MAKE A CHICKEN SOUP RECIPES

Steps:

• Cut up your chicken into pieces (thighs, legs, breasts, etc) and place in a large stock pot.
• Fill with cold water to cover and put on high heat as you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
• Cut up all of your veggies. You can do this any way you like, but I like to leave these in large pieces so they don't get too mushy during the long cooking time.
• You can tie your dill and parsley together if you like.
• Put all the veggies and herbs into the pot.
• Add extra water if needed.
• Bring to a boil, and then let simmer.
• Simmer for 2-4 hours*.
• *The cook time is largely up to you. I like to cook mine for many hours to get all of the flavors out of the chicken, but really, once the chicken is cooked through, you can take it off the fire.
• If you prefer to have smaller pieces of carrots, potatoes, or celery in your soup, dice as much as you want and put it into the pot 30-40 minutes before it's done.
• ***TIP: There will be A LOT of fat on the top of this soup from the chicken skin. Traditionally, you would cook this the day before, refrigerate over night, and then remove the hardened fat layer. Easy as pie. But, if you want it the same day, you will have to skim the fat as the cooking progresses. So watch the soup over the 2-4 hours of cooking and skim as you go.
• Add salt and pepper to taste. (you will need a lot of salt. Don't fret. Start off with a teaspoon. Taste. Add another pinch. Taste. Add. And so on until you reach desired flavor.
• Take all the chicken out of the pot and remove the meat from the bones and skin. Discard the bones and skin. You can replace the meat into the pot or leave it on the side for people to put into their individual bowls.
• Make egg noodles, rice, or dumplings to accompany.
• Eat and enjoy.

Steps:

• Place the chicken, celery, carrots, onions, parsnip (if using), parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt in a large soup pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce the heat to very low. Adjust the heat until the soup is “smiling”: barely moving on the surface, with an occasional bubble breaking through. Cook uncovered, until the chicken is very tender and falling off the bone, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• When cool enough to handle, use tongs to transfer chicken from the pot to a container. Taste the broth and continue to simmer it until it is concentrated and tasty. Strain broth through a fine sieve (or a colander lined with cheesecloth) into a separate container. Discard all the solids from the strainer (or reserve the vegetables, chill and serve with vinaigrette, if you wish).
• Refrigerate chicken pieces and broth separately for at least 8 hours (or up to 3 days), until a thick layer of yellow fat has risen to the top of the broth.
• When ready to finish the soup, use your fingers to separate chicken breast meat from bones and skin. Discard bones and skin. Use two forks to pull the breast meat apart into soft chunks, or use a knife and cut into bite-size pieces. (Reserve dark meat for another use.)
• Skim chicken fat from top of broth and set aside. Place 3 tablespoons of the fat in a soup pot with a lid. Add leeks, stir to coat, and heat over medium heat until leeks begin to fry. Then reduce the heat to a gentle sizzle and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
• Add carrots, sprinkle with salt, stir, and cover the pot. Cook until vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes more. (Keep in mind that vegetables will continue to cook in the soup.) Do not brown.
• Pour broth into pot with vegetables and heat to a simmer. Add noodles and simmer until heated through, soft and plumped with chicken broth. Add the breast meat, then taste broth and add salt and pepper to taste. For best flavor, soup should have some golden droplets of fat on top; if needed, add more chicken fat one teaspoon at a time.
• Serve immediately, in a tureen or from the pot, sprinkling each serving with herbs.