 The Whole World Loves Chicken Soup |
My Favorite Chicken Soup
from The Whole World Loves Chicken Soup
Root vegetables are essential to this soup. If parsley root is unavailable, add an extra inch or two from parsnip. For a richer, heavier soup, use the veal knuckle. Tomato, white or sweet potato, and garlic are used in some Jewish homes, but not in mine. Try any or all if you like, but the result will then not be "My Favorite." Deviate, and you're on your own…
This soup usually is a first course, without chicken
To be truly "My Favorite Soup" this must be made with a fowl. Do the best you can.
FOR THE SOUP
5- to 6-pound fowl, preferably fresh killed, or 7 to 8 pounds broiling or frying chickens, with neck and all giblets except liver
Veal knuckle bone (optional)
10 to 12 cups water, or more as needed
2 large carrots, scraped and quartered
2 celery stalks with leaves, whole or cut up
1 medium onion
3 Italian parsley sprigs
1 small parsnip, scraped and cut in half
1/2 small celery root (celeraic), peeled
A 2- to 3-inch length of parsley root (petrouchka), scraped and cut in half
1 medium leek, green and white portions, split and well washed
Salt and white pepper, to taste
Pinch of sugar, if needed
FOR THE OPTIONAL GARNISH
Minced fresh parsley and/or dill
1 or 2 tablespoons cooked green peas per portion
1/2 cup cooked rice per portion
Motzoh Balls or Kerplach
Any of noodle forms or soup nuts
The chicken may be cooked whole, it the pot is large enough, or quartered. Place in a close-fitting 6- to 7-quart enameled or stainless steel soup pot along with giblets and veal knuckle, if you are using it. Cover with 10 cups of water if you use broilers or 12 if you use a fowl. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and skim foam as it rises to the surface. Soup should cook at a smile.
When foam subsides, add all other ingredients, except pepper and sugar, and with just 1 teaspoonful of salt. Let chicken simmer, partly covered, until very tender and just loosening from the bone, about 1 1/4 hours for broilers or 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a fowl. Add more water during cooking if chicken is not seven-eighths covered. Turn chicken 2 or 3 times cooking. Add salt gradually, tasting as cooking progresses.
Remove chicken, giblets, and bones and set aside. Pour soup through a sieve. Rinse pot and return soup to pot if it is to be served immediately or with 2 or 3 hours. Discard vegetables. Bones can be discarded or nibbled on. Chicken will be good only to be added in small spoon-size pieces to soup, or for chicken salad or pie.
The soup can be made ahead up to this point and stored in a ceramic or glass bowl. Cool thoroughly, uncovered, then cover and store in refrigerator for up to 2 days. Skim off solidified fat just before reheating. Add pepper and sugar when reheating. Store chicken separately, covered, in a bowl.
Serve soup very hot, with any of the suggested garnishes.
YIELD: 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
© 2001 by Mimi Sheraton
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