Phase 1 – Roast a Chicken

Ingredients

• whole, raw chicken
• olive oil
• salt

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Remove chicken from package, and check in the body cavity (that hole between the legs that you can see in the picture) and see if you got the goody bag (ie: the innards), and remove it if so.
3. Rinse the chicken under cool, running water, making sure to get inside the body cavity. Pat skin dry with paper towels.
4. Place on a roasting pan (or a lipped baking sheet with a cooling rack set in it, if you don’t have a roasting pan), belly side up (like in the photo above). Rub skin with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Make sure not to get too much salt at this stage.
5. Place in oven (if the oven isn’t quite up to temp yet, that’s okay, you can go ahead and slide it in), and roast undisturbed for at least 45 minutes. A meat thermometer placed in the tissue between the drumstick and the thigh should read at least 165 Fahrenheit.
6. When done, pull out of oven and let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
7. Feel free to consume some of the meat from this, but make sure to strip some of the meat off the bones and set it aside in the fridge to put in the soup later.

Phase 2 – Make the Bone Broth

Ingredients

• Chicken carcass (bones, skin, any meat still left on the bones)
• Salt, preferably kosher or Pink Himalayan salt.
• 1-2 onions (white or yellow)
• 3-4 whole carrots
• 3-4 ribs of celery
• apple cider vinegar
• water
• optional: fresh herbs. I prefer to use thyme, rosemary, and marjoram to season my broth. Parsley would be okay, too. ( Only if you have them on hand, and make sure to reserve some to use in the soup later.)

Directions

1. Next, you want to get your slow cooker  or large stock pot out and dump that chicken in there – all of it, except the meat that you pulled off. Do include the neck if you saved that as well.
2. Sprinkle the carcass with salt. Liberally.
3. Roughly chop your onions, carrots, and celery and toss it all in the pot as well, along with any fresh herbs you’re using.
4. Fill the pot with water (you want to cover the chicken as much as possible), and add a splash of apple cider vinegar (about 1-2 tablespoons).
5. Now, put a lid on your slow cooker, and set it to cook on low for as long as possible. For overall cooking time, I recommend a minimum of 18 hours, and no more than 48 hours.
6. If you’re cooking on the stove, after you have everything assembled in your stock pot, you’re going to put a lid on it, and bring it to a boil on the stove (so put it on high and leave it alone for several minutes). Once it’s boiling, turn it down to a low temperature where it still stays simmering and, other than stirring occasionally and checking the liquid level (add water if necessary), leave it alone for the next 18-24 hours.
7. Next, you’re going to need a strainer and a second pot (this one will be used on the stove). If you don’t have a fine, mesh strainer, you can use a regular colander. If you wish to filter out fine particulates, just line it with a tea towel, a piece of clean muslin, or a few layers of cheesecloth.
8. Strain your broth, and place it on the stove. You want it to stay warm at this point if you’re going straight into soup assembly, so turn that burner on medium-high.
9. Taste your broth. If it’s too strong, thin it with some water – but only a cup or two at a time, and stir thoroughly before you taste it again. If it’s too weak, let it come to a boil for a little while and some of the excess liquid will evaporate. Add some more salt at this point, too, if you think it needs it.

Phase 3 – Assemble the Soup

Ingredients

• chopped onion
• sliced carrots
• sliced celery
• herbs – approximately 1/2 tablespoon of each kind of herb if dry, or a couple of tablespoons of fresh. I like to use thyme, rosemary, and marjoram.
• at least 1 cup of chopped chicken (from the chicken you pulled off the bones before you made the broth)
• and a starch of some sort – noodles/pasta, chopped potatoes, 1/2 cup of rice, or 1/2 cup of barley

(All of the above are merely suggestions – do what you like with your soup!)

Directions

1. Once your broth is simmering again, go ahead and add the onion, carrot, and celery. If you’re putting in rice or barley or potatoes, go ahead and add it now too, because that will take at least 30-40 minutes to cook. If you add potatoes, start checking their tenderness at about 20 minutes. They will cook faster or slower dependent on what size you chopped them down to, and if you cook them too long they’ll turn into mush.
2. Once the carrots are tender, and (if added) the rice or barley is done, you can go ahead and add the herbs, and let the soup continue to simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the chicken, and any pasta you’re including. Cook for about 10 more minutes, or until the pasta is done and the chicken heated through.
4. Consume!