Posts
Chicken soup is a soup made from chicken, simmered with various other ingredients. The classic American chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often with pieces of chicken or vegetables; common additions are pasta (e.g., noodles, although almost any form can be used), dumplings, or grains such as rice and barley. Chicken soup has also acquired the reputation of a folk remedy for colds and flus, and in many countries is considered a comfort food.
Traditionally, American chicken soup was prepared using old hens too tough and stringy to be roasted or cooked for a short time. In modern times, these fowl are difficult to come by, and broiler chickens (young chickens suitable for broiling or roasting) are often used to make soup; soup hens or fowl are to be preferred when available.
Preparation
The chicken flavor of the soup is most potent when the chicken is simmered in water with salt and only a few vegetables, such as a mirepoix of onion, carrots, and celery.[citation needed] Variations on the flavor are gained by adding root vegetables such as parsnip, potato, sweet potato and celery root, herbs such as parsley, dill, other vegetables such as zucchini, whole garlic cloves or tomatoes and black pepper. The soup should be brought slowly to a boil and then simmered in a covered pot on a very low flame for one to three hours, adding water if necessary. A clearer broth is achieved by skimming the film of congealed fat off the top of the soup as it is cooking, first bringing the chicken to boil from a pot of cold water and discarding the water before continuing, or straining it through a strainer or cheesecloth. Saffron or turmeric are sometimes added as a yellow colorant.
[edit]Nutritional value
Chicken soup can be a relatively low fat food: fat can be removed by chilling the soup after cooking and skimming the layer of congealed fat from the top.[1] A study determined that "prolonged cooking of a bone in soup increases the calcium content of the soup when cooked at an acidic, but not at a neutral pH".[2]
[edit]Terminology
Several terms are used when referring to chicken soups:
- Chicken stock is a liquid in which chicken bones and vegetables have been simmered for the purpose of serving as an ingredient in more complex dishes. Chicken stock is not usually served as is. Stock can be made with less palatable parts of the chicken, such as feet, necks or bones: the higher bone content in these parts contributes more gelatin to the liquid, making it a better base for sauces. Stock can be reboiled and reused as the basis for a new stock. Bouillon cubes or soup base are often used instead of chicken stock prepared from scratch.
- Chicken broth is the liquid part of chicken soup. Broth can be served as is, or used as stock, or served as soup with noodles. Broth can be milder than stock, does not need to be boiled as long, and can be made with meatier chicken parts.
- Chicken bouillon or bouillon de poulet is the French term for chicken broth.
- Chicken consommé is a more refined chicken broth. It is usually strained to perfect clarity, and reduced to concentrate it.
- Chicken stew is a more substantial dish with a higher ratio of solids to broth. The broth may also be thickened toward a gravy-like consistency with aroux or by adding flour-based dumplings (matzah balls do not have the same thickening effect).
- While any soup in which chicken has been simmered or with a chicken stock base is, strictly speaking, a chicken soup, chicken soup, unless qualified, implies that the soup is served as a thin broth, possibly with pieces of meat, vegetables, noodles, rice or dumplings.
- Cream of chicken soup is a thick, creamy soup made with chicken stock and pieces combined with milk and/or cream and flour which may or may not contain vegetable pieces depending on the recipe.
[edit]Medicinal properties
Chicken soup has long been touted as a form of folk medicine to treat symptoms of the common cold and related conditions. In 2000, scientists at theUniversity of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha studied the effect of chicken soup on the inflammatory response in vitro. They found that some components of the chicken soup inhibit neutrophil migration, which may have an anti-inflammatory effect that could hypothetically lead to temporary ease from symptoms of illness.[3] However, since these results have been obtained from purified cells (and directly applied), the diluted soup in vivo effect is debatable. The New York Times reviewed the University of Nebraska study, among others, in 2007 and concluded that "none of the research is conclusive, and it's not known whether the changes measured in the laboratory really have a meaningful effect on people with cold symptoms."[4]
[edit]Chicken soup in different cultures
[edit]Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, chicken soup is often seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar.
[edit]China
Many Chinese soups are based on chicken broth. Typical Chinese chicken soup is made from old hens and are seasoned with ginger, scallions, black pepper, soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. A more elaborate version can be made from freshly killed old hen and various herbs such as ginseng, dried goji, and old ginger root. The soup is then boiled for hours. In Taiwan-style chicken soup dried jujube fruits, tea, and other various herbs also sometimes added. The Korean samgyetang bears a similar resemblance to Taiwanese soup, but it is lighter in color and contains glutinous rice.
[edit]Colombia
Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, is known for a version of chicken soup called ajiaco. Along with chicken, ajiacotypically includes sweetcorn, several types of potatoes, avocado, capers, an herb called guascas, and is served with a dollop of cream.
Sancocho de Gallina is another popular dish throughout Colombia and in neighboring countries. This is a broth that includes entire pieces of (often rather tough) soup hen on the bone with large pieces of plantain, potato, cassava and/or other vegetables. A bowl of Sancocho is usually an entire meal. (Other Colombian sancochos include beef and fish-based broths prepared and served similarly). There are Region, as in Medellin — Antioquia, that some people enjoy Sancocho with lemon
[edit]Denmark
The Danish hønsekødssuppe is traditionally served with small dumplings, meatballs and cubed vegetables.[5]
[edit]France
The French serve chicken-based forms of bouillon and consommé. Typical French seasoning for chicken soup includes: bay leaves, fresh thyme, dry white wine and garlic.
[edit]Germany
In Germany homemade chicken soup typically consists of chicken broth, to which spices and semolina dumplings or Spätzle noodles are added. Another dish made with chicken broth, pieces of chicken, boiled vegetables, and spices is known as Hühnereintopf, meaning chicken stew. Alternatively, homemade noodles may be added to the chicken broth, without vegetables, and with only pickling spice and salt and pepper added to it.
[edit]Greece
In Greece, chicken soup is most commonly made in the avgolemono ("egg-lemon") fashion, wherein beaten eggs mixed with lemon are added to a broth slowly so that the mixture heats up without curdling, also adding rice or pasta like kritharáki ("little barley;" orzo), resulting in a thicker texture; it is a traditional remedy for colds, stomach aches, and hangovers.
[edit]Hungary
Hungarian chicken soup is a clear soup, a consommé, called Újházi chicken soup.[6] A consommé with entire pieces of chicken, chicken liver and heart, with chunky vegetables and spices like whole black peppercorn, bay leaves, salt and ground black pepper. The vegetables boiled along with the pieces of chicken are usually carrots, celeriac, parsley root[7] and parsnip. Soup vermicelli, semolina dumplings or thin Spätzle noodles or small dumplings are also added to the soup. Even other vegetables may be used, such as green peas, a whole tomato and whole onions boiled along with the soup, mushrooms, asparagus,celery, green pepper, cauliflower, kohlrabi, green beans or parsley, in different combinations.
[edit]Indonesia
In Indonesia chicken soup might appear as sayur sop, vegetable and chicken broth soup that contains chicken pieces, potato, green beans, carrot, celery, and fried shallot.[8] Another chicken soup variant commonly found across the country is soto ayam;[9] a turmeric yellow spicy chicken soup with vegetables and noodle or vermicelli, served with steamed rice, pieces of lontong or ketupat.[10]
[edit]European Jews
Chicken soup is a traditional dish of the Jewish kitchen. The 12th-century rabbi and physician Maimonidestouted the benefits of chicken soup to one's health.[11]
Ashkenazi Jews were often very poor, but chicken-raising required few resources.[11] Most Jewish families would try to acquire at least one chicken for Shabbat and try to make the most of it, using as much of the chicken as they could. Dishes such as chopped liver, helzel (stuffed chicken neck), gribenes (crackling made from fat and skin), pupik (roasted gizzards), p'tcha (chicken feet) were born of poverty-driven necessity.Chicken fat was rendered into schmaltz and used for cooking. The remaining carcass was used to prepare the soup.
The soup is prepared with herbs like parsley and fresh dill or thyme, was often served with kneidlach (matzah balls), kreplach (dumplings), aaaa
Posted via email from WellCare
No comments:
Post a Comment