Dec 4th 2007 Dad’s Chicken Soup
Note: This makes enough meat for about 8 to 10 people and soup for 12 to 16.
Ingredients
1 4lb chicken, quartered
2 whole chicken breasts, bone in and skin on
3 large onions, skins on, quartered. If you have other onion skins, put them in also.
3 tbls salt
1 tbls pepper
2 tbls sugar, brown if you have it
1 bunch celery, including tips, cut into 3 sections
6 large carrots peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices, or a 6-8 oz bag of ‘baby carrots’
1 bunch fresh parsley (2-3 oz)
1 oz fresh dill
2 parsnips, peeled
Do steps 1 to 4 the day before.
1. Place all the chicken in a 12 quart stock pot (or spaghetti pot).
2. Add all the other ingredients.
3. Fill pot with water to about 2 inches from the top.
4. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer, covered, for 4 to 8 hours. Turn off pot and let it cool.
(After it is cool, if the fat has solidified on top, you can remove it with a slotted spoon at this point - otherwise, see below.)
5. Remove chicken to an oven safe dish. I always take it off the bone, which is one of the reasons I let it cool. Add the carrots to the dish. Only if you are going to serve the chicken separately from the soup: add some of the liquid from the big pot, cover with aluminum foil, and heat in 300 degree about 30 - 45 minutes before you’re ready to serve it. The time isn’t crucial because the liquid and the tight cover keep the chicken moist - even for a couple of hours.
6. Discard the remaining vegetables.
7. Strain the soup by pouring it through a strainer lined with cheese cloth.
8. I use a fat separater, a device with a spout that pours from the bottom of the container. If you don’t want to get one, use a couple of slices of bread, one at a time, to remove most of the fat from the top of the soup.
9. Reheat the soup. I always serve it as broth, but if you want to serve it with the chicken and carrots in it, which is probably a good idea for a contest, break the cooled chicken breasts into small pieces with your hands and put it in the soup.
Created by Jon