hi I'm John and I'm a level one chef I'm
Gabriella and I'm a level two chef I'm
Frank and I've been a chef for 23 years
this is actually my mother's recipe and
she always made it for us in the winter
when neither we were sick or it was cold
I love to eat this in the winter this is
my go-to for pleasing other people and
making a nice hearty stock my recipe for
chicken soups is slightly different than
most people's chicken soup it's kind of
a mix of my grandmother's in my own
recipe let's start with the chicken I
like to use whole chicken breasts with a
bone in to flavor my chicken soup I find
that the flavor adds another texture
another richness to the soup that you
don't get if you're just using the
chicken without the bone I prefer in my
chicken soup to use strictly the legs
and that's just because that's the way
my dad has always done it for my recipe
I like to use whole chickens you get not
only the bones to make the broth or the
stock but you also get the meat for the
soup so the first thing I do is take off
the wings and then we're gonna take off
the breasts and the thighs I cut on both
sides of the breastbone and I'm just
gonna take the meat away from the bone
okay so I take off the breasts I'm gonna
put them over here cut the thigh and the
leg apart there's some connective tissue
in there that actually adds some gelatin
to the soup that's gonna give it that
nice kind of rich almost like a little
bit of stickiness I like to use chicken
breast because it has a lot of that
great white meat you could swap it out
for drumsticks or thigh meat but I
really like how the breast has a lot of
white meat you're more than welcome to
make chicken soup with any other part
but I really like the dark meat I think
it gives it a nice hearty flavor and add
some extra fattiness to it to get ready
to make my stock for my soup I'm gonna
roast these chicken bones it's gonna
draw out some of the fat it's gonna
concentrate some of the flavor in the
chicken and it's going to turn nice and
golden brown I'm gonna roast these bones
for stock and I actually keep this skin
on the chicken as it cooks in the soup
and I feel like your flavors it as well
adds a little fat but then I'll go ahead
and remove the skin before I'm ready to
serve it
okay so my bones are roasted they have a
really nice brown color to them I have
them just so that the juices have
reduced a little and stuck to the bottom
of the pan this is called a Fond Fon D
and it's kind of the foundation for a
lot of good sauces and stocks so in
order to get some of this nice these
nice brown bits of this Fond off on the
bottom of the pan I'm gonna put a little
water on it and put it aside and let it
sit okay so now I'm going to make my
base bras are super easy because you
just kind of put everything in all at
once I'm using a standard mirepoix fancy
word for celery carrots and onions I'm
gonna take a little bit that chicken fat
that I saved from my last batch and put
it into my pot I add my onions in got a
bachelor little garlic up this goes into
the pot as well my celery and go my
carrot and we're gonna let that just
lightly Brown a little so once my
vegetables start to get a little color
to them we're gonna add some tomato
paste and we're gonna do something that
the French call pin saj and that just
means basically lightly browning your
tomato paste and then I'm going to go
ahead and put in my chicken I'm gonna
add all the bones and all of the juice
to this all into the pot and we're gonna
add our water we're gonna in enough
water just to cover our bones at this
point I'm gonna let it come to a simmer
and then I'm gonna add all of my flavors
so my salt and my peppercorns I'm gonna
put a bay leaf in parsley just gonna
tear it up we have a little bit of thyme
I'm not too worried about putting these
in whole because I'm gonna strain this
out later
so I'm gonna actually let this boil and
then once it reaches a boil I'm gonna
turn it down to low and let it simmer
for 45 minutes to an hour so my stock
has been simmering for about an hour
hour and 15 minutes and it's reduced a
little you can see that my bones
and my chicken is is cooked if we've
done our job right all the vegetables
and the chicken will have given up their
flavor to the stop so we're gonna strain
it taking out all the chickens I'm gonna
go ahead and shred it so this is the
messy part obviously you do want to be
careful to not get any of the tendons
I'm just gonna try and be pretty
thorough that none of that's coming
through so now that I have my stock
we're gonna assemble the soup so I have
an array of vegetables and herbs here
that all go into the soup carrots celery
onion turn
parsnip and then I do a mix of dill and
fresh parsley
super simple really tasty you can
actually find all of these ingredients
usually packaged together in the
vegetable aisle of your supermarket
labeled under soup kit I have a little
bit of butcher twine it's just cotton
butcher twine and these are kind of the
same herbs I put in my stock this is
just gonna reinforce that flavor so I
take the parsley I take the time and I'm
just gonna tie those up it's gonna be
easy to fish out when I want to take it
out so first up our chicken breast just
so you don't have to touch them got a
handy-dandy fork here really simple
throw that right in the pot I always
like to start a little bit with onions I
like them to be slightly more done than
the rest onions always onions gonna have
my carrots so call it my celery then our
veggies carrots celery onions turnip and
parsnip saffron it really makes a
difference as a beautiful flavor to it
and some fun color so I'm gonna add some
tomato product tomato product just being
some pureed Tomatoes and this is again
just gonna add a little more body to my
soup it's gonna add a little more
richness tomatoes also add a little bit
of acid then I have my time and last but
not least to really bring home the
Mediterranean flavors I'm trying to work
with today I'm gonna go ahead and put in
the rosemary a little bit more salt some
a little fresh cracked black pepper I'm
gonna add my bouquet garni and then I'm
gonna add my stock and unless but not
least we have our herbs I like to use a
nice bunch of dill and a nice bunch of
fresh parsley and water so enough water
to fully cover all the vegetables all
the herbs the chicken and last but not
least some salt and you can see that I'm
not putting a ton of salt in it every
time I'm just hitting it a little here
and there I'm gonna go ahead and make
sure that my broth is coming back up to
a boil and then I'm going to add in the
white wine the veggies that I prep and
then the chicken that I shredded I
prefer a dry white wine I think that
that works really nicely with kind of
the hardiness of this soup the saffron
just adds just this fun little element
of like witness
who is she she's saffron gonna let this
come to a simmer and then we're gonna
add our chicken this is the chicken that
we butchered earlier we've roasted in
the oven didn't cook it all the way we
cooked it about 3/4 of the way we're
gonna add a little water all I really
want to do is release that fondue those
brown bits on the bottom of this pan so
while the water sits I'm gonna drop my
chicken into the soup so I'm taking all
these little brown bits off the bottom
of my pan I'm neezy gonna end up in this
soup now my soup is really going it's
been simmering for about an hour hour
and a half and I've went ahead and
removed the herbs we're gonna go ahead
and find our chicken breasts gonna
remove the skin and then take off all
the bones because I only want that
really juicy white meat I like this to
be chunky because I find that it adds a
nice texture and bite which when you go
in and get that nice big spoonful of
chicken soup add it right back into that
soup now I'm gonna add in some more xot
orso's in the pasta it's boiling gonna
do that for 10 minutes until it's al
dente you're gonna get a little bit in
every bite
but it's not gonna be the main focus I
like to use these medium pasta shells
and I like them cooked in the broth so
that over about 10-15 minutes
they really get nice and soft so while
the soup is cooking I'm gonna make my
dumplings and I'm gonna add into the
soup it's a very simple recipe cracking
egg into the bowl a little bit of that
chicken fat delicious it's gonna bolster
up that chicken flavor we're gonna add
some flour and a little bit of black
pepper fresh cracked if possible and
we're just going to mix it up this is
the consistency I'm looking for it's a
little sticky fairly firm and it holds
up by itself now that I have my dumpling
batter ready I'm gonna remove the
chicken just comes right out of the pot
I'm also gonna take out my bouquet garni
because that does not taste good nobody
wants to eat string in their soup so
we're gonna leave this on on fairly low
heat and then we're gonna add our
dumplings just take spoonfuls just plop
them in and once they start to float
well give them another couple of minutes
so that they have time to cook now I'm
gonna go ahead and add in the secret
ingredient the lemon juice it's gonna
make it taste really zesty
and lemony and Greek it's been about 15
minutes so I'm gonna go ahead and try my
pasta mmm perfect it's infused with the
flavors of the broth just how I like it
my dumplings are floating to the top so
I know they're ready and now we're gonna
move on to the final step adding the
chicken so we take it just gets put in
their soup and once it comes back up to
a simmer or ready to go sad and my soup
is fully cooked let's serve up a bowl
there's little a big scoop out it's a
really chunky soup which I love I'm
gonna get a nice helping of that chicken
and the chickens kind of make that base
for us and then we're gonna take a
couple of those nice dumplings and plop
them on top I try to get a mix of the
veggies the meat and the noodles for my
toppings I'm gonna add a little bit of
chives parsley a tarragon just some soft
herbs to give it a little bit of
freshness I like to do a little bit of
salt a little bit of pepper some grated
cheese pecorino romano
parmigiano-reggiano whatever you have
and then of course cuz it's chicken soup
you need to have some crushed up
saltines I'm going to top this with some
lemon zest and parsley the lemon zest is
just gonna add a little extra zing to
the flavor it's gonna really bring home
that lemon juice that we added into the
broth and there's my chicken soup hot
let's not use that please with a final
cut and this is my chicken soup and this
is my chicken soup and this is my
chicken soup
all right here we go I came out nice
really nice mm I'm happy with that mmm
oho good taste just like mom's the lemon
and the white wine and the broth so good
it's not necessarily what you would have
liked with your grandmother cooking it's
a little nicer than that but it's still
kind of soul satisfying it I don't think
I would change anything to be honest I
mean the way that I do it it's pretty
simple and I'm really happy with how it
turned out we saw three different chefs
make three different chicken soups John
use chicken breast Gabriele used
drumsticks and Frank used a whole
chicken well pretty much any part of a
chicken can be used to make chicken soup
whole chicken or darker cuts of meat
like the thighs or drumsticks work best
white meats as found in chicken breast
is mild and taste and benefits when
additional meaty flavor components are
added to the soup dark meat is more
game-like in flavor and has higher iron
calories and fat when compared to white
meat because many flavor compounds are
fat soluble dark meat tends to be
juicier due to its increased fat content
using a combination of the dark meat and
the white meat can heighten the taste of
your finished product
John and Gabrielle made a broth while
Frank made a stock a broth is water
similar vegetables aromatics and meats
and can include some bones I find as a
bone gives it just a little extra hearty
flavor a stock replaces the meats with
bones and is usually simmered for a
longer period of time done abroad they
extract collagen from the connective
tissue and bones and act as a thickening
agents for his base Frank roasted a
deboned chicken carcass and mayor
browning contributed new mommy
characteristics to the taste of the meat
tomato paste was also included in
Frank's base tomatoes give my soup a
little more body and weight the sugars
in the tomatoes caramelized creating a
rich earthy flavor that want me found in
John or Gabrielle's basis all three
chefs cook their soup on a stovetop its
radiant and conductive heat extracts all
the flavors from the ingredients which
in turn marry together to create a
flavorful fortified broth John added
turnips for an earthy sweet flavor and
parsnips for some nuttiness you'd be
remiss if you didn't add it
gabriele soup had saffron and white wine
smells delish saffron provides a musky
floral honey-like flavor the white wine
added acidity lightness and complexity
to her soup enhances the overall flavor
profile
Frank added chicken fat bay leaves and
crushed tomatoes to this soup the
crushed tomatoes add acidity bulk and
color
jarnia's pasta shells in his soup
Gabriele use orzo and Frank made
dumplings status' like these ball cup
soups are great at stopping up flavor
and break the monotony of the chicken
the amount of liquid of starch is able
to absorb and how concentrated the
starch grains are in the liquid affect
the thickness of the final dish
John topped his soup of grated cheese
and crushed crackers the cheese added
umami and savoriness offering complexity
while enhancing the taste of the other
ingredients Gabriele used lemon juice
the secret ingredients lemon zest and
parsley to finish hirsute lemon
brighten the soup and its acidity added
a refreshing aftertaste parsley is not
assertive but it gives the soup a light
fresh taste and look Frank also topped
his super tender herbs in addition to
parsley he added tarragon which has an
anis like taste and chives which have a
mild onion flavor whether you're
battling the common cold or just looking
to make a savory meal hopefully these
tips can help you out the next time
you're making your own chicken soup
[Music]
For this episode of '4 Levels,' we challenged chefs of three different levels - an amateur, a home cook and a professional - to make their versions of chicken soup. Once each of them had completed their culinary creation, we brought in a food scientist to review their work. Whose version of the classic sick-day remedy looks the most appetizng to you? Check out the level 3 recipe on the ICE blog: https://www.ice.edu/blog/epicurious-chicken-soup-recipe Still haven’t subscribed to Epicurious on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/epiyoutubesub ABOUT EPICURIOUS Browse thousands of recipes and videos from Bon Appétit, Gourmet, and more. Find inventive cooking ideas, ingredients, and restaurant menus from the world’s largest food archive. 4 Levels of Chicken Soup: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious