I raise my own chickens (and ducks and guineafowl) on acreage in Australia.
I've always liked chicken soup, but I am now utterly addicted to it, and consider that a plain, relatively "thin" soup with some additives - like you, I like celery and carrot in mine - plus finely-shredded chicken - is the uttermost thing to which a chicken can aspire.
Why?
Because a soup/broth/stock made with a commercial 6/8-week-old "chicken" cannot compare in flavour, richness, depth, and sheer magical goodness of one made from a 26-week-old cockerel who has lived his life in the sunlight. It's even better if they're a year or more old.
The first time I made this with my own chicken, I finally understood about Jewish chicken soup curing _everything_. I fed this to my mother when she was sick in hospital with newly-diagnosed emphysema via bronchitis, and "she wasn't hungry". I did the most traditional thing of all - made this soup (this particular base contained the remains of the Xmas turkey, which I always keep, in addition to home-raised chicken), took it to the hospital in a thermos, and just sat there drinking it myself.
She lasted 10mins before asking for a cup. And then drank the lot and asked for more :). She called it "golden stock" because the roasted turkey bits gives it a rich golden colour.
My favourite party trick is creating "risotto from first principles". Technically it starts "first, raise a cockerel to 6 months old", but that's a long time to wait for risotto :). But I haul out a frozen chook, poach it very gently in pre-existing stock (ideally) or use it as the base of a new stock, strip off the meat, put the bones back to the stock, then make risotto from the chicken fat (skimmed), chicken pieces (stripped), chicken stock (simmering), and a few herbs and spices from the garden and pantry. Finished with frozen peas, because I adore peas in risotto, and of course grated cheese (or salted cured egg yolk for my father, who can't eat cheese).
The flavour is just amazing; incredibly rich and deep. People have watched every step of the process and still ask "what's in this?".
And that's the power of home-grown, mature chicken.
It's near-impossible to buy mature chicken in Australia. I know it's more readily available overseas. So most Australians have never tasted a truly rich chicken soup. Poor things.
Thanks Fiona, I really enjoyed reading this. I totally agree with you that a simple chicken soup can be magic if, as you say, you start with the right ingredients. I mentioned pasta 'in brodo' in this newsletter which is very typical of Northern Italy and they share your same wisdom - it's full name is 'brodo di gallo/gallina' rather than 'pollo' because to be correct, the brodo must be made with a mature rooster or hen (gallo/gallina) not a chicken, which gives a much greater depth of flavour. In fact there is an old Italian proverb 'Gallina vecchia fa buon brodo' which literally means 'an old hen makes for good broth' but is used to mean that the experience and wisdom of age is always a valuable thing. If you're ever in France and get the chance, try a poulet de Bresse, the famous chicken from the Bresse region which are pasture raised and then fattened on milk. Delicious.
Ohhh, you touched my pet hobbyhorse! Bresse chicken!
We went to France. We stayed in Burgandy because it’s close to Louhan, and Louhan is a major Bresse-raising region.
I visited the Bresse information centre specifically :)
And I bought Bresse chicken and roasted it in the B&B where we were staying.
And you know what? It was delicious ... but it honestly tasted exactly like my home-raised chicken. Which was reassuring and interesting in its own right.
Admittedly, my home-grown chicken had, at the time, a significant Marans component - another classic French chook. Dual-purpose, and the cockerels are very good eating.
I didn’t managed to get capon Bresse which I’d be interested to try. Canonising is illegal in Australia, and I admit the ethics of the surgery are dubious at best ... but I’d still be interested to compare the flavour to ordinary chicken.
Bresse has now made its way to Australia. Legally and able to keep the name - to an extent. It must be called Australia Bresse.
Not available to non-commercial farmers yet, and not in general release for buying the meat.
But we do have an awfully good homegrown variety called “Sommerlad”. A commercial meat crossbreed still, not a purebred, but designed specifically to be grown out to 16 weeks. And I have two of them in the freezer right now because I don’t have anything young enough to roast and I wanted roast chook :)
(Er, sorry, I can go on about poultry a lot. There’s a reason one of my Substacks is called “From Ancona to Zoning” and is all about Australian backyard poultry ...).
In case you haven't read it, I think you'd enjoy The Chicken Soup Manifesto!! https://www.jennlouis.com/new-products/the-chicken-soup-manifesto
I came here to harp on The Chicken Soup Manifesto. I have made many of the recipes in it and every single one has been fantastic.
Excellent, I’ll have a look!
I raise my own chickens (and ducks and guineafowl) on acreage in Australia.
I've always liked chicken soup, but I am now utterly addicted to it, and consider that a plain, relatively "thin" soup with some additives - like you, I like celery and carrot in mine - plus finely-shredded chicken - is the uttermost thing to which a chicken can aspire.
Why?
Because a soup/broth/stock made with a commercial 6/8-week-old "chicken" cannot compare in flavour, richness, depth, and sheer magical goodness of one made from a 26-week-old cockerel who has lived his life in the sunlight. It's even better if they're a year or more old.
The first time I made this with my own chicken, I finally understood about Jewish chicken soup curing _everything_. I fed this to my mother when she was sick in hospital with newly-diagnosed emphysema via bronchitis, and "she wasn't hungry". I did the most traditional thing of all - made this soup (this particular base contained the remains of the Xmas turkey, which I always keep, in addition to home-raised chicken), took it to the hospital in a thermos, and just sat there drinking it myself.
She lasted 10mins before asking for a cup. And then drank the lot and asked for more :). She called it "golden stock" because the roasted turkey bits gives it a rich golden colour.
My favourite party trick is creating "risotto from first principles". Technically it starts "first, raise a cockerel to 6 months old", but that's a long time to wait for risotto :). But I haul out a frozen chook, poach it very gently in pre-existing stock (ideally) or use it as the base of a new stock, strip off the meat, put the bones back to the stock, then make risotto from the chicken fat (skimmed), chicken pieces (stripped), chicken stock (simmering), and a few herbs and spices from the garden and pantry. Finished with frozen peas, because I adore peas in risotto, and of course grated cheese (or salted cured egg yolk for my father, who can't eat cheese).
The flavour is just amazing; incredibly rich and deep. People have watched every step of the process and still ask "what's in this?".
And that's the power of home-grown, mature chicken.
It's near-impossible to buy mature chicken in Australia. I know it's more readily available overseas. So most Australians have never tasted a truly rich chicken soup. Poor things.
Thanks Fiona, I really enjoyed reading this. I totally agree with you that a simple chicken soup can be magic if, as you say, you start with the right ingredients. I mentioned pasta 'in brodo' in this newsletter which is very typical of Northern Italy and they share your same wisdom - it's full name is 'brodo di gallo/gallina' rather than 'pollo' because to be correct, the brodo must be made with a mature rooster or hen (gallo/gallina) not a chicken, which gives a much greater depth of flavour. In fact there is an old Italian proverb 'Gallina vecchia fa buon brodo' which literally means 'an old hen makes for good broth' but is used to mean that the experience and wisdom of age is always a valuable thing. If you're ever in France and get the chance, try a poulet de Bresse, the famous chicken from the Bresse region which are pasture raised and then fattened on milk. Delicious.
Ohhh, you touched my pet hobbyhorse! Bresse chicken!
We went to France. We stayed in Burgandy because it’s close to Louhan, and Louhan is a major Bresse-raising region.
I visited the Bresse information centre specifically :)
And I bought Bresse chicken and roasted it in the B&B where we were staying.
And you know what? It was delicious ... but it honestly tasted exactly like my home-raised chicken. Which was reassuring and interesting in its own right.
Admittedly, my home-grown chicken had, at the time, a significant Marans component - another classic French chook. Dual-purpose, and the cockerels are very good eating.
I didn’t managed to get capon Bresse which I’d be interested to try. Canonising is illegal in Australia, and I admit the ethics of the surgery are dubious at best ... but I’d still be interested to compare the flavour to ordinary chicken.
Bresse has now made its way to Australia. Legally and able to keep the name - to an extent. It must be called Australia Bresse.
Not available to non-commercial farmers yet, and not in general release for buying the meat.
But we do have an awfully good homegrown variety called “Sommerlad”. A commercial meat crossbreed still, not a purebred, but designed specifically to be grown out to 16 weeks. And I have two of them in the freezer right now because I don’t have anything young enough to roast and I wanted roast chook :)
(Er, sorry, I can go on about poultry a lot. There’s a reason one of my Substacks is called “From Ancona to Zoning” and is all about Australian backyard poultry ...).