The Base to Every Soup
Soup season is HERE!
I make a lot of soup, and I truly believe the best soups are made with the best ingredients. Anyone can follow a recipe easy enough, but it’s the methodology that will set your soup apart. This is not revolutionary by any means, but it beats chicken broth from a can or box.
Remove chicken from the fridge (or the freezer) in the evening. It’s great if it’s thawed, it’s probably more realistic if it’s not ;)
Slow cook on LOW all night long in a couple inches of water.
In the morning, remove all of the meat from your chicken. I usually unplug my slow cooker for roughly 30 minutes beforehand so it’s justtt cool enough to handle. A helpful tip is to scoop the chicken up from the bottom with a large spoon of sorts, you don’t want the chicken falling apart on you prematurely. I start by removing the meat from the thighs and legs, then the wings, and finally the breast and back. You could chop the the chicken now to save yourself time later, or put it into the fridge as is. This sounds like a timely process, but I promise that chicken will fall right off the bone and this can be done under 5 minutes.
Take your bones, cartilages, skin, etc. and put them all back into the slow cooker on HIGH. You are going to add water, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and whatever else you have on hand. Celery, onions, garlic, and other herbs are all great, but completely unnecessary. This will cook all day.
In the evening when you are preparing to make your soup, you have your chicken and your flavorful bone broth at the ready.
The best part is there really is no right or wrong way to do this. There are no official measurements! And this is a guideline. I actually put a chicken into the slow cooker about 1pm today, took the meat off this evening, and now the broth will cook for about 24 hours until tomorrow evening when we need it. We’ve got a busy day planned tomorrow, and I can’t think of anything better than coming home to a meal that, at the point, only requires assembly.