Really Simple Chicken Soup

Chicken soup has been around as long as chickens have been afraid of boiling water. There are almost infinite iterations. Cliche perhaps, but since chickens are indigenous to every continent, and their juicy flesh, both light and dark, is such an excellent platform for the local selection of spices, the idea that the essence of a chicken, gently drawn by a simmer, could be flavored by herbs and complemented by vegetables has lit the culinary consciousness of Hmong hillsman and Jewish mother alike.

The recipe is simple: boil a chicken, cook some vegetables in the liquid, and add the meat. Don't be afraid. Your house will take on a gauzy, roseate hue, reminiscient of the Cleaver's, of sandlot baseball, Dwight Eisenhower, and the five cent cigar. In short, regardless of your political predeliction, sexual orientation, or cognitive ability, you will be wrapped in the fragrant bosom of your happiest memory.

Opa(Grandfather)Ludwig Schwechheimer was a native Deutch, an Air Force veteran, and a Master Carpenter. And he knew his chicken. Rather, he knew that a gentle simmer, like the thousand tiny fingers urging her to let go, would give him a rich, flavorful broth in which to cook his onions, carrots and celery. He knew that he wanted the very best for his family, so don't go cheap with some big-box, generic, private label bird, get a name brand like Perdue or Bell & Evans. You will know the difference.

In a large, non-reactive pot; I'm sorry, but at this point, I have to urge you to throw out all of your Aluminum cookware. Aluminum is great for a restaurant, with a large commercial burner that gets up to 80,000 BTU in five seconds flat, and you need to cook that whatever RIGHT NOW and get it plated and out on the customer's table RIGHT NOW. But at home, you don't have that pressure. You're cooking for the people you love, and while you need big heat fast, you want it to be even and controlled. Trust me: if you are a professional chef or line cook, then you can handle heat that would make your face melt and produce a dish that could grace the cover of Gourmet Magazine. The rest of us: Buy Iron. Buy Steel. Enjoy the process of making a really nice dish without the worry of self-immolation.

OK. Back to the non-reactive pot. Take all the paper-wrapped Neck, Heart, and Gizzard stuff out of the cavity and put it in the bottom of the pot. Put the chicken in the pot and cover it with water by at least two inches. Bring it to a smooth rolling boil; not a violent, lid-shaking boil, but a gentle, steady boil. Cook it for about a half an hour. Test for doneness by wiggling a leg; to be really sure, cut into a joint and look at the flesh.

Take the Chicken and the other solids out of the water. Strain out any bits that you can't fish out and SAVE THE COOKING LIQUID. We call it the boiling water. Put a whole onion, a few Celery ribs, and a few Carrots in the liquid and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cook this until the vegetables are tender.

Clean the meat off the Chicken. This is one of the few carcasses that you can toss, because the flavor has already been simmered out of it. Shred the Chicken flesh and set it aside to put back into the stock in a few minutes. Cover it with foil or plastic wrap to protect it from children, cats, germs, whatever.

Season the stock, and this is using all dried spices: 1 teaspoon of Basil, 1 teaspoon of Thyme, 1 teaspoon of Parsley, half a teaspoon of Black Pepper, and half a teaspoon of Salt. Now, add two Chicken Boullion cubes. Ironically, dried cubes and packets of Beef and Chicken broth don't have any Monosodium Glutamate; canned broth does. Still, read the label and buy appropriately. If you have stock already made, I guess you can add that, but remember that Opa Schwechheimer never did... If you have access to fresh herbs, then add three or four Basil leaves, two sprigs of Thyme, a quarter cup of chopped Parsley, and the rest as I've said.

Add the shredded Chicken and simmer for twenty minutes or so, then add a whole Egg. Stir it up and break it apart. The cook on fighting ships of the Royal Navy in the latter half of the 18th Century would use ground eggshells to thicken soups and stocks. You can put the shell in the compost pile. Now add a quarter teaspoon of ground Nutmeg. When it's all nice an hot, add a cup of Egg Noodles and let them cook until soft.

Serve this now. You can freeze some of it for later if you like. The flavor is rich, the stock is thick, but quite pliant, and the whole thing is filling. Miracle cures have been reported, the lame have walked, the blind have seen, and the runny, stuffy noses have slept peacefully the whole night through. Your reputation as a healer will travel far and wide. Supplicants will camp on your lawn.

I tried to find an appetizing picture of a chicken, but couldn't, so I thought you'd like to meet one of my childhood friends.

There you have it.