Sorry Grandma, but This is the Real Base for Chicken Soup

Every once in awhile you have a bowl of soup that just warms you up on the inside, and not just because it's hot, because there is an insane depth of flavor that just feels so good going down.  Secret:  it's the broth. #factsoflife.  I made fun of my mom for YEARS for making her own chicken broth, and then I saw the light.  If you call in sick really just to watch TV, it's too cold to go outside, you're a homebody, you're lazy, or you want to impress anyone and everyone, you should make chicken broth.  As long as you can commit to having someone at your house for 3.5 hours, you can do this.  I promise.  It's so easy, and so worth it.

Equipment you will need:

• 1-2 Large Stock Pots with Lids (these are the big guys.  Mine are medium sized, so I divided my ingredients between two of them.  I have so much broth it's heavenly.
• A Strainer and a Large bowl for separating the goods
• Hm, I guess that's it

Ingredients:

• 1 Head of Garlic, cut in half crosswise (hamburger-style, so each individual clove is cut in half) with the skin on
• 1 Onion, quartered, with the skin on
• 4 carrots, unpeeled, each broken into 3-4 pieces
• 8 Stalks of Celery, each broken into 3-4 pieces
• One Bunch of Parsley - I prefer flat leaf (also called Italian parsley) but I couldn't find it, so I got "curly."  Since you don't eat it in the broth, either is fine.
• 1 Chicken Carcass - you can rip this into pieces with your hands.  It's actually kinda fun.  I used the one from my Roasted Chicken, or you could use that of any store-bought Rotisserie Chicken, just eat the meat first...and you should maybe save some for chicken noodle soup :)
• 2t Salt and 
• 1t Pepper
• Optional: 1/2 Bunch of Thyme

See it all there?  Ready for action? Images like this are what make me love cooking :)

Carnage?  Wreckage?  Disgusting?  Flavor.  My deconstructed Carcass.

No Water.

Directions:

1.  If you have kitchen twine, you can tie the herbs (parsley & thyme) into a bunch, two bunches if you are doing two pots.  No twine?  No problem.  Just please do NOT use floss.  You will have minty fresh broth.  Disgusting.
2. Put your veggies, chicken and herbs in your big pot, dividing it evenly if you are using two pots.
3. Add salt and pepper - again divide it evenly.  I feel like you get that part now.
4. Fill the pot(s) with enough water to cover everything.  I know, it's a lot of water .
5. Put the lid on and turn the flame on Med-Medium/High to get things hot and boiling.
6. Once fully boiling, turn it down to a slow boil, a notch above a simmer, I'd say Medium/Low (High Low?  Low to high? Lo-Fi? That's a bar in SF.  I digress.)
7. With the lid on, just let it simmer away for about 3 hours, checking on it and your kitchen periodically to make sure nothing is catching on fire.
8. Clean your bathroom.  Wash your sheets, you should've done that last week anyways.
9. Your house should smell amazing about 2 hours in, and a craving for soup should be in full force.
10. After 3-3.5 hours, turn the heat off and let it cool so that you don't burn yourself when you separate the liquid.
11. Once room-temp, put your large bowl in the sink, and rest your strainer inside the bowl (see image below).  
12. Dump the pot-of-goods into the strainer to separate the veggies and chicken from the liquid.
    
    

    

    See this little set up?  Strainer inside the bowl.  Get it? So easy.

13. Discard the Veggies and Carcass (it's so overcooked) and voila! Broth! Store it in the fridge or freeze some in Tupperware so that it doesn't go to waste - then you have it handy anytime you want soup!  I probably made about 1.5 gallons...definitely freezing some!

Just finished cooking and ready for cooling.  The house smells amazing.  All 800sq ft of it.

**Note:  After it's been refrigerated, the fat will solidify more or less, and you can skim it right off the top with a fork.  #keepitlightkeepittight


Recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup is coming next!