chicken soup (#10)
© Verena Fischer 2013
Did you know that homemade chicken soup is incredibly healing? Well, apparently it is great for the digestive system and of course also when you have a cold. I have to admit though that my chicken soup is not exactly the most delicious thing in the world. It is more like medicine for me, because I’m not exactly a fan of soup. Additionally I think there are some ingredients missing to make it really great, like soup noodles and leek, both of which I can’t eat at the moment. Well, for now this has to do anyway.
4 chicken legs
4 carrots
10 stalks of parsley
1/2 Tbsp salt
© Verena Fischer 2013
The soup is easy enough to make, but it takes a bit of time, 4 hours to be precise. First I boil the chicken with the parsley and the salt and later I add the carrots, depending on how mushy I want them. After 4 hours I pick the bones out of the soup – annoying work and every time I still miss bits of the spine or other small bones. Best to listen to some audiobooks while doing that or you’ll go mad. I also remove quite a bit of the fat that swims on top.
The good thing about the soup is that it seems to be helping me, else I wouldn’t waste my time on it. Some people love soup, but I prefer my food solid. However, apart from being good for my health the soup also means that I don’t have to cook a few more meals during the next week, because a big pot makes 5 portions. One portion I usually eat right away and the rest I freeze for later. Depending on how much water I use I can also keep some broth to use in a different soup. Sometime this week I will for example make a pumpkin soup with some homemade chicken broth. I haven’t done that before.
Chicken soup tips:
1. Apparently you are not supposed to cook soup when a storm is coming or it might go bad from the change in pressure.
2. Using chicken legs without the back piece makes for less work when picking the bones out – I tend to go with the cheaper option, which means more work.
3. You can roast the chicken skins as snack food. I usually don’t bother though and keep it in the soup.
4. It’s easier to remove the fat if you let the soup cool down first.
experiments in experience 
I guess you must like lots of chicken meat in your soup? We make chicken soup from the carcass after a roast. But if i wanted to have soup but didn’t have a carcass, I think I’d use chicken wings instead of legs. Cheaper, more of that lovely gelatin that makes a richer more flavorful broth and still with some meat for the soup bowl. There is for sure a lot of mindless work in cooking (chopping stirring straining etc). Even washing up. The way I get around it is to use the time to be creative (thinking and dreaming),to listen to music etc – I actually love it, now:)
January 11, 2013 at 6:20 pm
PS Anybody who has to watch their weight would definitely want to toss those fat fat fatty skins
January 11, 2013 at 6:23 pm
It is true proper chicken soup is a good remedy. I usually go for an oriental style chilli/ginger/garlic chicken broth for extra shamblam 🙂
January 11, 2013 at 7:24 pm
Paying my second visit to this post, because I’m planning to make Chicken soup very soon. Nice recipe, nice pis, and ace looking soup!
January 14, 2013 at 5:57 pm
Rather than pick the bones out, I strain the broth then put the meaty bits back in. It’s still picky work!
January 22, 2013 at 5:04 pm
I am a vegan so why would I comment? Hey but I’m a nice guy (and a devoted photographer). This will sound really weird but we do curly kale leaves with 2 veggie merely chicken-flavored bouillon cubes with sea salt, then add the rest, cooked the same way. I wondered if you have ever tried rice noodles. Or if those can be even done for you. For example with soup, I go bonkers for all-rice noodles; sort of these heavy, ribbon ones, not thin at all. We’ve been known to buy a nice pink lemonade to join in the fun. Then she does these no-cook strawberry pies with crushed raw-almond pie crust; just raw almonds mashed with actual dates sent to us from “the date guy.” No baking, no wheat, frozen whilst the soup cooks. yikks.
January 27, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Sadly rice noodles are also not possible. Really, all starches are gone, so the main ingredient remains the meat.
I’d sure be interested in a recipe for the no-cook strawberry pie! I also use almonds in baking. My favourites are apple almond muffins and blueberry almond muffins. Not vegan, because there is still egg and butter in it, but entirely grain-free.
January 27, 2013 at 8:40 pm