Adjust vegetables and seasonings to suit your taste. This combination produces a somewhat sweet broth. To lessen that, use fewer carrots.
* Note: You'll need cheesecloth or something similar (such as a clean kitchen towel) to strain the finished broth. Because the broth must be strained when it's finished, there isn't much reason to follow the standard practice of tying the herbs in cheesecloth while the soup simmers.
Ingredients:
1 (about 3-1/2 lb.) cut-up chicken
14 cups (3-1/2 qt.) water
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
2 ribs celery, cut into 4" lengths (include some leaves)
2 large carrots, pared, cut into 2" lengths
4 sprigs parsley
2 tsp. salt, or to taste
2 bay leaves
2 whole cloves
8 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, halved
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves or 1 Tbs. chopped fresh
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram leaves or 1 Tbs. chopped fresh
Preparation:
Put the chicken pieces (including the neck but not the giblets) and the water in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and skim off all the fluffy stuff that has risen to the top.
Add the onions, celery, carrots, parsley, salt, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, garlic, thyme and marjoram. Simmer gently (the surface should be just barely past not moving at all), loosely covered, for one hour.
Remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and allow the broth to continue cooking for a few minutes while the chicken cools enough to be handled easily.
Remove the meat and set aside for other uses. Return the bones to the soup and continue to simmer one to 1-1/2 hours, loosely covered.
Line a colander or sieve with several thicknesses of cheesecloth or a wet, clean kitchen towel and suspend it over a large bowl or pot. Strain the soup through the cloth and discard the solids. Set the soup in the refrigerator or freezer and, after several hours, skim off the fat that has congealed on the surface. (If you're using the broth right away and don't have time to chill it enough for the fat to congeal, cool it as much as possible, then fill a small zip-top plastic bag with ice cubes and draw it back and forth across the surface; the fat will cling to the bag.)
Pour into storage containers and refrigerate or freeze.
Yield: about 12 cups
Nutrition information per 1 cup serving:
calories: 24
carbohydrates: 1 g
protein: 3 g;
fat: 1 g, including sat. fat 0 g
cholesterol: 0 mg
sodium: 56 mg
calcium: 10 mg
dietary fiber: 1 g
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
