JEWISH PENICILLIN (CHICKEN SOUP)

Jewish Penicillin (Chicken Soup) image

Ok...if you don't ever make any other Jewish food, you must learn how to make this. Your family will love you and you can freeze the leftovers and when someone gets sick, this will fix them.

Provided by Esther Hardman

Categories Soups

Time 4h30m

Number Of Ingredients 10

Ingredients

7 lb chicken, a whole bird plus wings and thighs
14 c cold water
1 Tbsp salt
2 medium carrots, peeled
2 large celery ribs
1 medium parsnip, peeled and split if large
1 large leek, split lengthwise and well rinsed, several inches of the green part
1 medium onion, peeled and halved.
several sprigs of parsley and dill
6-8 whole peppercorns

Steps:

1. The most important part is to rinse the inside of the chicken under cold water. You must remove all the liver and any other brown material. This will ensure after your skimming to remove the scum at the initial simmer, you will get a good clear soup-not schmutzy (shmoot-zee), which is ok but not as nice a clear soup.
2. In a large pot bring the chicken, water and salt to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes, skimming off any scum that comes to the surface. You can use a fine mesh skimmer or a slotted spoon works fine. Stir the chicken once or twice during this process which will loose the schmutz for skimming. When you start getting only white foam, add carrots, celery, parsnip, leek,onion and black peppercorns. Simmer, uncovered,very gently, but steadily, for 3 to 4 hours. Add the parley and the dill in the last 30 minutes, or you will get green soup. Remove from heat and cool to tepid. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Remove most of the chicken fat that has hardened on top of the soup. Strain the soup through a large colander into another pot. Pick out any parsnip or carrots you may like to serve with the soup and discard your solids. In years past, the chicken was so flavorful that the meat was still delicious, but todays chicken, not so good. Mine as well pitch it. Reheat soup and serve as a clear broth or you can cook some noodles separately and add or for the ultimate experience, add matzo balls (Knaidlach). Will have a recipe you can follow for that, just search for Knaidlach.