Chicken soup never tastes good and is cloudy

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Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, Fast Days, and other Days of Note

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amother

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:25 pm

I’d love to hear your method and ingredients to get a heavenly chicken soup. I like the good old fashioned kind, and don’t want to add in any soup mixes. Any tips to get a really yummy and clear soup?

amother

Amaryllis

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:31 pm

The trick to a clear soup is firstly boiling the chicken and bones in water and then discarding the water, washing the pot and placing the chicken and vegetables in fresh clean water. The second trick is to never let the soup reach a rolling boil , keeping it on a gentle simmer for several hours.
In my experience the proportions of chicken and vegetables as well as the exact combination of vegetables is less important but the soup should contain lots of carrots and celery.

amother

Brunette

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:36 pm

I don’t discard water. I boil it and skim the fat. Never use frozen chicken. I use wings and chicken bones and loads of veggies. The fat carrots that they sell single. Only add vegggies after you skim fat. Let it simmer for hours. I usually put it up Friday am. Sometimes Thursday night. It’s clear and yum.

amother

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:38 pm

amother Amaryllis wrote:

Ok so I was always letting it get to a rolling boil, I thought THATS the trick to not getting cloudy soup. When you put in the clean water, you just start it off on a low flame? Also I stopped putting in celery because I don’t like it and thought it couldn’t possibly give good flavor.

amother

Lemon

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:40 pm

I bring the water to a boil first and add only frozen chicken
I keep the lid always a little open
It comes out clear this way without a need to filter the soup

Shoshana Rose

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:45 pm

mine is simple with a few ingredients:

8qt. pot fill half with water and bring to a boil.

(meanwhile peel 4 carrots, one med green squash, and 1 parsley)
carrots cut in 4 (halved vertically, and halved horizontally)

when the water boils add the vegetables with 2-3 TB. salt
bring to boil again
then add 4 bottoms (I put them in 2 net bags. 2 in each)
add water as needed
bring to a boil and then lower the flame to low-med. (I put it on 3) and cook for min. 2 hours.

the trick is to not let the water boil on high together with the chicken and veg. for more than a few min.

pause

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:49 pm

It's the roiling boil that makes the soup cloudy.

I first put the veggies and water in and get the soup to a boil. Put in the chicken/bones (no difference fresh or frozen) and lower the flame to the lowest. Let it gently simmer for at least 5-6 hours and up to 10. Delicious deep flavor but not cloudy.

If you rewarm it before Shabbos, be careful not to let it get into a mad boil.

amother

Amaryllis

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 10:56 pm

amother OP wrote:

There's no arguing with personal taste. If you don't like celery , you don't like it. I personally think that a chicken soup without it is missing something. As far as the rolling boil Vs simmer, I find that since being careful about not letting it boil, my soup is always golden and clear. My exact method is as follows: after discarding the first batch of water, I place the chicken and vegetables in the pot and place it on a medium flame with approximately two cups of water, cover and bring to simmer. Then I add another two or three cups and bring to simmer and so forth until pot is full. When full, I add seasonings, reduce flame to small and let simmer for hours. This method requires me to consistently check the soup so I tend to put it on first thing Friday morning and keep an eye on it as I do my other cooking. I used to skim the the gunk and fat off the top when it reached a boil as someone else described upthread, but I find my current method makes a clearer more delicious soup.

amother

NeonPink

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 11:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

Are you using frozen chicken, that's making it cloudy?

Ema of 5

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 11:32 pm

amother Lemon wrote:

I bring the water to a boil first and add only frozen chicken
I keep the lid always a little open
It comes out clear this way without a need to filter the soup

I do the same thing. Who has time to be busy draining and washing and refilling??? I use frozen or defrosted chicken though.
Here’s what I do:
- bring water to a boil
- reduce to lowest flame
- put in chicken thighs, pupiks, zucchini, yellow squash. Sometimes I’ll put in onion and/or carrots too
- leave it on the flame until right before I light

The only time I’ve had cloudy soup is either when I put things in before I boiled the water, or if I reheated soup instead of making fresh. My fresh soup is always clear.

gr8Life

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 11:40 pm

Pressure cooker.
Put chicken (frozen is fine), bay leaf, onion (keep first layer of brown skin on for golden color), carrots and celery. Salt, add water. Cook on hi pressure for 25 min.
Best clear delicious soup ever.
Since I got this pressure cooker, I only make chicken soup on stovetop on when it's Pesach.

#BestBubby

Sat, Jan 21 2023, 11:54 pm

Put fresh chicken in water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Carefully Skim all the Grey scum.

Add vegetables.

Simmer, no boiling.

Vegetables
Onion
Carrots
Celery
Parsnip
Turnip
Garlic

Optional bell pepper

Salt n pepper

amother

Garnet

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 12:32 am

I bring the water and vegetables to a boil,.then add the chicken and salt and cook on low. I find that if I cook it too high it gets cloudy.
I use carrots, onion, celery and zucchini. Recently I started adding parsnip and it gives a nice sweet flavor.

momof2+?

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 12:44 am

What’s the big deal with soup being cloudy? Never knew it was a thing. Mine taste delicious.

amother

Hibiscus

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 12:56 am

I put in chicken on the bone (skin on) in a mesh soup bag, veggies, salt & garlic, and it's delicious and not cloudy. I do rinse the chicken before I put it in the soup, not sure if that makes a difference. Not sure why your soup is cloudy.

Ema of 5

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 2:32 am

momof2+? wrote:

What’s the big deal with soup being cloudy? Never knew it was a thing. Mine taste delicious.

I
Personally don’t like cloudy soup, to me it’s tastes overdone, and sometimes it’s also thick, evich I don’t like either.

amother

Cobalt

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 2:45 am

I've also learned about and started adding a single peeled beet, it gives the soup a beautiful golden color without effecting the flavor

amother

Orchid

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 3:10 am

amother OP wrote:

I'm not crazy about celery, but do put it in my chicken soup because I think it gives good flavor to the soup. Hatzlacha.

amother

Royalblue

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 6:28 am

I put chicken and veggies, cold water, and bring it to a boil ONCE. Then cover and simmer on low heat (make sure it doesn't boil) for 4-6 hours. No skimming, no draining, nothing. Comes out clear every time).

amother

Ginger

Sun, Jan 22 2023, 6:53 am

I simmer mine for 8-12 hours.

It comes out golden brown.

I really dislike a light coloured soup. It looks off to me at this point.

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