Barbra's best chicken soup! pt 1

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 large Stewing chicken/hen
1 pack Chicken feet; (no such thing as too many)
2 smalls Turnips (white with purple top); peeled, root cut off
2 mediums Parsnips; firm (slice in 1/2 if long), peeled, root cut off
6 mediums Onions with a lot of skin; cut root off
2 bunches Fresh parsley
2 bunches Fresh dill
6 mediums Carrots cut in half; peel & cut ends
6 Stalks celery
Kosher salt
Table salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
2 Cubes Knorr® bullion

Directions

Take your chicken and clean it! Get those red glops out of the indentations inside the chicken! Throw away the liver and keep any other parts that came with the chicken. Now you are going to need kosher salt. Table salt is *not* a substitution. Put the clean chicken in a pot of ice cold water [I even add ice cubes]. Use a pot large enough so the water will completely cover the chicken with room left over for more water.

Pour [freehand] kosher salt into the pot. I really use a lot!! I imagine it could be close to a cup, but precision does not matter here as we are not going to use this water and will rinse the chicken. Give the water a few good swirls [by spinning the chicken around] to dissolve the salt. If you were lucky enough to find chicken feet [the supermarkets here carry them off and on. When they have them I buy a few packages and keep them frozen - a kosher butcher usually has them as well] rinse them and add them to the pot. Also add any extras that came with the chicken (gizzard, etc). Let this sit at least an hour.

I believe this process is called koshering the chicken [I just do it cuz it makes my soup taste yummy]. Now that you finished watching your soap opera... come back to the kitchen and take the chicken out of the pot.

Rinse it well and place on a large piece of foil on the counter. *Now look at that water. Yuk!!! See all the blood it drew out of the chicken and parts? Take kosher salt and pour a blanket of salt all over each piece [front and back]. Let it sit a half hour at room temp or you can refrigerate it overnight in ziplocks.

Rinse it well and place it into the pot you are going to use to make the soup. Continue to rinse everything well and add to the pot.

Now we have our chicken and other parts sitting in an empty pot. Take about six medium to small onions [you want ones with a lot of skin] and cut off *just* the root. Throw them in the pot. Add two (2) Knorr® chicken bullion cubes. Fill the pot up with *cold* [very important] water. Again, I am not sure I remember [I can find out if you want to know], but I think if you add a chicken to hot/boiling water it will seal the juices/flavor into the chicken so while the chicken might taste okay... your soup tastes like water.

Carefully [it should be pretty heavy] carry the pot to the stove. Now you can add table salt [I am not one to really cook with salt, but when it comes to chicken soup... I just freehand it!!!! I have the Calphallon professional size salt and pepper shakers so there must be 60+ holes at the top of the salt shaker and I turn it upside down and let it pour!]. I also add fresh ground pepper [according to your taste].

Let the soup come to a rapid boil and turn the heat down slightly. Skim the foam off the top and discard. Allow the soup to cook at a rapid boil for 1 hour.

Add two small turnips [peeled and root cut off], and one large or 2 small/medium parsnips [peeled and root and tip cut off- if large cut in half]. Continue cooking for another hour. If the water level reduces then add more hot water from the tap.

Time for the carrots and celery. If you are going for the clear broth: Peel about 6 carrots cut off tip and end and cut each in half. Throw [okay gently place] them into the soup. I guess you can use about six stalks of celery as well. Leaves and all. Wash it well, cut in half and add to soup [usually I never use the bottom piece of the celery for anything, but it is just great for the soup].

If you want to eat the carrots and celery: Still add the carrots the same way as they will be easy to pick out of the soup and can be neatly sliced when cool. As for the celery, you *must* slice the stalks into about ¾" pieces [remember celery shrinks when cooking].

Lower the flame to medium and cook another hour.

Come back. Now really clean the parsley under water *very* well. I know of nothing that is as dirty as parsley and dill. You can literally see all the dirt washing out. As for the dill: If you bought it with roots, cut just the dark [dirt] tip off and wash well. Add all to soup alternating between a handful of dill then a handful of parsley so it is all mixed up. Use a spoon and mix the soup and try to push a lot of the greens under the chicken. I

continued in part 2

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