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Thoughts from an Epicure: Soup makes you warm – making it and eating it

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To say I dislike winter would be an understatement. However, once I started cooking, I found I could forget the cold.
Winter is a great time to bake, cook roasts, and make soup. All help keep the kitchen warm. Our old Victorian can get cool. I spend a lot of time in our kitchen, easier because we work from home. One of my favorite winter foods is soup.
We have roasted chicken often. I save every bone, excess skin, and all fat, freezing it until I have enough to make a soup-pot full of stock. I put the frozen chicken parts in the pot, adding enough water to cover about two inches.
Bring it to a boil, skim it, and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. I allow it to simmer covered for at least three hours, then remove the lid and let it simmer for another hour. I next put the uncovered pot in a sink of cold water, adding more cold water as the “sink water” is warmed.
Once the stock has cooled, I pour it through a colander into a large plastic container. After the stock is in the fridge overnight, I skim the fat and either make soup or put the stock into smaller containers to freeze until needed.
I don’t add anything else while making it because I never am sure how I might use it. Generally, I make soup, which is when I add the veggies for whatever I’m making. If you want to make soup but don’t have the time or chicken parts to make stock, there are a few different brands in supermarkets.

I usually have a container on hand in case I need stock to thin a dish. Some of the commercial stocks have simple soup recipes printed on the containers.
Soup makes you warm, both making it and eating it.
Enjoy and stay safe!

If you have suggestions or questions for this column, please contact me directly at guthrielarason@verizon.net.


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