What's wrong with my chicken soup???

↑ Goldengrl327 ↓

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 2:53 pm

Do you put the vegetables in with the whole chicken at the same time or wait until the gross stuff comes off the chicken? Someone suggested waiting for the chicken to cook down, then strain it and then cook the vegetables separately.
Also, do you use the WHOLE bag of celery?

watergirl wrote:

I am known for my chicken soup. Like, my husband's ex wife called me to find out how I make it Wink

and that says something. This is what I do:

Put a WHOLE (not cut up) chicken in the soup, it does not matter if you use a broiler or a pullet.

Start with cold water and the whole chicken and put it on a high flame. Peel and cut:
- 1 lb carrots
- 1 stalk/bunch of celery (which has a bunch of the stalks)
- 1 whole onion - LEFT WHOLE
- 1 peeled sweet potato
- season liberally with salt, garlic powder, and onion powder

Bring to boil, lower to simmer, and skim the grossness off the top. Then add the seasoning. Add more than you think is normal. Let it simmer on a LOW simmer for hours, like 6 if you can. Add more water if it reduces too much, but I like to fill my 10 quart soup pot to the brim. I do not use a net bag. The soup is golden and clear.

↑ watergirl

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 3:04 pm

b94race wrote:

Technically, first I put the chicken in the cold water and I put that up to boil and while the water is heating, I peel the carrots and chop the vegetables, then that goes into, so the water is not boiling by the time the vegetables go in. So not at the exact same time but within 10 mins.

I buy a bag of one stock of celery, not two celery hearts. I put in just about the entire bag minus the leaves. Its about 6-7 ribs.

I do not strain the soup at all, I use a soup skimmer to skim the bits that rise to the top after the initial boil. It’s just some brown guck.

↑ Goldengrl327 ↓

Thu, Apr 14 2022, 12:45 pm

Ok...soups on! Fingers crossed
Whole chicken + chicken bones (in mesh bag), garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sweet potato, parsnip, celery, carrots.
Pot is literally filled to the top! Waiting for it to boil out a little to add carrots cuz there’s absolutely no room for anything else before it spills 😂

Thank you everyone for your help! It’s only been on for 20 minutes and it already smells delicious!

boymom

Thu, Apr 14 2022, 6:18 pm

Seems like u started cooking already but here’s a tip for next time:
Put in veggies first and once water boils, let it cook for half hour. Then add the chicken to the boiling water and u won’t see any of the “grossness” that needs to be skimmed off.

↑ Goldengrl327

Thu, Apr 14 2022, 10:09 pm

So here are my thoughts on my soup...

1. the taste is AMAZING! The parsnip, turnip and sweet potato really added great flavor and turned the soup a beautiful golden color.
2. once I took out all the chicken there was like half the amount of soup because of all the room the chicken took up in the pot - so that was a bit disappointing.
3. I let it simmer for about 3-4 hours but then the vegetables turned really soft. I took them all out and I may have to reboil carrots and celery to serve with the soup.

Thank you everyone for your tips!!