>>I make, well, my mother still makes, quite a decent chicken soup.
>>
>>Help me make this a dish well worth inheriting.
>
>Simmer, don't boil the chicken with onion, garlic, celery, thyme and
>a bay leaf. Discard the onion, garlic, celery and bay leaf. The
>thyme will almost disappear in the broth. I find it really, really
>easy to de-bone the chicken while it is still quite warm. The meat,
>bones and fat come apart very easily. It's much harder to do when the
>chicken is cold. I still put the liquid in the fridge overnight and
>take the congealed fat off the next day. Cover and refrigerate the
>chicken meat separately. I would prefer to get all the liquid that I
>needed by cooking the chicken in the required amount of water to give
>it flavor. I wouldn't add water the next day because I think that
>thins the flavor. If you are cooking for yourself and no salt
>sensitive folks are eating with you, I would add some salt.

So add a whole onion, some cloves of garlic (I'll probably throw in a
whole head. I like garlic.), several stalks of celery, and bunch of
thyme, a bay leaf, (and some sage) while cooking the chicken rather than
when cooking the whole soup? Plus, don't re-cook the chicken, like
PicoRico said.
Definitely worth a try.
And I think she adds a box a stock rather than just all water. It
doesn't taste much thinned out. But point made. Thanks.