Chicken Soup for the Sick

First you make the stock. Yes, you have to make it from scratch. You want this to work, don't you? If you just want to make chicken soup for dinner, go ahead and use pre-made stock. If the chicken and the soup pot are large-ish, use 2 of everything (except the chicken - only use one chicken); for smaller birds and/or pans, just 1 is fine. Yes, you have to be very organized about this whole thing or your kitchen will be very messy indeed.

1 whole chicken (Make sure there's none of that highly-absorbent stuff they put in meat packages nowadays and no little packet of chicken organs inside the cavity, and be sure to rinse it off & all that. If they gave you the neck it's OK to put that in, but I toss the liver & giblets & all that stuff - or sometimes make them plus the neck into soup for the dog.)
1 or 2 onions peeled and quartered
up to 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 or 2 large carrots, cut in chunks
1 or 2 stalks celery, cut in chunks - feel free to include the leafy tops as they are quite tasty
1 or 2 dried chili peppers, whole (those little skinny hot ones)
(optional: 1 parsnip, peeled and cut in chunks)
a sprig of fresh rosemary
a little salt
some peppercorns
a few threads of saffron, if you have it - not too much though
a bay leaf
enough water to submerge all of that in

Put it on the stove and bring to a simmer (not a boil), skimming the icky greyish foam that rises to the top at first. Try not to think about how much it resembles the kitty or a cute bunny sitting on its haunches in the boiling water. The fluffy white foam is OK, though; you can leave that. Let it simmer for a good long while & go read or take a bath or something. Just make sure it's simmering very gently. It's done when the chicken is falling off the bones, & the skin will slide off easily.

OK, now the messy part. Take the chicken out and put it in a large bowl and into the fridge for a while. It's too hot to touch right now, so let it cool a while. Strain all the stuff out of the broth and toss it (the vegetables & stuff, not the broth) or mash it up & mix it with the dog food (pick out the peppercorns; dogs hate those). The dog will love it. Refrigerate the broth if you're going to leave it out for a long time (I usually just leave it on the stove for a half-hour or so; it's going to be brought to a boil for the last step).

While the chicken is cooling, chop the following into very small pieces and set them aside:
a peeled onion
1 or 2 peeled carrots
1 or 2 peeled parsnips
1 stalk celery or 2 if you like celery, which I don't really very much
a bunch of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, sliced thin or they're a little rubbery
fresh herbs: I use rosemary, sage, & tarragon, but my mother uses parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. And she sings. You know that song. Don't start singing it now or it'll get stuck in your head & then you'll have to sing 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.'

The next part is also messy; maybe even messier than before. And gross, I think. The best time to do this is while the chicken is cool enough to touch but still a little warm, but it's fine to let it all sit overnight in the fridge if you need to. You remove the skin and bones and anything gross and then cut up the chicken into little tiny bits. Throw away the bones (do not give the bones to the dog) and skin and put the chopped up chicken bits into the broth, along with the vegetables you chopped up earlier, and turn the heat on. When it comes to a boil, turn it down a bit, add the chopped herbs, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. I've heard that when someone is sick, that a little extra salt is good for them. I'm not sure about that, but it does make it taste a little better when you're all stuffed up and can't taste much. Also, I'm told that whatever medicinal properties chicken soup has are fat-soluble, so you shouldn't remove the fat from the chilled broth if you're cooking this for a sick person.

My mom always baked nice plain white bread when she made this, and gave it to us with chunky (sugar and salt free) peanut butter. I'm not sure why you're supposed to dip it in the soup, but it's yummy when a chunk of peanut butter falls in and melts. Saltines are good too. If you want to add noodles or matzoh balls or dumplings, my advice is to cook them separately (I use already-prepared chicken stock for that, mixed with some water) and place some in each bowl when you serve it, rather than dumping them into the soup. What happens is the broth gets all starchy and the noodles or dumplings get excessively soggy from soaking in the soup.