The Traditional Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is a widely created dish all over the world, from Japan to Germany, to the USA and Colombia. Each country around the world has their own versions of traditional chicken soup, but most of them share two things in common: They use chicken, and a chicken broth. Chicken has also widely been considered as a folk medicine in curing the symptoms of colds and flu, but even recent laboratory experiments failed to arrive at conclusive evidence whether the soup does indeed has some kind of medicinal properties. In the old days, when chickens had a chance to get old, the old hens were primarily used for chicken soup as their flesh was simply too stringy and tough for oven roasting. Focussing on the making of the “Traditional Chicken Soup”, I would say this recipe would closely mirror the USA version as it is one of the simplest of recipes to make. The trick to this soup is that you cook the chicken over a long period of time and only add the vegetables and noodles or pasta-rice towards the end. The ingredients: •Chicken Pieces - drumsticks, breasts, thighs, wings, necks and bones •Onions (Roughly cut) •Carrots (Sliced or chopped) •Celery (Just one stick, sliced finely) •Olive Oil (A few drops) •Salt & Pepper (Season to taste)Preparation: Start off with a large pot of boiling water. Add the few drops of olive oil and then a light seasoning of salt and pepper (you can add more later if necessary). Lower all the chicken pieces into the pot and boil for a couple of minutes until the chicken starts to change to a white colour and the skin begins to become loose. Turn down the heat and place the lid on the pot, simmering the chicken inside for around 3 hours. This will release all the natural flavours inside the bones and the skin of the chicken into the broth. Make sure to check up on your pot every now and again, giving it a stir. rnWhile you wait, you can start peeling and cutting the onions, celery and carrots. After the 3 hours have passed, lift the lid off the pot and add all the freshly-cut vegetables and allow simmering until the vegetables are ¾ cooked – then adding the pasta-rice or noodles. This is to ensure you do not overcook your vegetables while trying to finish cooking your noodles. Cook until noodles are soft and then turn off the heat. Add more salt and pepper if necessary and enjoy the wholesome chicken soup that has been favoured the world over.