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'Chicken soup' is a soup made by boiling chicken parts or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such as rice and barley. Chicken soup has also acquired the reputation of a folk remedy for colds and flus, and in many countries including the United States is considered a classic comfort food.

Contents

Terminology

Curative powers

Chicken soup in different cultures

Britain

Belgian

Portugal/Brazil

Chinese

Colombian

Eastern European

French

German

Greek

Italian

Jewish

Korean

Mexico

United States and Canada

Chicken soup in history and media

Preparation

Nutritional value

References

External links

See also

Terminology

Several terms are sometimes confused when referring to chicken soup or chicken soups. The following is an attempt to clarify the terminology:

★ 'Chicken Stock' is a liquid in which chicken and vegetables have been boiled for the purpose of serving as an ingredient in more complex dishes. Chicken stock is not usually served as is. Stock can be made with less palatable parts of the chicken, such as feet, necks or bones: the higher bone content in these parts contributes more gelatin to the liquid, making it a better base for sauces. Stock can be reboiled and reused as the basis for a new stock.

★ 'Chicken Broth' is the liquid part of chicken soup. Broth can be served as is, or used as stock, or served as soup with noodles. Broth can be milder than stock, does not need to be boiled as long, and can be made with meatier chicken parts.

★ 'Chicken Bouillon' or 'Bouillon de Poule' is basically French for chicken broth. Bouillon cubes are often used nowadays instead of specially prepared chicken stock.

★ 'Chicken Consommé' is a more refined chicken broth. It is usually strained to perfect clarity, and reduced so as to give a concentrated essence of the broth flavor.

★ While any soup in which chicken has been boiled or with a chicken stock base is, strictly speaking, a chicken soup, the term 'Chicken Soup', unless qualified, implies that the soup is served as a thin broth with pieces of meat, vegetables or noodles.

Curative powers

According to food historians, chicken soup was already being prescribed as a cure for the common cold in Ancient Egypt. The 10th century Persian physician Avicenna also referred to the curative powers of chicken soup in his writings. In the 12th century the Jewish sage Maimonides wrote that chicken soup “has virtue in rectifying corrupted humours”, and recommended it as nutrition for convalescents; Maimonides also particularly recommended chicken soup for people suffering from hemorrhoids and the early stages of leprosy. ^[1].
In modern medicine, research conducted by Dr. Stephen Rennard, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, and his colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, suggests that there might be some scientific basis for the belief in the curative powers of chicken soup. They found that the particular blend of nutrients and vitamins in traditional chicken soup can slow the activity of certain white blood cells. This may have an anti-inflammatory effect that could hypothetically lead to temporary ease from symptoms of illness. Their research was published in 2000 in the scientific journal ''Chest''^[2]. This was not, however, an ''in vivo'' clinical trial, and did not demonstrate that chicken soup was the best foodstuff for this purpose.
Because it is simple to prepare, relatively cheap, nutritious, and easy on the digestive system, chicken soup is a good food for winter convalescents. Probably more significant, sipping warm soup can clear the sinuses because of the steam ventilating into the nasal passages, serving as a natural decongestant, which also relieves cold and flu symptoms. Last but not least, chicken soup can be beneficial due to the placebo effect of comfort foods.

Chicken soup in different cultures

Britain

Chicken Soup (or Broth) in Britain is a clear and watery soup with chunky vegetables (such as sweetcorn and peas), chicken and salt.

Belgian

The " Gentse-waterzooi" is a stew with chicken, vegetables and cream originally from Ghent, Belgium. A stew-like form of chicken soup is called Chicken Booyah, known in Wisconsin as “Belgian Penicillin”.

Portugal/Brazil

Chicken soup is known as Canja[1]. Canja is a chicken broth prepared with rice, diced carrots, and shredded chicken meat. It is seasoned with salt, onions, garlic, cumin and bay leaves. It is believed to help a person overcome colds, digestive problems, among other mild forms of sickness.

Chinese

Many East Asian soups are based on chicken broth. Typical Chinese seasoning for chicken soup includes: ginger, spring onions, black pepper, soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil.

Colombian

Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, is known for a version of chicken soup called ''ajiaco''. Along with chicken, ''ajiaco'' typically includes sweetcorn, potatoes, avocado, capers, an herb called ''guascas'', and is served with a dollop of sour cream.

Eastern European

In Bulgaria chicken soup is often seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar. The Polish sometimes serve ground almonds in their rosół: this was probably the basis for a form of croutons popular in Israel, known as soup almonds.

French

The French serve chicken-based forms of bouillon and consommé. Typical French seasoning for chicken soup includes: bay leaves, fresh thyme, dry white wine and garlic.

German

In Germany, homemade chicken soup typically consists of chicken broth to which kitchen herbs and (often) durum wheat noodles are added. Another dish based on chicken broth, chunks of chicken meat, boiled vegetables and kitchen herbs is known as Hühnereintopf, meaning ''chicken stew''. Another way of making Chicken soup from Germany is to make homemade noodles and add them to the chicken broth with no vegetables and just pickling spice, salt and pepper are added to it.

Greek

In Greece chicken soup is known as a traditional remedy for colds and for hangovers. The Greek variation of this soup is avgolemono, cooked with milk, lemon juice, rice, eggs and butter.

Italian

In Italy, chicken soup is often served with pasta, in such dishes as ''Cappelletti in brodo'', ''Tortellini in brodo'' and ''Passatelli''.

Jewish

The chicken soup is the traditional dish, often with matzah balls. Although poverty was rampant in the shtetl, chicken-raising required little land or financial investment^[3]. Every Jewish family would try to acquire at least one chicken in honor of the Shabbat meals, and would try to stretch it as far as it would go. Thus, every part of the chicken was used, leading to the creation of such dishes as p'tcha (chicken feet), pupiks (roasted gizzards), chopped liver, stuffed hezel (chicken neck), and schmaltz and greben (respectively, chicken fat and cracklings made from the fat and the skins). Chicken soup also proved to be a “recyclable” dish. Parts of the chicken—especially the breasts, which produce a more delicate flavor during the boiling process—were boiled as chicken soup and then reused afterwards in such dishes as kreplach, knishes, and blintzes. Tortelloni-like kreplach are traditionally added to the soup on the eve of Yom Kippur. Lokshen (flat egg noodles) are also a favorite Jewish addition to chicken soup. A traditional garnish, nowadays much less popular, was unlaid chicken eggs ^[4][5], taken from the inner organs of the hen and boiled in the soup. Herbs traditionally served with Jewish chicken soup are parsley and dill.

Korean

Samgyetang is a Korean chicken soup with Korean ginseng, dried jujube fruits, garlic, ginger and glutinous rice. It is held to be not only a cure for physical ailments but a preventer of sickness. Baeksuk, which is the Korean counterpart to the chicken noodle soup of the western culture, is also popular among Koreans for its power to cure minor illnesses such as a cold. While the chicken noodle soup, as the name suggests, has some noodles in it quite often times, Baeksuk does not contain any noodles.

Mexico

Caldo de pollo is a common Latin-American soup made with whole chicken pieces instead of chopped or shredded chicken, and large cuts of vegetables, such as half-slices of potatoes and whole leaves of cabbage.

United States and Canada

In the United States and Canada, chicken soup often has noodles in it, thus giving it its common name of “Chicken Noodle Soup.” The term may have been coined in a commercial for Campbell’s soup in the 1930’s. The original 21 varieties of Campbell’s condensed soup featured a “chicken soup with noodles”, but when it was advertised on the “Amos & Andy” radio show in the 1930s, by a slip of the tongue, the soup was referred to as “Chicken Noodle Soup.” Campbell’s then changed the name of their commercial brand. “Chicken Noodle Soup” is consistently one of the bestselling varieties of Campbell’s soup.

Chicken soup in history and media

★ When Manilal Gandhi, son of Mahatma Gandhi, contracted typhoid and pneumonia, a doctor recommended chicken soup and eggs. As strict vegetarians, his parents would not agree to this, but Manilal received treatment and recovered.

★ Chicken soup is mentioned in John Steinbeck’s ''East of Eden'': "And Tom brought him chicken soup until he wanted to kill him. The lore has not died out of the world, and you will still find people who believe that soup will cure any hurt or illness and is no bad thing to have for the funeral either."

★ Both Maurice Sendak’s ''Chicken Soup with Rice'' and his animated film and stage production ''Really Rosie'' (with music by Carole King) make multiple references to the dish.

★ There is a series of books entitled ''Chicken Soup for the Soul''.

★ ''Chicken Soup'' was the title of a short-lived 1989 ABC sitcom starring Jackie Mason.

★ Chicken Noodle Soup is a popular children’s song by Gibbs promoting Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

★ “Chicken Noodle Soup” feat. Young B. was made into a popular hip-hop song by DJ Webstar.

Preparation

The flavor of the chicken in chicken soup is most potent when the chicken is boiled in water with salt and only a few vegetables, such as onion, carrots, and celery. Variations on the flavor are gained by adding root vegetables such as parsnip, potato, sweet potato and celery root, herbs such as parsley and dill, and other vegetables such as zucchini, whole garlic cloves or tomatoes. The soup should be brought to a boil and then simmered in a covered pot on a very low flame for one to three hours, adding water if necessary. Seasonings such as black pepper can be added. A clearer broth is achieved by skimming the film of congealed fat off the top of the soup as it is cooking; the broth can be further clarified by straining it through a strainer or cloth. Saffron or turmeric are sometimes added as a yellow colorant. It has also been said that the amount of scum can be reduced by first bringing the chicken to boil from a pot of cold water and discarding it before continuing.

Nutritional value

Chicken soup can be a relatively low fat food: fat can be removed by chilling the soup after cooking and skimming the layer of congealed fat from the top. The nutritional value of chicken soup can be boosted by adding turkey meat to chicken soup recipes: turkey is a richer source of iron. Research has also shown that the longer the cooking time of soups containing meat and bones, the higher the calcium content of the soup.

References

1. Ohry, A, Tsafrir, J. (1999) Is Chicken Soup an Essential Drug? ''Canadian Medical Association Journal''. '161' (12)

2. ''Chest'', volume 118, pages 1150-1157: “Chicken Soup Inhibits Neutrophil Chemotaxis ''In Vitro''”
3. Chicken Soup - Culinary Poetry and Its Secrets
4. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/dining/07eggs.html?ex=1328504400&en=4baf21b1f8cba27b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "What the Egg Was First", ''The New York Times''
5. http://www.soupsong.com/sharris.html "Chicken soup with unborn egg yolks", from the "soupsong" website


★ Aish HaTorah Women’s Organization (1987). ''The Taste of Shabbos: The Complete Sabbath Cookbook''. Jerusalem:Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 0-87306-426-7.

★ definitions and history of stock, broth, bouillon and consommé from various sources

★ Rennard, BA, Ertl, RF, Gossman, GL, ''et al''. (2000). Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro. ''Chest''. '118', 1150-1157

★ Ohry, A, Tsafrir, J. (1999) Is Chicken Soup an Essential Drug? ''Canadian Medical Association Journal''. '161' (12)

External links

★ Cold yogurt chicken soup recipe

★ International chicken soup recipes at www.soupsong.com

★ recipes for stock and for broth

★ PBS article on Rennard’s study

★ Consumer's Market article on Rennard’s study

See also

★ Tabatchnick Fine Foods