To make chicken soup, is it really necessary to boil bones for an hour?

[Lanshark]

To speed up the process a bit and add extra flavor I sometime start with a store bought roasted chicken. I still simmer it as long as possible and add celery, onions and seasonings but it makes for a pretty rich broth

 

[java]

For speedy chicken soup I use a rotiserre chicken. Pick all the meat off.

Saute some carrots and onions in some butter
Put the carcass into Chicken Stock(I use low sodium stuff) cook for as long as you want. Strain and then add to the carrots and onions. Throw in the meat. Simmer for as long as it takes to heat through- the longer the better. But I've done it in 30 minutes and it was still yummy (I add in some rice about 10 miutes before I want to be done.

 

[sunnyday123]

Oh Dear God after reading all this boiling of the carcass, I don't htink I'll ever eat chicken soup again!

I am a user of broth in a box.

 

[clutter]

Chicken broth is simple but it does need to simmer for a long time. Luckily you hardly even need to watch it. Just set it up, skim and let it simmer for hours:

Ingredients

* 2-1/2 pounds bony chicken pieces
* 2 celery ribs with leaves, cut into chunks
* 2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
* 2 medium onions, quartered
* salt to taste
* 2 quarts cold water

Directions

* Place all ingredients in a soup kettle or Dutch oven. Slowly bring to a boil; reduce heat. Skim foam. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
* Set chicken aside until cool enough to handle. Remove meat from bones. Discard bones; save meat for another use. Strain broth, discarding vegetables and seasonings. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Skim fat from surface. Yield: about 6 cups.

This is the way I do it, except that I take the white meat off after about an hour, the dark meat off later. Then I continue cooking the bones for hours. I use the broth for cooking, rather than for soup. But last week, I had some soup, and baby was it good!!! I also use the canned or boxed kind (Swanson's low fat/sodium). Some dishes can use canned, some have to have homemade.

I do this most every weekend, and it smells so good. (Will do today, yesterday was 50s Prime Time pot roast in the crock pot, boy did that smell good all day!)

 

[punkin]

This is the way I do it, except that I take the white meat off after about an hour, the dark meat off later. Then I continue cooking the bones for hours. I use the broth for cooking, rather than for soup. But last week, I had some soup, and baby was it good!!! I also use the canned or boxed kind (Swanson's low fat/sodium). Some dishes can use canned, some have to have homemade.

I do this most every weekend, and it smells so good. (Will do today, yesterday was 50s Prime Time pot roast in the crock pot, boy did that smell good all day!)

That's a really good idea. Another thing I sometimes do is take the breast meat off the bone before cooking and use the boneless skinless chicken breasts in another recipe (usually a stir fry since that's a good way to stretch 2 breasts to feed 4 people). The rest of the chicken makes a great stock, even without the breast meat, as long as the bones are cooked a long long time.

I have used canned stock in a pinch, but I really like homemade better and usually have some frozen on hand whenever I need it.

 

[crazelion]

Thanks for everyone explain the different terms to me.

 

[mjkacmom]

I cheat. I used canned broth, and boil up split chicken breasts in there for 15 - 20 minutes, take out the chicken, and then start making the soup (veggies first, then chicken and noodles). Tastes great!

 

[AntePrincess]

LOL, I simmer the carcass in a cheesecloth bag and a bouquet garni, then a hefty dash of wine, until the bones have leached so much calcium they're crumbly. My broth forms a firm gel once strained and chilled, reportedly broth made this way has a comparable calcium content to milk. All I know is that it is a serious broth, holds up to anything I make with it, smells and tastes great, costs nothing, and one quart of broth lasts forever because it's essentially concentrate.