BURF President William R. Jackson shared this chicken soup recipe with his daughter soon after she started living on her own:
Notwithstanding Campbell's attempts to be the gold standard of chicken soup, everyone knows that real chicken soup, the soup of magical power, does not come from a can. It is homemade. But here begins one of the great divides in our society. The neighbor's chicken soup is not my chicken soup. In fact I am as likely to find someone else's chicken soup heretical as I am to find it comforting. What follows is my personal philosophy of chicken soup, some of the basic principles, and some specifics developed over many years of making and eating chicken soup. Although many would disagree, these principles will apply to turkey soup as well.
One of the key ideas of chicken soup is maximizing the utilization of resources, appealing to the inner satisfaction that comes with frugality. Thus the need for the first and only essential ingredient: bones from a roasted chicken. To contemplate making chicken soup without first having roasted a chicken is pure folly. The roasted chicken should be enjoyed as a meal fresh from the oven while the skin is still crisp. Just remember to save some of the meat and all of the bones for the soup. How much meat you save will test the degree to which you have developed the ability to postpone current pleasure for future reward. When cleaning up from the first pleasure, make sure to save the juices that have collected on the serving platter and in the bottom of the roasting pan. The roasting pan will require the addition of some boiling water to dissolve the caked on brown bits. These are a rich source of flavor and color for the soup and since you have to get them out to clean the pan anyway, you might as well be rewarded for your efforts.
With the meat picked off, the bones are ready to be boiled. Throw in any leftover skin and that thing that came with the chicken but you didn't know what to do with, the neck. Boil the bones for at least half an hour then pour the liquid into a container to cool. The fat will rise to the surface and should be removed.
By now you have defatted chicken stock and chicken. What you do next will make it your chicken soup. My chicken soup contains carrots, onion, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, egg noodles, summer savory, pepper, white wine (dry vermouth) and, of course, chicken which has been cut in cubes. Every batch is different. That's why I like to make chicken soup. I have a general idea of what my chicken soup is like and then try to make it come out that way. I do a lot of tasting along the way.
Making chicken soup is like the rest of life: to know how to make it, you have to make some. Each time you make another batch, you test yourself, you apply experience and wisdom from the last time, and you hope for a good outcome. You make final adjustments to the flavor of the batch and then eat before it gets cold. Finally you clean up the mess and go on to something else.
William D. Jackson is president of the Brown University Research Foundation.