Chicken soup - how do I make it (merged threads)

The_Pink_Wafer

Sorry for posting on your thread, but it's very similar to the one I was going to make!

I have a turkey carcus - I take it I can make soup in the same way as chicken? And how?

crispeater

i got all excited then that i was back off to the kitchen to start on a soup lol :P

Pink.

Hi crispeater,

These older threads might help you:

chicken soup help

using chicken carcasses for soup?


The Pink Wafer Yes you can use a turkey carcass in the same way as a chicken one, but it will make a slightly stronger more flavoursome stock.


Pink

crispeater

i now have my chicken carcus in the slow cooker with a leek and some water..

wooohoo im excited coz im making my 1st ever chicken soup lol

ladymacbeth_uk

Any help would be appreciated...

I have looked through the Indexed collections & other chicken related topics, but I am stil confused...

How do I skim off the fat without getting rid of all those chicken bits too? Can I do anything with this excess fat?

Last time I tried to boil a left over carcass I just had a huge pot full of glue like substance & not really much juice or fat.
How long should I boil the carcass for as I do not currently own a slow cooker?


Thank you in advance for any help

ChocClare

Break up your carcass: also chuck in things like wing tips etc (doesn't matter if skin is still on - gives good flavour) and put in saucepan.

Add one onion, cut in quarters (leave the skin on or just take off the very outer layer if that's a bit manky)
Add two carrots chopped but not peeled
Add one stick of celery and/or some celery leaves or parsley leaves/stalks

You can add a bayleaf if you like and a couple of peppercorns, but I don't bother. Some people like to add herbs, but again, I save that for the soup stage. If you're going to add herbs, they must be fresh.

Don't worry if all you've got is an onion and a carrot - it'll be fine.

Pour 3 pints of water over this. Bring to the boil and skim off any scum which rises to the surface.

Turn the heat down and simmer for about 2 hours until reduced by half. Let cool. Strain through a sieve and put in the fridge - then you can skim off the fat. This is the stock to use as the basis of your chicken soup. Boil it down a bit to make it a bit thicker, and add veg to taste or add milk or cream to turn it into cream of chicken soup. If there are bits of chicken still stuck to the carcase, then you can add those in.

However, if you want chicken soup as in soul food, then you'll need more than just a carcase. Stick your WHOLE CHICKEN in the pot and proceed as above. When the chicken is cooked, allow to cool, drain the stock into a jug, then remove and discard skin, and flake the chicken off the bones. You discard anything you don't want (onion, carrot, bits of manky-looking herbs) and again, put the stock in the fridge to allow you to skim off the fat (I've got one of those gravy separators which speeds this whole process up considerably). Put your bits of chicken back in (not necessarily all of it). You can make it into !!!!-a-leekie by using leeks instead of onions and omitting the carrots, then bunging another leek in at this point and some pearl barley to thicken it. Delia adds prunes, but I'm not convinced.

Hope it works for you!

pol

It sounds like the last time you boiled the carcase, you made the best stock you can get! That's exactly what I do, boil it right down for a couple of hours. When its cool pour into a sieve over a pan/basin. Pick out all the chicken bits and add to the basin. When cool, leave in the fridge overnight if poss. When you go back to it there will b a skim of fat on the top which you can just scrape off with a spoon. The glue or jellylike consistency means you've got all the best from the bones, and it'll give you a superb lip stickin' soup!

pol

r.mac_2

yes - this is how I do mine as well. We were meant to be having roast on sunday, chicken and broccoli pie on Monday (tonight) and chicken soup with last chicken in it on tuesday. BUT, my OH ate all the left over chicken last night when i was in the bath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so tonight is having to be pasta with tomato sauce. he was moaning about not having meat but it serves him right hehe.

going to turn my chicken stock into chicken rice and veg soup. For this I heat the stock add some small diced veg and a big handful of rice and when soft, serve with crusty bread. Yum

ladymacbeth_uk

ChocClare wrote:

.

However, if you want chicken soup as in soul food, then you'll need more than just a carcase. Stick your WHOLE CHICKEN in the pot and proceed as above. When the chicken is cooked, allow to cool, drain the stock into a jug, then remove and discard skin, and flake the chicken off the bones.

Do you mean put the chicken in raw for this & just boil till cooked?

P.s. Thank you All for your help this is great. Typical I possibly made the best stock ever I thought it was wrong & chucked it out!!!:rotfl:

ChocClare

ladymacbeth_uk wrote:

ChocClare wrote:

.
Do you mean put the chicken in raw for this & just boil till cooked?

Yep! This is how they traditionally cooked tough old roosters which were far too muscular to be roasted. It does make the chicken nice and tender without drying out the breast. Just don't boil it away for hours, though: bung your chicken in a pot, add your chopped leeks, pepper and salt, ALMOST cover it with water, bring slowly to the boil, skim off any scum, cover, reduce heat and simmer until cooked - about 2 hours. Then, as I say, strain the stock off, skin and shred the chicken and bung the whole lot back in the pan (you can remove fat from the stock first if you like). This makes a very clear soup - like a broth, very thin - with bits of chicken in it. You COULD just eat the broth, as chicken soup, and save the meat to cook in any other recipe which calls for chopped, cooked chicken. You could eat MOST of the broth, then fry some mushrooms, add some of the chopped chicken and a little of the broth, bring to the boil and reduce the stock down, add some cream or creme fraiche and cook till the sauce is thickened, then serve with rice. Versatile, that's the word I'm looking for.

Like many casseroles, !!!!-a-leekie always tastes better if eaten the following day. To make it less thin, add half a cup of pearl barley (which are those mysterious, pip-sized soft and chewy bits in tinned vegetable soup). You could also go away from tradition and add some diced potatoes (after you've shredded the chicken of course) - just cook for an extra 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are soft. That would make it a pretty substantial meal in itself. My mum used to make this in the winter with "boiling fowl" - which you just don't get these days - and I remember it being absolutely scrummy, especially on cold, wet days.

Incidentally, I had to laugh that the name of this soup has changed from c0ck-a-leekie (will this get past the censor, I wonder??!!) to !!!!-a-leekie with lots of exclamation marks... I'd never thought of it as rude soup before - will have to start calling it that...:rotfl: