With the cold winter fronts sweeping into California in full force over the next few weeks, most of us are sure to get sick sooner or later. Fortunately, there is an amazing ancient cure-all that we can all easily make for ourselves at home (and no, I’m not talking about medical marijuana). Most of us have had this home remedy for all ailments many times before, and the funny thing is that grandma’s all over the world continue to prescribe it – chicken soup!
Now some of you must be thinking, “Chicken soup is pretty good, but what is so special about stewed chicken and vegetables?” The answer, simply put is, a lot! In general, any time you stew animal bones with vegetables you are creating a nutrient rich liquid where all the good stuff in there is very easily assimilated. The reason is that there are a couple very special components that we find in animal bones – namely gelatin and marrow. When we stew the bones for long enough, these wonderfully tasty parts of the animal are also surprisingly healthy for us. On top of that, we always stew the chicken on the bone with a great deal of vegetables that are slowly simmered for quite some time. Once your soup is done you have a huge pot full of falling of the bone tender chicken, a nutrient rich broth full of gelatin, marrow and vitamins and minerals from the vegetables – and most importantly; it’s delicious! Even the fat from the chicken is healthy for us and it allows us to absorb the multitude of fat soluble minerals found in our food. Finally, the fact that most of our nutrients are floating around in the liquid makes them immediately available to us in our digestive track which is great because if you’re already sick your body barely has to work to absorb all the essential things it needs.
The best tasting and most healthy chicken soups are ones made with chicken that is still on the bone. My favorite preparation of a classic chicken soup, Jewish style because that’s true to my grandmas, is to rub your chicken pieces (generally butchered into breast, thigh, wings and drumsticks) with salt and pepper and then leave it in the fridge for a few hours so it absorbs the seasoning. Then cover it with water and simmer for 2-3 hours, basically until the meat is falling off the bone. In the meanwhile, rough chop an onion or two, a few cloves of garlic, two carrots and two pieces of celery. Heat up just a little oil in a sauté pan on high heat and cook the vegetables just until translucent. Add that into your pot with the chicken along with a couple bay leaves and even a few sprigs of fresh thyme if you have it around and after 20 minutes, viola, you have an incredible soup that not only tastes amazing but nourishes your body and soul.
