"LurfysMa" > wrote in message
...
>I have a couple more questions about chicken stock and chicken soup.
>
> 1. About how many cups of soup can (should) be made from 1 cup of
> stock? The online recipes vary wildly, but it seems that a rough rule
> of thumb might be something like 1 cup of water for 1 cup of stock. Is
> that a reasonakle place to start and then adjust to taste and feel?
>
> 2. What is the advantage of making the stock first and then making the
> soup as opposed to making the soup directly? One advantage is time and
> the ability to do them at different times. But if I have the time to
> do it all at once, is there any reason to do it in two steps?
>

1) It all depends on how flavorful the stock is and how much flavor will
come from the other ingredients you will be adding. There's no rule of thumb
to follow.

2) No reason for 2 steps other than convenience.

Here's how I do it:

Put a whole raw chicken in a stock pot and add enough water to cover. Bring
to a simmer and cook until the meat is cooked - perhaps 30-40 minutes.
Remove the meat from the chicken and put the bones and skin back in the pot
along with onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns, salt - or whatever
you want in your stock. Simmer for another hour or 2 then strain and discard
the solids. Here's your stock, and it will be really good! Bring back to the
simmer and start adding the other ingredients - carrots, mushrooms,
potatoes, whatever you want, timing each addition according to the cooking
time for that ingredient. If you are using noodles or rice, cook them
separately and add at the end to prevent the starch from cloudling the soup.
Add the reserved meat at the end.


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm