Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Foodblogging - Chicken Soup

Both my regular readers know that I love fried chicken. Pan fried, not deep fried, thank you very much. It's about the definition of what the good Lord put the chicken on this good earth for.

So what can get me to roast, not fry, the bird? Soup the day after. Fried chicken, for all its finger-lickin' goodness, provides no carcass to boil up. Water to cover, salt and pepper corns, couple carrots, whatever may be left over in the fridge - it all combines in an alchemy for the next day's soup. Well, stew is more like it. The picture's not much, but you should smell it.


I like to finish with savory herbs (Thyme and Oregano do nicely; dried will do nicely) plus some Old Bay (lay off the salt a bit because you're adding more here). Finish with some Balsamic vinegar. I actually like to put in too much (a couple tablespoons in this batch), but then cook it for another 30 minutes. If you put it in right before serving, only use one tablespoon; however, the cooking time will blend the flavors very nicely indeed.

I'm making pasta (flour, eggs, salt, roll in the pasta machine with #2 son).  #1 son is making biscuits. For once, the whole family is in the kitchen together, and nobody's yelling!

Maybe apple crisp later. Not a bad day, Scooter.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, how do you prepare the chicken?

Borepatch said...

The lovely and epicurean Mrs. Borepatch does a mighty fine roast chicken. I take the leftover carcass after we're done, and just drop it in a kettle of water.

A few carrots, some celery if you're jiggy, and ta da!

When it's boiled for 2-3 hours, you strain the soup, and separate the meat from the bones. Meat goes back into the soup (duh!) and bones in the dustbin. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sweet. I always just used a whole chicken to make the soup, and always thought it a tad wasteful. I like the carcass idea.