Cooking Recipes Articel

The basis of a good soup is usually a good stock. Once you know how to make a good stock
you can use it for an almost endless variety of soups. This is a recipe I use for chicken stock that's easy to make
and tastes delicious. I usually make extra
and freeze what I don't use.

1
Whole Chicken
about 3 pounds

8
cups water

2
carrots
cut into 2 inch pieces

2
stalks of celery
cut into 2 inch pieces

1
medium onion
cut into large chunks

2
cloves of garlic
crushed

2
sprigs of parsley

1
sprigs of sage

2
sprigs of rosemary

2
sprigs of thyme (please
no Simon and Garfunkel jokes)

2
tsp. salt

Cut the chicken up into pieces.

Put the chicken
and the rest of the ingredients into a large kettle
and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low
and simmer for 3 hours.

Remove the chicken
and place in a bowl to cool.

Pour the stock through a colander lined with cheesecloth
and chill.

When the chicken has cooled enough to handle
remove the skin and the bones
and freeze or refrigerate the chicken for another use.

Skim the fat off of the stock
and refrigerate
freeze
or use immediately.

Yield: About 6 cups of stock
about 4 cups of chicken.

Don't feel constrained by the ingredients and amounts listed in this recipe. You can use other herbs for a different flavor. You could add ginger peels and lemongrass for an Asian flavor. Just let your imagination run wild.

You don't need to use a whole chicken either. You can buy the bone-in chicken breasts
and remove the bones before cooking. Then just put the bones in a plastic bag
and put them into the freezer. Then when you're ready to make the stock
just take the bones out and use them in the stock.

Once you've learned to make this chicken stock
you can use it as a basis for many different soups... chicken noodle soup
cream of chicken soup
peanut butter soup... again
just let your imagination run wild with it
and enjoy!