Issue
This medicinal elixir originates from Molly O’Neill’s “New York Cookbook: From Pelham Bay to Park Avenue, Firehouses to Four-Star Restaurants” – my copy, handed down to me from my mother, fashions smudges and stains which I don’t dare attempt to clean for fear of losing its authenticity. The book now naturally falls open to this recipe. Similar to my Sawce recipe, you’ll devote time setting up your flavors before you trust the process and leave her alone.
Rules
4 quarts cold[1]According to Molly O’Neill and culinary experts alike, a good chicken soup starts with cold water brought slowly to a simmer. This helps the vegetables’ nutrients leach out to manifest as … Continue reading water
1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs), quartered[2]My favorite video on how to quarter a chicken, brought to you by Seth Rogen whose great-aunt owned a kosher butcher shop in Jersey where they sold Rabbi trading cards: The Chef Show.
2 chicken feet, or 4 chicken wings, or 1 turkey wing – optional: I hardly do this but it just adds more tasty things to an already tasty dish
1 ½ clove of garlic (at minimum) peeled and bruised
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ bunch fresh parsley, rinsed and tied together with a string
1 bay leaf
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ black peppercorns
Application
1. Boil, simmer, and skim. Pour cold water into a large soup pot, enough to cover the chicken. Add chicken, 1 clove of garlic, onion, half the amount of carrots, half the amount of celery, parsley, bay leaf, salt, and peppercorns. Slowly bring the pot to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 4 hours, skimming frequently. Here, the soup can be strained to use as a broth base for other soups, such as minestrone or Matzoh ball soup (recipes coming soon). Otherwise proceed to next step!
2. Strain and shred. Strain soup. Discard onion, parsley, bay leaf, vegetables, and peppercorns. Remove the chicken. Skin and debone, and reserve the meat. This is tedious, but let the chicken cool a bit such that you can comfortably handle it. Then use your hands to pull the chicken from drumsticks and thighs and shred the breast meat.
3. Return to simmer to cook fresh veggies. Return the shredded chicken meat, the remaining uncooked carrots and celery, and the remaining fresh garlic to the pot, and bring it back to a boil and reduce to a medium simmer. Cook for another 10-15 minutes, until the fresh veggies are cooked but not mushy. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. Serve. Ladle the soup in big bowls with pasta, such as orzo or pastina, or rice. Just be sure to cook and serve your carbs separately (rather than cooking it with the broth) – otherwise your pasta will soak up the broth and expand. Not the end of the world, but makes for a rather chunky soup. Add some fresh, chopped parsley and grated parm and serve.
Conclusion:
Important note, from the author: “The soup’s curative powers are released only when the vegetables are mashed together in the bowl. Use a fork for mashing. Use a big spoon for eating. You’ll feel better soon.”
This makes 3 quarts (12 cups) of broth.
Similar to Sawce, I recommend freezing some of this, either in bags or in ice cube trays. Unless you have a big family to feed or an event to attend, you could get a little tired of chicken soup. As mentioned above, I like to strain the broth and divide it: half for Jewish Penicillin and half to make another soup.
References
| ↑1 | According to Molly O’Neill and culinary experts alike, a good chicken soup starts with cold water brought slowly to a simmer. This helps the vegetables’ nutrients leach out to manifest as a richer broth, and allows the protein in the chicken bones to clump and float to the top of the pot for easy skimming rather than cloud the broth. |
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| ↑2 | My favorite video on how to quarter a chicken, brought to you by Seth Rogen whose great-aunt owned a kosher butcher shop in Jersey where they sold Rabbi trading cards: The Chef Show. |
