Classic Chicken Soup
Instructions:
- Ask a hundred grandmothers how to make chicken soup and you’ll get a hundred recipes that all come down to this process for extracting the most flavor out of the chicken. Makes 6 servings One 11â„2-pound whole bone-in chicken breast
- 2 pounds bony chicken parts (wings, backs, necks, feet, or legs)
- 2 medium onions, quartered
- 12 cups (3 quarts) water
- 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 4 celery ribs, cut into 4-inch pieces
- 1 medium parsnip, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
- 1â„4 cup roughly chopped dill fronds
- 11â„2 teaspoons salt, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- Place all the chicken and onions in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Pour in the water and set the pot over high heat. Bring to a full simmer; cook for 5 minutes.
- Use a large spoon to skim any foam or scum off the top of the soup. Add the carrots, celery, parsnip, garlic, dill, salt, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes.
- If necessary, skim the soup a second time. Remove the chicken breast and half the carrots from the pot. Cover the pot, reduce the heat even more, and simmer very slowly over very low heat for 11â„2 hours.
- Meanwhile, when the chicken breast is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and take the meat off the bone; chop the meat into bitesized pieces. Thinly slice the carrots. Place both in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
- Set a large, fi ne-mesh sieve, chinois, or strainer over a large bowl in the sink. Ladle the soup into the sieve (or other device), straining it into the bowl and emptying the sieve as it fi lls with solid materials. The soup can be made up to this point ahead of time; cover the strained soup and refrigerate separately from the chicken and carrots for up to 2 days.
- To serve, skim any fat from the top of the soup and pour it back into a pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the sliced carrots and chopped breast meat; reduce the heat to low and simmer slowly to heat through, about 5 minutes. Check for salt before serving.