Chicken Soup From Scratch

If you want meat that has been poached but not cooked to death, remove the chicken from the broth after 30 minutes. When it is cool enough to handle, take the white meat off the bones, and throw the bones, skin and remaining meat back into the broth to finish simmering. Add the saved white meat, chopped, at step 8.

I'm surprised this calls for peeled onions to make the broth. Do not peel or stem the yellow onions! Cut them in half and throw the whole thing into the pot, paper skins and all. You will not believe the beautiful, deep gold color this will impart to your broth.

This, in my ooinion, is a very complex recipe! My mom, just recently passed at 97, taught me this:
Saute chopped veggies (onions, carrots & celery) in 2tbsp olive oil or butter) for 5 minutes
Add 6 cups water.
Put leftover chicken & bones in a strainer and submerge in pot. Simmer 1/2 hr.
Remove chicken from pot.
Add 2 cups noodles. Simmer 8 minutes.
Removr chrcken from bones and add back to pot.
Add salt (about 2 tsp) and pepper to taste.
Yum!
I like this, it's fast and delicious!

Important to remove any foam that will appear at the beginning of poaching the chicken. I would advise NOT cooking the noodles in the soup entirely, rather cook them separately until almost done, then add to the broth. These both will prevent cloudiness in your soup. In addition to carrots and leeks a nice addition is about a stalk or two of celery cut into the same sized dice as the carrots.
This is a very good, basic and old-fashioned recipe.

The problem with this recipe is that the chicken has very little flavor. You get much better tasting soup and chicken meat if you start your stock with chicken bones (kosher butchers sell them), wings, and necks. Simmer for about two hours, then remove the bones and poach a chicken in the broth. Both the soup and the meat will be delicious.

You must also skim carefully when the soup first comes to a simmer, and always cook the noodles separately.

No, you are definitely not the only one!!!Browning all ingredients (most especially the chicken, backs and bones) in the oven gives (IMHO) a much richer stock/soup than just dumping a raw chicken in a pot and simmering for a bit. And absolutely toss in all the yummy brown stuff from the browning pan!!

JimF from Sewell

I have read this "new chicken soup recipe" a dozen times and I like some of the techniques (low temperature boil & separately cooked root veggies) but removing the addition of large amounts of leafy herbs (cilantro, parsley, carrot tops, dill, fennel leaves) to simmer in the broth after the removal of the chicken is a mistake. The phytochemicals that leach from the herbs is the source of much of the "Jewish Penicillin" effects (not to mention the wonderful flavors).

When I make chicken soup, I like to brown the meat, bones and skin with onions and maybe carrots, before adding water. I like the taste of the browned meat and the yummy brown stuff on the bottom of the pan. Am I the only one that does this?

The one thing that makes a difference is the chicken! Using a stewing hen as the basis adds the richness to the soup that young chickens cannot do! No matter how many herbs, vegetables and spices you add along with the fat, and no matter if you roast your onions first, if you can find a stewing hen among all the packaged versions at local markets, (or order one from the meat man) you will have the the makings for the best chicken soup ever, rich in old-fashioned flavor and goodness .

If you're planning on leftovers, don't cook the noodles in the soup. Cook them separately and add to individual bowls. Save leftover noodles separately, too. It keeps them from getting too soggy.

If you leave the chicken in the soup for an hour and a half, all the flavor will have cooked out of it and it will be tasteless. I remove the chicken after 40 minutes or so, and when it's cool enough to handle I remove the meat from the bones. Then I place the bones (but not the skin) back in the pot and continue cooking. Also, a lot of scum accumulates on the surface as cooking progresses--this should be skimmed often. For very clear broth, strain twice. I use cheesecloth in a chinois.

This is almost identical to the recipe I've used for years. Like Anne, I skim the soup when it comes to a boil. I also use a technice I learned from James Beard. I wash the onions and leave the skins on which provides nice color to the broth and also stick a whole clove into each. This adds complexity to the flavor without overpowering.

I always make chicken soup from the carcass of a roasted chicken, including a store-bought one. The meat chunks aren't impressive if we've eaten most of the bird, of course, but long cooking, plus attention to salt and flavorings, plus--a new discovery for me--Parmesan rinds added at some point, can make a really good soup beginning.

The stewing hen (also called a soup chicken or heavy hen) is absolutely essential to flavorful soup. Most of the chicken sold in supermarkets is much too lean and young to make good soup. It is well worth finding a butcher or market that sells heavy hens as there is honestly no comparison in the final product. I go miles out of my way to get one, but it is well worth it!

I and my forebearers always added fresh dill to our chicken soup.