After roasting a chicken and enjoying the meat and leftovers, you have the best thing for making soup—the carcass. You’ll get another meal’s worth of chicken because simmering loosens the meat from the skin and bones.
And as for the rest, almost anything is good in chicken soup. Make soup on a day that you have bits of leftover vegetables. This is not the sort of soup you go buy new ingredients for…Today I have a 1/3 cauliflower and a broccoli stem so that’s what’s in mine.
Frugal Chicken Soup
1 chicken carcass
6 cups cold water
1 bay leaf
1 large potato
1/2 carrot
1/4 onion
1 to 2 cups of other vegetables—broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, cauliflower, tomato, corn, etc.
1/4 cup egg noodles (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
Put the chicken carcass in a medium sized pot. if the chicken is too big, cut it along the lower part of the breast and fold it to fit. Cover with 6 cups cold water and add the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook slowly for about an hour without boiling.
When the water is golden yellow with a nice layer of bright gold fat, carefully drain the stock into another pot. Put the bones aside to cool.
Peel and chop the potato, carrot, onion and other vegetables into bite-sized pieces. They should be approximately the same size to ensure even cooking. I usually make them 1 cm (1/2 in) or smaller. Add to the stock.
When the bones are cool enough to handle, pick off any remaining meat. Check the neck, under the thighs, around the joints. Avoid the liver and other innards; they taste nasty in soup. Chops the meat into small bits and add to the soup. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of white pepper.
Cover the pot and simmer the soup over low heat at least until the vegetables are soft (20-30 minutes) and as long beyond that as you like. Skim the impurities from the surface as needed and be sure to watch for evaporation if you simmer for hours and hours.
About 20 minutes before serving, add the egg noodles. Season the soup with salt and pepper at the table.
Posted by kuri at December 18, 2003 05:35 PMI make soup like this so often. It’s warming and yummy.
Posted by: Jenny on December 19, 2003 12:05 AM