Cookbook:Chicken Soup I

| Meat | Soup

No specific quantities or measurements are described here in any detail—just ingredients and method.

Ingredients

 * Chicken thighs, boneless (easiest)
 * Carrots, chopped into bite-sized chunks
 * Celery, cross-cut into 5–10 mm slices
 * Liquid chicken stock, or 2–3 vegetable stock cubes
 * Dill (either dried dill leaf tips, or 1 bunch finely-chopped fresh dill)
 * Water
 * Salt

Procedure

 * 1) Put chicken into cold or room-temperature water in a pot on the stove and set heat to bring it to a boil. As it heats up, a surface foam develops prior to the boil. We want a clear soup broth, so use a big spoon or small strainer to skim the foam and other "debris" away into a container. Discard the foam.
 * 2) Remove chicken thighs from the pot and chop them into roughly bite-size pieces on a chopping board. The chicken may tend to fall apart anyway as you handle it. While chicken is out of the pot, it's a good time to clear the broth further if desired.
 * 3) Add the chicken pieces back into the pot.
 * 4) Add carrots, celery, dill, and stock to the pot. Adjust heat to bring back to a simmer.
 * 5) Simmer for at least 30 minutes (an hour is better, hours even better) to cook the chicken and mix the flavors.
 * 6) Lightly salt to taste; individual diners can add more salt to their bowls if desired.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * Serve with noodles of choice that have been cooked separately and drained, and added to individual bowls of soup. Add rice vermicelli noodles, which cook in two minutes, to bowls when serving. Barley can also be used in place of noodles.
 * For a thicker broth, somewhat like a stew: take a cup of the finished soup, stir in some flour, and then stir the mixture back into the soup.
 * You can use legs, or thighs with bones, process on a cutting board by removing bones, gristle, etc., and cut meat into small chunks.