Around the Shabbat Table Read Online Free PDF Page A

or wings, and place in your largest stockpot, which should be tall and straight-sided. Add the water and about 1 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons of salt to begin with.
    TURN the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. As the soup cooks, keep skimming off any scum and fat that rise to the surface. When the soup begins to “smile,” that is, tiny bubbles open and close along the edge of the pot, turn the heat down to very low. Skim the soup constantly; at this point, you really need to fret over it. When the soup is just about clear, add the onions, parsnips, celery stalks and leaves, carrots, garlic, parsley sprigs, parsley root, leeks, peppercorns, and bay leaf, and raise the heat slightly to bring it back to a simmer. Continue skimming any froth or scum.
    WHEN the soup is again clear, turn the heat down as low as possible. Cover the surface of the soup with the leek greens or lettuce leaves, and put the pot lid on, leaving it slightly askew. Simmer the soup for at least 2 1 ⁄ 2 to 4 hours longer—overnight is better still. (Some cooks simmer their soup in a 200°F oven overnight.) Never let the soup boil; if necessary, use a blech (flame tamer), or put it on top of two burner grates stacked together. (But do make sure the bubbles are breaking very gently on the surface. If there is no surface movement at all, the soup might spoil.)
    ADJUST the seasonings. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken and carrots and set aside. Let the soup cool to room temperature in the pot, uncovered . (Hot soup in a covered pot may turn sour.)
    WHILE the soup is cooling, pick over the reserved chicken and discard the bones, skin, and other inedible parts. Reserve the chicken for another use or refrigerate along with the carrots to serve in the soup.
    STRAIN the cooled soup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing down on all the vegetables to extract as much of their juices as you can, then discard the vegetables.
    REFRIGERATE the soup covered overnight, or until all the remaining fat has congealed on the top. Carefully scrape off the fat and discard it. If the soup still seems fatty, line the sieve with a layer of paper towels and pour the soup through it into a clean bowl or pot (if the soup has jelled from chilling, bring it to room temperature first). If the paper towels become thickly coated with fat, you might want to change them once or twice during the process.
    BEFORE serving, reheat the soup. Taste for salt and pepper and add lots of fresh snipped dill. If you feel the soup is not strong enough, reduce it over high heat to concentrate the flavors. Serve the soup very hot, with additional fresh dill, the reserved carrots, and, if desired, shreds of the soup chicken. It is delicious with kreplach, matzoh balls, egg noodles, rice, kasha, or just plain.
    From Maimonides on, much has been made of the curative powers of Jewish chicken soup—“Jewish penicillin,” “the doctor that makes house calls,” and so on. Now, it seems, the doctor often needs “doctoring”—and not just in America. A friend in Verona, Italy, confessed that Italian Jews at times enhance their homemade soups with imported Israeli bouillon cubes for a needed jolt of flavor.
    Broth is no more than the simmered essence of its ingredients, and the problem here, of course, is the weakened flavor of the chicken itself. Traditional Jewish chicken soup was always made from a tough old hen with plenty of character. Today’s battery-feeding produces picture-pretty birds with lots of fat and little flavor. So how do you coax out enough flavor from a lackluster bird to make a splendid soup?
    Over the years I’ve gleaned some trucs for preparing excellent Jewish chicken soup.
    1.Start with the best-quality fowl you can find; kosher chickens make especially clear, flavorful soup, and organic kosher chickens are now available. If at all possible, buy feet, or at least some extra wings, to give the soup extra body. I find that although chicken