Today is a rainy, damp day. I'm at home alone. I have a pot of soup simmering on the stove. The smokey rich scent fills the kitchen.
Wait! Smokey scent?
Yes, let me explain.
Whenever my mother made a pot of soup, she bought a chicken and boiled it. This made a lovely, clean, light soup, wonderful just as a broth with carrots and noodles, or cappelletti. My grandmother often made soup differently. She always roasted the chicken first. One night she served it for dinner, the next day she made soup out of the carcass. Her soup had a deeper color and flavor.
Using the carcass of an already cooked bird does the same thing for soup that browning the meat does for stew. It adds a caramel richness and deep flavor. The added bonus is that you actually want to eat the meat. Frankly, soup meat is tasteless. We never discard a carcass after a barbecue. We pop them in the deep freeze for later. Thanksgiving is like Carcass Christmas to me, and I've been know to sneak away from many a meal with turkey bones squirreled away in my trunk.
When friends have a new baby, we always come visit with a meal. Our favorite is to hot smoke a chicken. Pull off the breast and make soup from the rest. We bring a meal of chicken breast, and sides and soup for a future meal.
Making great soup isn't hard. It just requires time and a few tips.
What makes the best soup? Any bird at all! I've used chicken, turkey and duck. I've used them separately and together. After a barbecue, I sometimes can't identify which bones are which and just freeze them all together. Chicken makes the lightest soup. Turkey is my personal favorite. Duck makes a strong broth which is better for cooking into risotto, couscous or gravy than as a broth. No one has ever given me a pheasant, but I love their meat so I bet they make great soup!
Your Freezer is your Best Friend! Most people barbecue in the hot months, not usually when you want soup. Just pop all those bones in the freezer. Remember to break them down first, or you'll have a huge frozen turkey that won't fit into the pot. Remember to label the bags, too.
Be Patient. Bones need to simmer for over 3 hours before the collagen begins to extract. The collagen is what gives a great bowl of broth that silky, rich feeling in your mouth. A good fowl soup should look like jelly when chilled, and that takes time. By three hours of cooking you've gotten all the flavor, but not until four hours will you get that super richness that makes a great stock.
Careful with the Salt. When using a pre-cooked carcass, don't salt until the end. The bird was salted when cooked, maybe even brined or marinated so there's already salt there. Wait until the end to salt the pot.
Here's my recipe:
Fowl Soup
Ingredients:
1 large (or 2 small) poultry carcass
1 large carrot, snapped into pieces
2 celery sticks, snapped into pieces
1 large onion, cut into quarters
12 cups of water
sage
black peppercorns
salt
Directions:
Break up the bones and place in a large stock pot, or crock pot. Add the carrot, celery and onion. It is not necessary to peal the onion. The skins will give a great color to the soup. Add about 3 quarts of water, sage (dried or fresh) and several whole peppercorns. Using whole makes it easy to strain them out at the end.
Simmer for about 3 hours with the lid on. Taste and salt as necessary. The soup may still taste a little weak at this point. Remove the lid and sinner another hour. Strain the soup into another pot and discard all the solids. You should be left with between 8 and 10 cups of soup. Let cool.
I measure my soup into freezer bags, placing 2 cups into each bag and freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. Then the bags can be stored in the freezer stacked flat or upright. I've found 2 cups is the amount I most often want for cooking, but you could freeze 4 cup quantities, too.
Wait! Smokey scent?
Yes, let me explain.
Whenever my mother made a pot of soup, she bought a chicken and boiled it. This made a lovely, clean, light soup, wonderful just as a broth with carrots and noodles, or cappelletti. My grandmother often made soup differently. She always roasted the chicken first. One night she served it for dinner, the next day she made soup out of the carcass. Her soup had a deeper color and flavor.
Using the carcass of an already cooked bird does the same thing for soup that browning the meat does for stew. It adds a caramel richness and deep flavor. The added bonus is that you actually want to eat the meat. Frankly, soup meat is tasteless. We never discard a carcass after a barbecue. We pop them in the deep freeze for later. Thanksgiving is like Carcass Christmas to me, and I've been know to sneak away from many a meal with turkey bones squirreled away in my trunk.
When friends have a new baby, we always come visit with a meal. Our favorite is to hot smoke a chicken. Pull off the breast and make soup from the rest. We bring a meal of chicken breast, and sides and soup for a future meal.
Making great soup isn't hard. It just requires time and a few tips.
What makes the best soup? Any bird at all! I've used chicken, turkey and duck. I've used them separately and together. After a barbecue, I sometimes can't identify which bones are which and just freeze them all together. Chicken makes the lightest soup. Turkey is my personal favorite. Duck makes a strong broth which is better for cooking into risotto, couscous or gravy than as a broth. No one has ever given me a pheasant, but I love their meat so I bet they make great soup!
Your Freezer is your Best Friend! Most people barbecue in the hot months, not usually when you want soup. Just pop all those bones in the freezer. Remember to break them down first, or you'll have a huge frozen turkey that won't fit into the pot. Remember to label the bags, too.
Be Patient. Bones need to simmer for over 3 hours before the collagen begins to extract. The collagen is what gives a great bowl of broth that silky, rich feeling in your mouth. A good fowl soup should look like jelly when chilled, and that takes time. By three hours of cooking you've gotten all the flavor, but not until four hours will you get that super richness that makes a great stock.
Careful with the Salt. When using a pre-cooked carcass, don't salt until the end. The bird was salted when cooked, maybe even brined or marinated so there's already salt there. Wait until the end to salt the pot.
Here's my recipe:
Fowl Soup
Ingredients:
1 large (or 2 small) poultry carcass
1 large carrot, snapped into pieces
2 celery sticks, snapped into pieces
1 large onion, cut into quarters
12 cups of water
sage
black peppercorns
salt
Directions:
Break up the bones and place in a large stock pot, or crock pot. Add the carrot, celery and onion. It is not necessary to peal the onion. The skins will give a great color to the soup. Add about 3 quarts of water, sage (dried or fresh) and several whole peppercorns. Using whole makes it easy to strain them out at the end.
Simmer for about 3 hours with the lid on. Taste and salt as necessary. The soup may still taste a little weak at this point. Remove the lid and sinner another hour. Strain the soup into another pot and discard all the solids. You should be left with between 8 and 10 cups of soup. Let cool.
I measure my soup into freezer bags, placing 2 cups into each bag and freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. Then the bags can be stored in the freezer stacked flat or upright. I've found 2 cups is the amount I most often want for cooking, but you could freeze 4 cup quantities, too.
RSS Feed