My chicken soup keeps flopping!!!

BrachaBatya

Sun, Apr 10 2016, 10:35 pm

I put in a ton of cut up chicken parts (skin, meat and bones - everything) along with tons of veggies- carrots, celery, onion quarters, garlic cloves, fresh parsley, fresh dill, sometimes parsnip. Salt and pepper. Simmer long and low. Strain everything out. Cool, skim. Reheat with fresh herbs (dill/parsley) and fresh carrot disks (I toss the ones I used to make the soup - they are just for flavor, not for eating). Seriously, this makes the best soup. By the way , I save the chicken fat that is skimmed and use it to make my matza balls. Homemade schmaltz, but really just for Yontiff!

fluffernutter

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 5:08 am

I just put in bones and necks for the chicken (there is some chicken on it) - usually one chicken's worth. I dump in the carrots, zucchini, onion, dill and parsley. Boil and it and then simmer for a few hours. Unless it boils out and then I add water, it usually doesn't come out murky. If it is too chickeny for you, maybe do only bones.

thunderstorm

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 12:19 pm

I get lots of compliments on my chicken soup and this is my recipe.

For your size pot, I would use 1 package chicken bones
1 whole onion
2 carrots peeled and each cut in half
3 stalks celery, cut in half
1 parsnip peeled and cut in half (top and bottom)
2 turnips peeled and quartered
3 cloves frozen crushed garlic
1 zuchinni cut into 4 pieces, with peel still on

Put all the ingredients in the pot, fill the pot with water as high as it goes without spilling over when it's brought to a boil.
Put on the stove and cover and bring to a boil...it can take some time
When it starts boiling , quickly uncover and add salt, I just pour salt all around the top of the soup, if you are afraid that it'll be too much you can always add more after
Lower the flame, cover the pot and simmer for at least 3 hours
Cool soup, remove the bones and discard. I discard the veggies as well if I'm storing the soup but if using right away I use the veggies....I always keep the carrots though

greenfire

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 12:49 pm

I feel like this is a chicken soup contest ...

but my immediate reaction is why would you expect to cook a dead chicken & have it tasty too

a) when cooking anything with meat or chicken the first thing to do is make sure it is fresh
b) if you had it frozen make sure it fully defrosts
c) never cook without spicing it first

then clean off chicken from any grossness such as skin, hangings, etc. - there's no extra fat & no 'scum'

use 1 entire chicken sometimes I cut the white meat off the bones and only put in the bones with the dark ... put into soup pot [minus wings & neck - they have too many little bones and nobody wants bones in their bowl]

add 3 or 4 diced carrots or a good amount of baby carrots
sliced celery
an entire slivered onion
head of garlic also slivered into nice thin slices
sliced parsnip [usually unpeeled]
the parsley from the parsnip [I always buy attached]

needs a fair amount of salt
garlic powder
black pepper

cover with water & now you can start cooking on med flame ... after about an hour I put the flame on low and leave it for several hours - this is where all the taste comes from

I then serve it with the chicken [cut off the bone keeping white & dark separate for us finicky eaters] and all the veggies ~ nothing is wasted & it's a meal

OOTBubby

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 2:46 pm

greenfire wrote:

I feel like this is a chicken soup contest ...
sliced parsnip [usually unpeeled]
the parsley from the parsnip [I always buy attached]

FYI, the "parsnip" with the parsley attached is NOT a parsnip. It is a parsley root. Looks very similar to a parsnip (which has no green attached), but it is not the same.

greenfire

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 4:20 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

FYI, the "parsnip" with the parsley attached is NOT a parsnip. It is a parsley root. Looks very similar to a parsnip (which has no green attached), but it is not the same.

we learn new things

but how does the parsnip not have greens attached - doesn't it grow in the ground ?

spring13

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 6:57 pm

amother wrote:

It comes out very cloudy and the flavor is oily/overwhelmingly chicken-y.

I could try more chicken but just nervous it will magnify this already undesirable result. Should I be skinning the chicken before putting in?

The cloudiness comes from cooking at a higher heat - you have to skim off the foamy stuff that rises to the top as you first cook it.

Add the vegetables and salt/pepper and garlic/herbs from the get go. I make my soup with as little chicken as you describe and cook it for a long time and it's not oily or heavily chicken tasting. I add some water as it cooks down through the day.

spring13

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 6:59 pm

greenfire wrote:

we learn new things

but how does the parsnip not have greens attached - doesn't it grow in the ground ?

Of course it does, but parsnip greens are not edible, so they're usually cut off before the veg gets to the store shelf.

gold21

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 9:47 pm

If it keeps flopping, try to change it up.

For some posters, keeping the skin on the chicken works. For many others, it does not. So since youve tried it with skin... now try it without.

Next, why do u cook the chicken first and then the veggies? Why not all together? The veggie flavors also need to cook in for a few hours, so put it all in at once when you first start up your soup, and let the soup simmer for at least a few hours with everything in it.

Dolly Welsh

Mon, Apr 11 2016, 11:22 pm

I heard somewhere that if you dry-roast the vegetables in a pre-heated hot oven first, they caramelize, and it's better. Might be an idea to do that with the meat bits too? I think you threw the vegs into an open roasting pan and let them sit in the oven until they become changed but not burned. I would use a 375 oven, pretty hot.

Also a lady I knew put in an whole onion. This onion had a few little whole cloves stuck into its surface.

I am no maven of chicken broth, however.

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Apr 12 2016, 3:17 am

Caterer here. I never make soup with real chicken. Bones, bones, bones.

You can make a soup with bones alone or add veg. Either is good. I use about ten carcasses for a good sized stock pot. Cook on simmer for a number of hours. Cartilage should be melted.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Apr 12 2016, 10:40 am

I second the use of dill. My soup used to be so bland and boring, until I discovered dill. It adds a nice, fresh edge to the flavor. I add it at the very last minute so it doesn't blend in too much. Don't add salt until the very last minute, and adjust it slowly so you don't over do it.

If your soup is cloudy, that is not a bad thing. It means that the calcium from the bones has come out into the soup, and it adds tons of nutrition.

I always saute the onions before I add them, so they have a nice roasty flavor.