Ideas to make Chicken Soup Great?

[Constance]

That's a good point, Charlie and Aunt Dot. So what we should be talking about is how to make the best broth.

You can start with a whole chicken, chicken pieces, or carcass. Please, no boneless skinless chicken breasts. If you want to cook some in the finished broth, that's fine, but you need bones, skin and fat to make a good broth. The bones, in particular, add a lot of flavor and nutrients to your soup. The best I've made have started with the carcass of an oven roasted or grilled chicken.
I like to add a celery, carrots, onions, garlic, S&P, and thyme in with the simmering chicken.
After your goodies are well cooked, strain the broth, picking out bits of meat to add to your soup, and then let the broth simmer until it's reduced by half.

 

[GotGarlic]

I like this recipe for chicken stock: Recipe: Easy chicken stock - MayoClinic.com

 

[Andy M.]

I think most folks look at a broader definition of chicken soup. Pieces of chicken, various veggies and rice or noodles. Flavorings from certain herbs and spices are usually in the mix as well.

I think the OP was looking for variations on that theme that would make it special.

Of course, if you want to discuss making broth or stock, that's another topic.

 

[Claire]

Sage and thyme for seasoning. I use very inexpensive chicken leg/thigh parts so I have lots of bone to work with. I refridgerate it when I am through, so I can skin off the fat. But the bones are what gives the stock a lot of body (and protien).

 

[ChefJune]

IMHO, what makes a chicken soup "GREAT" is not what you add to it. It is the intensity of the soup, itself.

Start with a top quality chicken -- not one of those battery chicks from the supermarket -- and extra wing tips necks and giblets. If you want a brown soup, roast those extra pieces first, along with your onion, celery and carrots. If a white soup (traditional, afaic) then don't roast. Simmer, don't boil the soup for a good hour and a half (less in a pressure cooker).

 

[Mystic]

IMHO, what makes a chicken soup "GREAT" is not what you add to it. It is the intensity of the soup, itself.

Amen to that!! There's nothing like a rich tasting broth with that mouth feel only gotten from home made.

Michael

 

[Dashus Yield]

Start with a top quality chicken -- not one of those battery chicks from the supermarket

Where else can you get a good bird? Whats the difference between a chicken from a store and 'top notch' one?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Top notch usually means a chicken that has been allowed to run around in a yard somewhere. Because it gets more exercise, and has a diet rich in native plants, insects, and small animals (mice are a favorite chicken meal), the meat has a more pronounced flavor. Also, an older, more tough chicken has more flavor and is better suited to stewing or making into soup.

But great chicken stock is the start of a great soup. And like was stated a couple years back in this thread, roasted bones give the best flavor. Also, crack the bones to allow the maroow and collagens to give up their nutrition and flavor, as well as that wonderful dissolved collagen viscossity to the stock. Slightly acidic food such as tomato or celery will also hellp draw out the extra goodies from the bones.

Allow the bones and skin to simmer for a couple hours to dissolve as much flavor from the cartilage, connecting tissues, and bone marrow as possible. Strain the resultant stock through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the tiny bone fragments that can be so annoying. The meat at this point is pretty flavorless and can be discarded.

Add sliced onion, a diced clove of fresh garlic, sliced celery, a little pearl barley, salt and pepper to taste. You can also add sage and or thyme to the broth, and sliced or diced carrot. Your stock is now a flavorful broth with lots of good veggies and grain.

Simmer and let the flavors combine until the carrot is tender. At this point, add fresh or dried noodles (the fresh, home-made noodles taste far better and aren't that difficult to make), or biscuit dough to make dumplings. Cover and turn the heat to medium. Cook until the noodles are just done (ten minutes for dried noodles, three if using fresh. Dumplings need to cook for about ten minutes as well).

While the dumplings or noodles are cooking, quickly saute diced, boneless chicken in a hot pan until just barely browned and done through. Remove from the heat immediately. Remove the soup from the heat and take out the dumplings. Place these in a large bowl. Divide the cubed chicken into searving bowls and fill with soup. Serve and be prepared to take a bow.

Oh, and for you newcomers, Deadly Sushi is no longer with us.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Dina]

I add lots of celery leaves from the stalks, chunks of sauteed/caramelized onions, carrots, celery, corn kernels, chopped fresh broccoli (or any cabbage family veggie), fresh minced garlic, ground rainbow peppercorns, crushed red pepper sea salt, a bay leaf, smoked paprika and smokey cumin, egg or ramen noodles and of course, seared chicken. It makes an amazing soup and your kitchen smells incredible.

 

[Caine]

Feet! If you want perfection (and Jewish penecilin), you need to add the feet.

 

[expatgirl]

The soup in Kazakhstan is to die for and the secret in addition to what's already been suggested is the wonderful broth. Wherever you go you can find wonderful beef bones and chicken carcasses for sale to make these broths----not so in the US-----but it really makes the job easier to have the bones on hand and then start from scratch.

 

[ErikC]

I agree with all those that say the broth is the most important part. Broth made from fresh chicken stock is simply the best way to go. If you have bones to make stock with, try roasting them first for a really great flavor.

After that, the vegetable base is the next most important, mirepoix being the classic choice.

After that, pick your herbs and spices. The classics include parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (the song is not a coincidence), but another good combo is garlic and tarragon.

Finally, pick which veggies you like.

But to be perfectly honest, what goes in my soup is usually based on whatever I have on hand and am trying to use up.

 

[black chef]

i've been told by many folks that my chicken soup is the best they've ever had, and now, i'll give you my top 3 secrets to making a GREAT chicken soup:

1. time. not thyme... but TIME, as in tick-tock of the clock. i usually run my stock for about 6 hours: 2 hours with the chicken parts/pieces, and 3-4 hours to reduce the stock and concentrate it down. i start with 6 qts of water and simmer it down to just about 4 qts. i cook the noodles in a separate pot and save the pasta water to add to the stock if needed.

2. keep the ingredients simple. my list includes: potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, one can of diced tomatoes. when the stock is set where you like it, MASH all of these veggies in the stock to enrich it even more. the star of the show is chicken-not exotic vegetables, etc.

3. i put a mixture of ancho & chipotle chili powder as one of my seasonings... not too much, but just a hint of it to make folks say, "what is that spice... i can't quite call it?" it's not even a full tablespoon in 4-5 qts of soup.

out of all of these, i'd have to say the most important is TIME... and there's no substitute for it. my cousin works in a 5-star restaurant in new orleans, and he says all of their stocks, which are used for both soups and sauces, are normally cooked overnight in HUUUUUUUGE pots.

there is no such thing as a great soup without starting with a great stock. and there is no great stock that was created without TIME.

chicken stock cooking on the stove = best air freshner for your home.

 

[expatgirl]

Agree totally, Black Chef!!!! I think that's why the soups here in Kazakhstan are so delicious-----they start with the bones of chicken and beef which are easy to buy here in the local groceries and not available in the states--makes all the difference in the world--I remember asking my butcher in Texas for oxtail bones and the incredulous look that I got--ok I know--stupid me

 

[AinsleyKath]

you can add pepper to make the chicken soup more tasty and delicious..


also you can add cashew(nut) paste finally after preparing the soup, will give rich taste while having.

i hope you will really enjoy chicken soup with cashew nut paste..

 

[AllenOK]

Cashew paste? That might be interesting. I may have to try that.

Lately, I've found myself buy raw leg-and-thigh quarters for all my chicken needs. When I make chicken soup, I poach the quarters for 25 - 30 minutes, or until done. Those get cooled. The "broth" gets reduced down some. When the chicken is cool, I pick the pieces apart. Meat gets rough-diced and place in a bowl, along with the gelatin that congeals with the meat. Skin gets julienned, and placed in a bowl. Bones and cartiliage are bagged and frozen for my next batch of chicken stock. When I go to start the soup, I render the fat from the skin. Then I add the veggies, and proceed as I normally do. I will add some of my homemade, concentrated, frozen chicken stock to the broth that I made by poaching the chicken. Some of the broth gets used to cook the rice, so that the rice has a chicken flavor all to it's own. PeppA, my other half, refuses to let me make chicken noodle (she hates those frozen BIG egg noodles that I love). I always season my chicken soup with thyme, rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper.