Chicken Soup for a Cold Day
Cold and icy here in Lincoln today, so I thought it time to do a chicken soup ala Dan Bauer. I think my Mom makes better. Her secret is do the vegetables once to make the broth, strain them off, and then add new ones to make a vitamin and flavor-packed miracle broth. But that’s her recipe, and I digress. You will see in one of the photos that my buddy Snoop thought it smelled quite good…
1 whole fryer chicken
2 12oz. cans/bottles of beer
2 cans chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 elephant garlic clove)
3 cups brown rice
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp parsely
1 tbsp rosemary
4-5 bay leaves
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
cayenne pepper
ground black pepper
salt
Heat olive oil in a frying pan.
Remove the wings and legs at the joint from the whole chicken. You’ll have both bones of each wing, and the leg/thighs as 4 big pieces. Slice chicken meat from both sides of the breast. Discard the carcass, reserving the breast meat, wings, legs and thighs. Salt and pepper these, then add them to hot oil, stirring constantly over high heat to brown them. When the chicken is lightly browned on all sides, and the meat getting white, add vegetables and onions and continue stirring. Remove from heat.
Scoop chicken and vegetables, bones, juice and all into a large pot or kettle. Raise heat, then add water, broth, and beer. After this comes to a boil reduce to a simmer. Continue simmering on low heat with your pot remaining covered for a few hours. Using tongs, Pull out your large pieces of chicken and slice them/remove bones. You could remove all the bones to start, but I wanted them in there to add flavor…
Next add rice and spices, then return to a rapid boil. Keep covered, so your rice will pressure cook. When rice is just tender, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and serve.
Note: you can also pull this off in a crock pot. I did originally, but I settled on my big kettle later on because I wanted it done. It gets to smelling really good, and if you’re hungry then the big pot gives you more control.
