I have a new love. It’s called my great grandmother’s pot. I want to name the pot. It comes with a long line of tradition and good taste, so your comments would be welcome with any suggestions for the new title.
Oh – and by the way…I know I haven’t posted lately. I hope I still have loyal followers. And Betsey – I think you’ll like this one.
This pot has been handed down from my Great Aunt Laurette, who got it from her mother. It's possible that this pot has been used by 5 or 6 generations. It is arguably the Best pot to cook anything, Food cooked here reaches its full POTential!
Chicken Coup Soup
1 family pack of Bone-in Split Chicken Breasts
1 family pack of Chicken Legs
Carrots, Onions, Celery
Water
Seasoning of your choice
about 1/3 cup of rice, pasta of your choice and amount
Soy Sauce
Ground Ginger
(sometimes very little of “better than bouillon” soup base)
Prepared Bisquick Dumplings
Salt & Pepper (and maybe other spices if you wish)
1 Great Grandmother’s Pot
Instructions
So I cook the chicken, celery and unpeeled carrots and onions together. When the chicken is done, I de-bone and skin, then return the bones and skin to the pot to reduce the stock. Once the stock is complete, I strain the stock to remove bones, skin, meat and veggies (discard those) and decide if I need more water. If more water is needed, then I add a LITTLE “better than bouillon soup base”. VERY LITTLE. I add rice, chopped celery, peeled and chopped carrots and onions. I season with salt and pepper, soy sauce and ground ginger. You can add your own spice. The soup must be boiling, but not rolling. It must maintain temperature when we add further ingredients, so just before you add more, then turn up the heat temporarily depending on your stove. Let the soup simmer for 10 minutes. Add pasta and chopped chicken, then add spoonfuls of dumpling
The pot is filled with chicken legs and split chicken breasts, unpeeled carrots and onion, celery and water filled to 1" above the stuff.
mixture over boiling soup. The steps of adding pasta and chicken mustn’t drop the temperature too much…the boiling must recover quickly or you’ll overcook the pasta and veggies. If the boiling gets rolling, the dumplings fall apart. So once the dumplings are added, simmer with cover off for 10 minutes. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. Voila!! Your Chicken Coup Soup is done.
This is a really simple and uncomplicated recipe. You could simplify the stock part, but you’ll sacrifice the flavor. Bones, skin cartilage is REQuired – NO BONELESS CHICKEN. Skin-on meat and veggies add all sorts of nutrients, but final product needs peeled stuff for right texture. Soy sauce and ginger are my secret ingredients – but use cautiously!! – they can also ruin the dish. The dumplings thicken the soup quite nicely…but not too much as long as you haven’t added too much pasta and rice. I must also warn you that without the Pot, you may not get the same results. The pot is my other secret ingredient. I’ve tried this technique in other pots…it just doesn’t make the same soup. This pot makes A LOT of soup. Enough to feed our family for 2 meals – then left-overs! Thank you Laurette for giving this pot to us. It has found a nice home and we use it so often for many different things.
The finished product after we ate it. You can kinda get a hint of how much was in the pot by looking at the sides.
We also have another of her kitchen-ware…her cast-iron skillet. This is also an heirloom and thought to be her mother’s before hers. Our favorite thing to make in it is Double-corn Corn Bread. The cornbread mixture is poured into the hot oil-smoking skillet and placed into a heated oven. Nice-n-crispy, right sweetness and perfect everytime! That skillet makes the best steak, eggs – er anythin’ you wanna make in it. Man!
Filed under: Nosh
