup for the sick
From AJS.COM
This is my chicken soup for the sick. I make this any time anyone gets sick.
Contents |
Ingredients
- 1 chicken - you want one of the ones that's just a bit smaller than a basket-ball, and can easily fit in a 4qt pot.
- 1 large, sweet onion, chopped in quarters
- 1 large, sweet onion, diced fine
- 1 carrot, snapped in half
- 1/2 carrot, diced fine
- 2 cloves garlic, cut in half
- 4 cloves garlic, minced fine (or rough if you like)
- 1 stalk celery, broken in half
- 1/2 cup white wine (Portuguese vinho verde works well)
- 1 tbsp white vinegar and/or lime juice or lemon juice -- basically any sour, acidy liquid or combo. I use lime+white vinegar often
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 small pinch, celery salt
- 2 bay leaves
Optional:
- 1-2 cups rice or pasta
- 1 stalk celery, minced added with the the minced onion.
Steps
About the veggies
There are two sets of veggies that you're going to use: rough chunks / chopped and the finely diced. The rough chunks and chopped veggies will go into the broth, and eventually be thrown away. They "give up" their flavor to the broth, so they're not suitable for the final soup. The finely diced veggies are the ones that will be in the final soup, and are added after you finish the broth.
Broth
- Put chicken (after rinsing) and rough chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic, vinegar, spices, and white wine into pot.
- Just barely cover with water.
- Put on low heat for 2 hours. Don't let it boil over, and turn chicken over once 1 hour in.
- Test the chicken by pulling lightly on a leg with tongs. The leg should pull off easily, with no connective tissue holding the bones together. Go for 3 hours if needed.
- Strain (don't need a fine strainer, just getting chunks) into a bowl. That's your broth. You could eat it now if you wanted.
Soup
- Strip the meat off the chicken. Feel free to run cold water over it, but save the first cup or two of that water and add it to the stock, as it will have some of the spicing and chicken juices.
- Chop the meat roughly.
- Put broth, meat and the finely chopped veggies back in the pot for 1 hour on low simmer.
- Add the rice or pasta and cook on medium heat for another 10 min.
Tips
- Throw away the skin along with the bones. You don't need it and it will add an "off taste" in leftovers.
- Cut with water if needed once you combine the broth and meat. Salt to taste at that stage too.
- Cut off any external fat from the bird before starting (make sure to remove any gibblet packets, though you can put them in to boil if you like, as they will add a savory, rich taste to the broth.
- As an optional step, you can sauté the veggies (the minced ones) before adding them into the final stock. Just put them in a hot frying pan (without the garlic) for about 5 minutes on medium heat and about 2 tbsp of oil.
- You can also sear the chicken ahead of time which will add a nice flavor, if you have a pot that isn't non-stick (non-stick and high heat searing don't combine well). Just put 2 tbsp oil in the pot, and when it gets hot, put the whole chicken in. Wait 3 minutes on high heat. Turn the chicken and repeat. Turn the heat off, and proceed with the stock-making ingredients as directed above. Do not remove the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Those will flavor the broth.
- To save leftovers or make ahead, put hot soup directly into plastic containers, and cover with very little or no air space at top (it's ok if it's messy, you can wipe the container before putting it away). Leave out, sealed closed until it reaches room temp, then put in fridge or freezer.
- It's chicken jello! - Yep, after cooling in the fridge, it will turn to a jello-like material. That's what real chicken soup does, as it has the broken-down connective tissue from the chicken, which is essentially what is used to make jello. Without the sugar and flavorings, jello would actually taste a bit like ultra-bland chicken soup. When you re-heat it will return to its normal, soupy state.
