Chicken soup

We all start our cooking journey somewhere, right?

 

Here is the short story of my first chicken soup.

 

Almost 30 years ago when we got married, I did not know how to cook.  If it didn't come out of a can, or it wasn't cereal, I didn't know how to make it.  With the exception of stuffed cabbage.

 

Anyway, being the new wife I wanted to impress my husband and make chicken soup.  So I called my father and asked him how to make it.

 

 

 

 

 

He told me to buy a chicken or chicken parts, put that into a deep pot with carrots, celery, onions and to cover it with water, cook it all day and then strain out the chicken and the vegetables.  Then, cut up the chicken, new vegetables, heat it up and it was good to go.

 

 

 

 SO, I went to the store and bought some chicken and followed his instructions.  Cooked it all day on the stove and when I went to taste it, it tasted like hot water with chicken and vegetables.

 

I called dad up and told him that my chicken soup tasted like hot water with chicken and vegetables.

 

He asked what I did and I told him almost exactly what he told me.  He asked if I included any spices and I told him that while he didn't tell me to, I did add some salt and pepper but that was it.

 

As we talked he asked me what KIND of chicken I used.



 

Broth is in the yellow bowl and plastic square, throw away meat is in the pie pan and meat for the soup is in the smaller plastic square.

 

I told him, "The kind I always use.  Boneless, skinless breast."

 

BOY, did he laugh.

 

That was when I was first married.  I didn't touch chicken for NOTHING!  Let alone with skin on it, and bones!  YUCK!!!

 

Now, as you can see from the pictures, I make chicken soup a bit better than I used to.  But even that took some practice.

 

I use my crock pot now. 

 

On a night when we've had roast chicken, I will take off any of the meat that I can for sandwiches for the week, then I will put the carcass into the crock pot with water to cover.  Spices were already put on the chicken for roasting in the oven, so I don't add anymore at this time.

 

It cooks overnight on low, then in the morning I turn it off and let it cool a bit, then I begin "picking".

 

You need to be careful when you pick the meat from the bone and skin, it's a messy job and there are tiny bones.  You have to feel the meat as you pick it as the crock pot does a wonderful job of making the meat fall off the bone.

 

After the picking, I put the meat for the soup into a container for the freezer, then I put the broth back into the crock pot, this time with some carrots, onion and celery and let that cook for a few hours.

 

I will strain out the vegetables and put them into the compost and then put the broth into containers for the freezer.

 

When I go to make the soup, I will put the broth, some of the meat, carrots, onions, celery and chopped cabbage, plus some fresh parsley into the crock pot to heat through and cook a bit.  Sometimes we have egg noodles or a small pasta or rice will be added to the bowl before serving the soup.

 

If you have never had chicken soup with cabbage, I suggest that you try it.  A very dear friend taught me this trick.  She said, "Cut it up smaller so that your family won't know what it is.  They'll love it."  and they did.  She's gone now, yet every time I make chicken soup, I always think of her.

 

What story do you have about your first chicken soup?