Mom's Chicken Soup

Call it a broth, consomme or whatever but to me it's a "soup". That's what we call it in Canto anyway.

Super SUPER easy. It just takes some time. Mom always uses a whole chicken (skinned so that it's less oily) but I use chicken carcasses. I find that if you use two carcass for a large dutch oven, it's good. I'll use a 3L pot for one carcass. This takes a while, but it's so yummy. I used fresh goji berries for the soup that's pictured, but if you use the dried goji berries, it gives the soup a deeper red colour.

You can get the dried goji berries and dried Chinese yams in Chinese medicine shops or Chinese supermarkets. The goji berries would usually be labeled wolfberries and the Chinese yams would be labeled dioscorea opposita. Thank goodness I know what they look like because I always have a hard time remembering their Chinese names and I never had a clue what their English names were. Just imagine me poking around an Asian supermarket at the bags of Chinese herbs with the English names. Now THAT was a whole new experience. Totally different than going to Chinatown with Mom to shop for these things.


Mom's Chicken Soup
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole skinless chicken, or 2 skinless chicken carcasses (skin on will produce more fat to skim off later)
• 1/4 cup fresh wolfberries (goji berries), or 3 Tbsps dried wolfberries (goji berries), rinsed
• 3 pieces dioscorea opposita (dried Chinese yam)
• 2 inches knob of ginger, smashed
• Water
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Throw everything into a large (5.4L or so) pot or dutch oven. Add enough water to fill the pot/dutch oven 3/4 of the way up with water. Bring to a gentle boil. 
2. Skim off any scum that surfaces. Lower heat to the lowest setting. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
3. After 2 hours, bring the soup back to a boil. Skim off remaining scum and oil. Season with salt.

The soup can be made in a slow cooker. I've dumped the chicken carcasses (frozen or fresh) into a slow cooker with everything else and just cooked it for 6 hours on low. It works fine. Just harder to skim off all the scum and oils at the end because the soup isn't boiling. Still good though!