Chicken Soup

[legant]

It's rainy. There is a chill in the air. And, sniffles abound. What's your favorite rainy day, take-the-chill-off, curative chicken soup recipe?

Edna Lewis' chicken soup recipe is a good start – however hacking the chicken into 2-inch pieces requires too much energy – while other recipes I've found use prepared chicken broth. What I'm craving is: a flavorful, spicy base (kin to Pho) – to sooth the throat and clear the sinuses; something that will compliment potstickers, rather than noodles; and, something that will benefit from the long simmer between naps. Suggestions?

[porcupine]

It's rainy. There is a chill in the air. And, sniffles abound. What's your favorite rainy day, take-the-chill-off, curative chicken soup recipe?

Edna Lewis' chicken soup recipe is a good start – however hacking the chicken into 2-inch pieces requires too much energy – while other recipes I've found use prepared chicken broth. What I'm craving is: a flavorful, spicy base (kin to Pho) – to sooth the throat and clear the sinuses; something that will compliment potstickers, rather than noodles; and, something that will benefit from the long simmer between naps. Suggestions?

No, but I hope you feel better soon.

[brettashley01]

Yes, but I hope it isn't too "low-brow." It certainly isn't the chicken soup and matzoh balls that my grandmother makes, but then again, that's not the flavor you're looking for.

When I need something to clear the sinuses, I usually take chicken broth, heat it up with a pinch of salt, throw in srichacha sauce to taste (usually two good squirts), a bit of sugar and some fresh sliced ginger (though in a lazy pinch I'll use ginger powder on top just before eating). I esp. like this with vegetables cooked in the broth; I bet you could do the same with dumplings.

[zoramargolis]

You can make a "double strength" stock by using canned or packaged broth as all or part of the liquid portion of your soup, and then cook more meat and/or bones in it, along with aromatic veg and herbs. That's actually a good way to do it if you want to be able to eat some of the meat in the soup. If you extract all of the flavor by long cooking, the meat is too dry and flavorless for anything but pet food afterward. If you start with broth, you'll have a full-flavored soup without cooking to death the chicken parts in it.

Consider flavoring your broth with fresh ginger and lemongrass, if you have some. And carrot, onion, celery, parsley, thyme and bayleaf.

[Ilaine]

Ditto on the double strength soup. Start with a couple of aseptic boxes of organic chicken broth and a 3 lb. organic whole chicken. Cook until the chicken is just done, and you have both lovely meat and lovely broth. But you could make it better by adding onion, carrot, celery, garlic and ginger, maybe some red pepper flakes, when you start the recipe, or you could strain the finished broth and put seasoning in after it's done.

This recipe is excellent for a slow cooker, half an hour on high, switch to low, although not something I would leave unsupervised for more than a couple hours. In the alternative, in the oven at 250, total cooking time maybe an hour and a half.

Strain in a colander over a heat proof bowl, and when the meat cools a little, strip the meat from the bones and discard bones and skin.

You can freeze this broth and thaw it for later. It makes a wonderful base for, say, cannellini beans.

[KeithA]

Another addition to get a spicy and clear your sinuses effect is to add some pinches of cayenne pepper to your soup. My herbalist cousins swears it will help kick any colds butt and depending on how much spice you add you'll feel it.