Home Made Chicken Soup Recipies
I'll bet there are as many recipies out there for Chicken Soup, as there are cooks. Here is my Grandmother's old-world recipie. I'd love to see some of yours.
~Grandma Annie's Chicken Soup~
Place 6-10 Chicken drumsticks (and or thighs) in a large soup pot
(Backs, necks and feet are good to add if you can stand to look at them)
Add COLD water to cover chicken, plus 2 inches more.
Bring pot to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook covered for @ 1/2 hour.
Skim foam from soup.
Add 2 large onions, quartered, four stalks celery, roughly chopped, and 2 large carrots, roughly chopped.
Add a bouquet garni ( 6-10 peppercorns, 2 cloves peeled, squashed garlic, 1-sprig rosemary, 1- sprig thyme , and 2 bay leaves, wrapped in a piece of cheese cloth and tied.) < if you don't have cheese cloth you could just drop the spices into the soup pot, but then they just float around in the soup and are harder to fish out later. It does not affect the flavor.>
(Substitute 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves, and 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves for the fresh herbs. )
Let soup simmer for @ 2-3 hours, tasting until a "good chicken-y taste" is achieved. You can salt LIGHTLY if you want for tasting purposes after about 2 hours.
When soup has reached "doneness", remove bouquet garni, and remove chicken legs. ( there are so many things you can do with these chicken legs!)
Salt soup to taste and serve as is or....
You can strain veggies from soup, or ...
You can cool soup and refrigerate overnight to skim fat from the surface, and serve as a low-fat soup the next day. Or...
Any small pasta can be cooked in this soup, or of course matzoh balls
This was my grandmother's recipie brought over from Russia...every Jewish Grandmother has her own chicken soup recipie. Her original recipie called for a "soup hen" which now would cost $25 even if you could FIND a soup hen! SO the legs are a great substitute. It gives the soup a golden color,and a rich flavor you don't get form the other parts of the bird. It makes the soup gelatinous when cooled, like a stock would be. We love it here. Very yummy to me.
Val
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