So last weekend whole young chickens went on sale at the super market -- $.69 a pound. I bought two. One will be made in my crockpot later, but Thursday I made chicken soup with the first.
5.5 lb chicken
4 onion
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 dashes thyme
2.5 T + 1 t salt
5 chopped carrots
5 stalks celery
4 eggs
2 cups flour
I put the chicken into the freezer when I first bought it, so Tuesday night I took it out to defrost. Unfortunately when I went I pulled it out, it was still partly frozen. I ran some cold water on it, but I was on a time limit today and needed to get it into the pot. There are innards placed inside the chicken that needed to be removed first. So I ran cold water into the cavity. When this wasn't going very quickly, I switched to warm water--I figured I was going to be immersing the whole thing in water soon and it wouldn't make too much of a difference. I finally (after ~5 minutes, it was mostly defrosted) got the innards loose and moved the rest of the chicken into the large stock pot I'm borrowing.
To the pot I added I coarsely chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, and ~8 quarts of water (I used a 3 quart pot filled most of the way 3 times to get water into the stock pot. I added hot water, but apparently, cold is best). I then looked at several recipes for boiling chicken and a few more for chicken soup and decided to add a couple of cloves of garlic and some thyme. Many recipes suggested rosemary, but I didn't have any when I started. I then put the pot on high until it started to boil.
After it boiled, I reduced the heat to medium low, and then fiddled with the temperature until a simmer was maintained. I also added a lid to the pot at this point. Once I was satisfied that it was simmering, I actually went grocery shopping. This means that I added rosemary (which I had been meaning to get) about an hour into it simmering. About an hour and a half in, I poked at the chicken with a fork. The fork went in easily, but the chicken had been floating one direction for a while. I flipped it over and waited another 20 minutes. I then used my colander to fish out the chicken. I placed the colander over a bowl and stuck it in the fridge to cool. I left the new chicken stock on the stove as I was planing on reheating it later.
Thus began a three and a half hour wait. The time limit I mentioned was because I had meetings during most of this time. Thus a shorter wait would probably be fine; the point is to let the chicken cook enough to deal with. After I got back, the stock was still uncomfortably hot to touch, so my judgement about leaving it out was probably good. There was also waaayy to much stock. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to add everything else, so I removed 8 cups into a pitcher. The pitcher went into the fridge. When it cools, I'll freeze it in two cup portions for use in recipes.
The chicken was also cool all the way through. I started to take the chicken off the bone, then realized that I was using frozen vegetables and they should probably defrost. So I removed the chopped carrots from my freezer and added two packages (5 chopped carrots). I also took out the celery and chopped it up. It was really hard to chop, so I ran it under some water for a while. This made it easier to cut through, but it was still very cold to my hand. I chopped up 3 small onions, and added them and the celery to the stock. I then turned the heat on to low. After that I finished removing the chicken from the bone. It was fairly easy and the chicken had in fact, cooked through.
When I was done with the chicken, I went to make nokedli, which are like little dumplings. I used the recipe here: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungariannoodlesdumplings/r/nokedli.htm although I only used 3/2 cups water. (I also added the ingredients in the wrong order). Instead of adding these to boiling water, I turned the heat up on the soup to bring it to a boil. I scooped the mixture onto a flat cheese grater and let if fall though. Even though I had added less water than the recipe called for, I think that it ended up a bit too liquidy. This meant that the pieces were smaller than nokedli should be. However, it cooked properly. I then added the chicken, let it cook for a couple more minutes, and then turned off the heat.
I scooped out a bowl and tasted--fantastic. I then added a bunch of cheddar cheese to it. It was fantastic. I then waited for it to cool. I froze a few portions, but most of it headed to a potluck.
5.5 lb chicken
4 onion
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 dashes thyme
2.5 T + 1 t salt
5 chopped carrots
5 stalks celery
4 eggs
2 cups flour
I put the chicken into the freezer when I first bought it, so Tuesday night I took it out to defrost. Unfortunately when I went I pulled it out, it was still partly frozen. I ran some cold water on it, but I was on a time limit today and needed to get it into the pot. There are innards placed inside the chicken that needed to be removed first. So I ran cold water into the cavity. When this wasn't going very quickly, I switched to warm water--I figured I was going to be immersing the whole thing in water soon and it wouldn't make too much of a difference. I finally (after ~5 minutes, it was mostly defrosted) got the innards loose and moved the rest of the chicken into the large stock pot I'm borrowing.
To the pot I added I coarsely chopped onion, 2 bay leaves, and ~8 quarts of water (I used a 3 quart pot filled most of the way 3 times to get water into the stock pot. I added hot water, but apparently, cold is best). I then looked at several recipes for boiling chicken and a few more for chicken soup and decided to add a couple of cloves of garlic and some thyme. Many recipes suggested rosemary, but I didn't have any when I started. I then put the pot on high until it started to boil.
After it boiled, I reduced the heat to medium low, and then fiddled with the temperature until a simmer was maintained. I also added a lid to the pot at this point. Once I was satisfied that it was simmering, I actually went grocery shopping. This means that I added rosemary (which I had been meaning to get) about an hour into it simmering. About an hour and a half in, I poked at the chicken with a fork. The fork went in easily, but the chicken had been floating one direction for a while. I flipped it over and waited another 20 minutes. I then used my colander to fish out the chicken. I placed the colander over a bowl and stuck it in the fridge to cool. I left the new chicken stock on the stove as I was planing on reheating it later.
Thus began a three and a half hour wait. The time limit I mentioned was because I had meetings during most of this time. Thus a shorter wait would probably be fine; the point is to let the chicken cook enough to deal with. After I got back, the stock was still uncomfortably hot to touch, so my judgement about leaving it out was probably good. There was also waaayy to much stock. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to add everything else, so I removed 8 cups into a pitcher. The pitcher went into the fridge. When it cools, I'll freeze it in two cup portions for use in recipes.
The chicken was also cool all the way through. I started to take the chicken off the bone, then realized that I was using frozen vegetables and they should probably defrost. So I removed the chopped carrots from my freezer and added two packages (5 chopped carrots). I also took out the celery and chopped it up. It was really hard to chop, so I ran it under some water for a while. This made it easier to cut through, but it was still very cold to my hand. I chopped up 3 small onions, and added them and the celery to the stock. I then turned the heat on to low. After that I finished removing the chicken from the bone. It was fairly easy and the chicken had in fact, cooked through.
When I was done with the chicken, I went to make nokedli, which are like little dumplings. I used the recipe here: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungariannoodlesdumplings/r/nokedli.htm although I only used 3/2 cups water. (I also added the ingredients in the wrong order). Instead of adding these to boiling water, I turned the heat up on the soup to bring it to a boil. I scooped the mixture onto a flat cheese grater and let if fall though. Even though I had added less water than the recipe called for, I think that it ended up a bit too liquidy. This meant that the pieces were smaller than nokedli should be. However, it cooked properly. I then added the chicken, let it cook for a couple more minutes, and then turned off the heat.
I scooped out a bowl and tasted--fantastic. I then added a bunch of cheddar cheese to it. It was fantastic. I then waited for it to cool. I froze a few portions, but most of it headed to a potluck.
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