It is a highly concentrated bird soup that was used extensively in the past to help people who are most frail, sick or who have overcome severe illnesses to recover quickly. It is also called “Jewish aspirin” because this custom of soup intended for colds was very present in the families of Jewish merchants in Moldova and was believed to be one of the health secrets that mothers and grandmothers used for their always red-cheeked grandchildren and take a bite However, it is still used today, in different versions, not only by us, but also by Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs, so the authorship of the dish can be analyzed for a long time. The thing is, this soup is really invigorating and tasty, cheap and filling, so it’s worth a try.
We need:
One chicken plus one dish of chicken or goose, duck, turkey (in total about 2.5 – 3 kg of bone-in poultry meat), one large onion, one large potato, one clove of garlic, one carrot, one foil bay leaf, 7 whole cloves, salt, peppercorns, half a pepper and a slice of celery, green parsley
Preparation:
It is very important to use meat with a lot of bones, even from different types of birds. No soup will come out if we only use chicken breast and poultry concentrate! Or something other than this soup will come out … The ideal is to use a pressure cooker, but it can also be boiled in a regular pot. We put the pieces of meat with the well-washed bones (necks, wings, back, also legs) on the bottom of the pot, and on top we put the pieces of meat (thighs or breast). We pour cold water until it reaches two fingers above the level of the meat, add a little salt, partially cover the pot and let it boil. The foam will rise, which we collect, then put a cup of cold water and boil again. We collect the foam again and repeat 3-4 times, until no more foam forms. Add the whole peeled potato, whole peeled carrot, whole peeled onion, in which we have embedded the cloves, bay leaf, peppercorns, whole garlic and, if using, peppers or celery. We let it boil until they penetrate the breast or thighs, which we extract from the soup and let it cool. Fill the rest of the soup with enough water to cover the meat and vegetables for 2-3 fingers and cook for a long time, over low heat, preferably in the pressure cooker for 30-40 minutes or in the regular pot for at least an hour and a half , until the meat detaches from the bones and the liquid concentrates like a thin sauce. Separately, we choose pieces of boiled meat from the thighs or brisket, in another pot, and we can also add the boiled carrot and pepper, cut into pieces, for appearance. We drain the hot soup on this meat and adjust the taste with salt, pepper and green parsley. What remains after the effort is thrown away. It can only be used as dog and cat food if we have only used commercial chickens and cutlery with soft bones (pet birds have sharp bones and are harmful to pets). The concentrated soup can be served plain or with noodles or semolina dumplings cooked separately. It is used hot and those who tolerate chilli can successfully accompany it with something similar. It has an immediate warming and toning effect.