You Can Cook--Chicken Soup

Chicken Bone Broth & Chicken Soup
can be made at home with great ease and a little time

Yes, you CAN cook. Be courageous. Do it for your good health. Do it for the health of your family. Covid has brought blessings as well as struggle. Let's use this time at home to learn how easy it is to cook healthy and delicious food. I'll help you in this new series called, You Can Cook.

You can cook, and it's much easier than you might imagine. Today we learn how to make bone broth, stock and soup from a chicken.

You will need

• A big cooking pot
• One 3 1/2 to 4 lb chicken. Make it the best that you can afford. Make sure it's a whole chicken.
• Two tablespoons of coarse sea salt. This is what I use. Once you understand how real sea salt is procured and what our grocery store table salt is reduced to during processing, you may come to agree that true sea salt is a good investment in your health.
• Freshly ground black pepper (as much as you wish).
• Carrots, celery, onion, garlic, parsley, tomatoes--use all or some or none. Just added flavor and nutrition.
• You can also add a bay leaf for even more flavor.

Assembly requires that you plop everything into the pot and cover completely with cold water. Put the lid on, but only partially. Cover only about half of the pot, otherwise the liquid will overflow once it begins boiling.

Remove the scum. What? Yes, that's what it's called, and even though it's okay to eat, it's quite unappealing. When it rises to the top of the pot, skim it off with a large spoon and empty it out into a bowl. It's just protein and supposedly flavorless and harmless, but I've never been curious enough to try for myself. Here's an explanation.

Once you've skimmed out most of the scum, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot completely with the lid. If you're rushing to get dinner on the table, turn the heat down to medium.

Patience. Yes, a little patience is what we need at this point, but you're at home, so go watch your favorite TV series or read or run through your favorite yoga routine or dance or attend that zoom meeting or do the laundry. This is just like background music. Just take a look at it periodically, but leave it to simmer for four hours or more. For true bone broth, it's best to leave it for 24 hours, which is why I always recommend the slow cooker, one of my favorite kitchen tools. I explain how to make bone broth in this older post. You can use chicken parts (3-4 lbs) or turkey necks. The more bones you pack in there, the more flavor and more nutrition that will be extracted, so don't use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Use chicken backs and wings instead. 

If you cook the chicken for less time, say four hours, it's considered broth or stock (not true bone broth). Actually, this is all backwards, but in our current pop lexicon, this is how we differentiate the two. The truth is spelled out in this Bon Appetit magazine issue.

If you can't wait, then wait one hour. Cook the chicken on medium for about an hour. The chicken will be cooked through and there will be enough flavor extracted for a tasty soup. One hour will pass so quickly.

Now what? Remove the chicken and vegetables with tongs and a large slotted spoon. It will come apart, but you can scoop out any pieces that remain in the pot. Remove half of the broth and freeze it for future use. I like to keep it in the refrigerator for reheating in a mug and sipping.

Next, grab a couple of carrots, some celery, a large potato (a sweet potato is fine too) and a small bag of frozen peas. Slice the carrots and celery very thin and dice the potato. The peas will go in at the end. Taste the broth and adjust for salt and pepper. Add enough to suit your palate. Then add a bit more salt to be sure that the vegetables are properly flavored. Bring the broth to a boil, add the vegetables and cook until they are fork-tender. Depending on the size of your slices and dices, this will take no more than five to ten minutes, once everything comes to a boil. Add the peas, if you're using them, and turn off the heat. (Instead of peas, I opted to use a small zucchini that I had in my refrigerator, and I added it to the pot at the same time as the other vegetables.)

Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. You can add some or all of the meat to your soup once the vegetables are cooked, or you can set it aside to make chicken salad. You can also freeze it to use in a casserole in the future. If you like chicken pot pie, try my basic and easy recipe for turkey pot pie. Just substitute chicken for the turkey.

After coming to a boil, vegetables will only take five to ten minutes to cook.

Customize your soup. You can use rice or pasta if you don't have potatoes. Experiment. Explore soup recipes and adjust for what you have in your pantry and refrigerator. Use zucchini or squash or even greens, especially if these are things that you like or if you need to use them up. My Greek Heritage Cooking recipe requires only rice and a little bit of lemon juice and dry oregano added once the rice has cooked. Colombian friends use fresh ginger and garlic to flavor their broth. You can add a few chopped herbs to your soup at the end. Try a bit of soy sauce, grated ginger and thinly sliced green onion for an Asian twist. Try, experiment; if you like the way something turns out, write it down. If you don't like your creation, mark that in your head and don't do it that way again. This is an easy recipe of mine for a Mexican-inspired Pho.

It's important to remember that this is about nutrition and flavor. Don't let this wisdom get away from you. Don't make it too complicated, or you'll never try this again. Heal your body with this simple recipe, and come back to it after overindulging. It's all about balance.