The Art of Chicken Soup

Last week Jim was sick so I made him some chicken soup. The soup definitely made him feel better so he suggested I write about it. I assumed everyone knew how to make soup from a whole chicken so it wouldn’t have occurred to me to write about that. But over the years I’ve learned lots of little tricks to make a wickedly good, healing and savory chicken soup so here is my version for you.

First, you have to find a good chicken. Maybe you are fortunate enough to know someone who raises meat chickens, if so, lucky you! But most of us don’t know that person so the best you can do is to buy a high quality chicken at the grocery store. Not all chickens are created equal because some are raised in better conditions than others. The chicken I bought was locally raised by Draper Valley Farms in Washington. Their website says they raise chickens the way nature intended. The chicken cooked up quite nicely.

Next I got out my Crockpot and coarsely chopped an onion, carrots, celery and six cloves of garlic, added a heaping tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder, some soy sauce, a few bay leaves, some peppercorns and enough filtered water to cover the chicken. At 8pm I turned the pot on low and cooked the chicken all night. Soon after waking up, I put the chicken on a platter, let it cool and shredded the meat. Then I put all the remaining bones, skin and vegetables back into the pot, switched it on to high and cooked the liquid for several more hours until the broth turned a deep golden color. After that, I strained the broth into a Dutch oven and set the pot in the fridge for a couple of hours so the fat could be skimmed off. If you are in a hurry, you can also use a fat separator which is a handy gadget to have.

To the pot I added a diced onion, carrots, celery, a package of frozen peas and the shredded chicken. Jim made some dumplings from Bisquick and covered the top with those (I just read that canned biscuits work well too). You could also add rice, noodles or potatoes but cook them separately first otherwise they will soak up all your broth and you will end up with a casserole, not soup. Near the end, I added a splash of lemon juice.

I don’t know whether it is truth or fiction that chicken soup has magical healing powers. Regardless, this is the ultimate comfort food. And it’s fun to make, if you are not in a hurry, that is.