Making Chicken Soup
Vegetables
A combination of onion, celery and carrots, also known as a "mirepoix," helps build the flavor foundation for stocks, stews and soups, including chicken soup. These aromatic vegetables are chopped so that they can more easily give their flavors to the soup. The entire mixture will be made up of two parts chopped onion, one part chopped celery, and one part chopped carrot. The onion is sautéed in oil at the beginning of the cooking process. This will bring out the onions' natural sweetness, which will then combine to the added stock.
Herbs and Spices
Parsley will add a fresh, vibrant aroma and flavor to the soup. Curly leaf parsley is more bitter than the sweeter Italian flat leaf parsley, although curly leaf is more common. Either can be used in chicken soup. Bay leaves are used primarily for the aroma they add to chicken soup. It adds a slightly bitter, sharp and somewhat pungent scent and flavor. Pepper will add a bright, mildly spicy taste. Salt will help sharpen while also combine the soup's flavors.
Chicken
Although chicken is shredded when you see it in the final soup, the chicken is actually cooked in the soup whole. Every part of the chicken will add flavor to the soup, especially the bones. The entire chicken is placed, whole, into the pot and covered with water. As the soup simmers, the chicken flavors the broth.
The process
Tie three parsley stalks and one bay leaf stem together to make a bundle. Warm 2 tbsp. oil or butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add one chopped onion and sauté the pieces until they are translucent. Rinse and place a whole 4- or 5-lb. chicken into the pot, breast-side up. Add two chopped celery stalks, one chopped medium carrots, the parsley and bay leaf bundle, salt and pepper to the pot. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Skim out the fat and foam that floats to the surface. Cook the chicken for about 1 hour. Remove and discard the parsley and bay leaf bundle. Taste the broth to see if it's flavored to your liking. If you want more chicken flavor, cook the soup for another 30 minutes to an hour. Once done, remove the chicken set it aside. Shred the meat off the chicken bones, discarding the skin and bones. Skim any more fat or foam that may have floated to the top of the soup and return the shredded chicken meat to the soup. Taste the soup to see if it needs more salt or pepper before serving.
Tips
If you want to add noodles, cook them in a separate pot of water and add to cooked soup before serving. You can cook them directly in the soup for the appropriate amount of time needed before serving, but the starch from the noodles will affect the taste. Instead of cooking the chicken for an additional 30 minutes after the initial hour, you can use the flavor-rich bones to add more flavor. Shred the meat off the bones, tie the bones in cheesecloth and add them back to the soup. Cook them in the stock for an additional 30 minutes, then remove and discard them. If the fat is difficult to skim out and you want to make this soup as low-fat as possible, you can let the soup cool completely or even refrigerate it overnight, which will turn the fat into a solid that you can just lift out of the pot.
Tags: before serving, chicken soup, additional minutes, chopped celery, chopped onion, cooked soup, flavor soup
