Toast and Jelly

It is the elixir that many grandmothers over the years use to wield their most powerful mojo.   My own grandmother was her own exception, and even today when my aunts get together inevitably her chicken soup, and all of their inability to recreate it, comes up as a topic of conversation.  Her belief in the soup, went well beyond the cold.  While my brother suffered through numerous knee surgeries throughout his late teens and early twenties, my grandmother would always arrive at the hospital with casserole of chicken soup for him.

She did nothing fancy that I knew of, except for the pinch of saffron near the end, a nod to the cooking education she received.   Shortly after being married, my grandfather returned to Spain with his bride.  It was there that she learned to cook.  She learned to cook specifically to please my grandfather, so it was the food he was accustomed she learned.   Over the years, some of the food from her heritage crept back in, such as stuffed cabbage, and her yearly perogie festival, which was more like a holiday than a  food item.   But the daily cooking and the holiday cooking was usually Spanish food for my grandfather.

Despite my mother’s penchant for making everything from scratch, I only ever remember chicken soup out of a can at home.   I don’t fault her for this, it was just plain old survival at that point.  Raising four children, canned soup was the best instant food of her time.   But it was that canned soup, that really brought me to indifference about soup in general. 

 This past week, with a sinus infection and something resembling the flu, I was laid up most of the week.  And, as I have been over the past few years, craving chicken soup.    I sent T to the market with a list, and kept it really simple. 

 A Note on Analysis Paralysis – I don’t usually use a single recipe for something that I make.  I like to scatter a wide net, searching from my own library and online for different variations.  If you search for chicken soup, stock, or broth, you will find many many possible ways to make it, and everyone is right.  And everyone is usually very opionated as to why you never cut up the chicken before you put it in the pot, or why you never let it actually boil, but simmer at a near boil for X number of hours.   Let it all go.  Certainly, look at what is out there and take what you need, but eventually, just make it, assess it and make mental notes and move on.  It is just chicken soup.

Basic Chicken Soup

The stock

The method I chose for making the soup, was to make a basic stock first.  Once the stock was done, I took half of that and froze it, the rest I used for the soup, putting it back onto the stove, reducing it a little bit, adding in whatever vegetable I wanted into the soup. 

• Rinse chicken.  Put it into a pot.  I added a couple of carrots, pieces of celery and a large onion quartered.  I also added a couple of cloves of garlic, cut in half and several pepper corns.  I didn’t peel the onion, garlic or carrots, they were used here to flavor the broth.  (There is a lot of opinions about when to add aromatics to the stock, Ina Garten, who I just happened to watch a week ago make stock, puts them in at the beginning.)
•  Simmer on the stove until it tastes and looks right (color)  and the chicken is cooked through.  This took me about 4 hours or so.  You have to skim the foam off of the top periodically.  I also reserved the salt, prefer to salt the stock once I use it. 
• Strain the stock, chill if you are not going to use it right away.  Also, once cool, you can remove a lot of the accumulated fat from the top.

For the Soup.

•  Simmer the strained stock.  Add whatever vegetables you want in youe soup.  I like it very simple with carrots and some onion.  I sautéed the carrots and onions first, before adding them to the stock to finish cooking.   This is when I would start to salt the stock, and taste and adjust as I finished the soup.  
• Every recipe I looked at, cooked the starch separate from the stock.  This is something I am going to research more, but it is also the route I chose.  I chose some egg noodles, I cooked them to just before al dente, drained them and added them to the stock to finish cooking. 
• Add some of the cooked chicken and a pinch of saffron. 

 Voila.

 Verdict – It rocked.  I ate it not only for dinner, but lunch and a breakfast.  It really rocked.  And the stock alone tasted great, and I have 3 2cup portions tucked away in the freezer for future stock needs.   T loved it as well, and I think this is going to become a staple in our house.  Maybe one day my grandchildren will talk about my chicken soup.