Chicken Soup – Fast Fall Foods 2

Chicken Soup! It seems impossible something this easy can be this delicious. In soup-er brief: You drop a whole chicken into water, boil it with vegetables, and you’re done. The only caveat is that the chicken be fresh or thawed.

Ingredients for Chicken Soup, Old World Style

Whole chicken (c’mon splurge on that happy farmer’s from the down the road), fresh or thawed

Carrots

Celery

Onion

Salt

Here’s the breakdown. IF you have the foresight, wherewithal, time (oh, virtuous you!),… salt the chicken inside and out and let it do its magic thing in the fridge for a few hours, overnight, over the next day or so,… OR start here.

Technique – Chicken Soup, Old World Style

Find a pot big enough for the whole chicken with some extra room (at least a couple inches over the top). Rinse the chicken and put it in the pot. Cover with water enough to submerge the bird. Put it on the stove over high-ish heat.

While that’s going, peel a few carrots. Rinse and cut as you wish. I simply hack them a couple times crosswise for 2-3 inch long hunks. No sense complicating things now. Wash and trim a few stalks of celery. Use the same, barely-chopped technique. Peel and trim an onion. Cut that – yes, you’re onto me – as much or as little as you want. (I chop it into four to six parts, eight if it’s really big.) Add those to the pot.

As for your playlist, get it started now: Shostakovich, please, eastern European folk tunes. Yes!

Stir in a small palm-mound of kosher salt (a heaping tablespoon, maybe? remember you can always add salt; it’s hard to subtract. Plus, this is the kind of soup that the high-blood-pressure demographic can really get down with, so go easy on the sodium. People can add their own, come serving time.) If you want, add a bay leaf or two, a few whole peppercorns,…

Skim any frothy stuff off the surface. You may need to do this a few times. When the pot reaches a near boil, turn it down to simmer gently until the legs wiggle away from the body. Figure on a good hour.

I say “near boil” because if you can keep the bird from bouncing madly in a rolling boil, the broth with be gloriously clear. If you walk away, and that window closes, don’t worry, it’ll still taste fantastic. Taste for seasoning. (More salt?) Resist skimming the fat. Trust me. Remove whatever skin comes easily away. Cool and give it to the dog.

Then, serve straight from the pot itself, bones and all. Your diners can do the rest. You worked so hard, already, right? Hah.

Daggone, a little chopped parsley on top would be just the thing. Oh, well.

Mr. Hollywood takes his with hot sauce. Of course.