Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Recipes

Estelle’s Chicken Soup

Makes about 6 quarts, serving 8 to 10

EQUIPMENT

Large slotted spoon

10- to 12-quart stockpot

Tongs

INGREDIENTS

6 quarts chicken stock

1 (4-pound) chicken, preferably all-natural or organic, cut into 8 pieces

1 carrot, trimmed, peeled, and cut into ¼-inch cubes

1 small onion, cut into ¼-inch cubes

1 leek, white part only, trimmed, well-washed, and sliced very thinly

1 celery stalk, cut into ¼-inch slices

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional garnish: 12 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped; 1 bunch fresh chives, cut into whisper-thin pieces

METHOD

Use the slotted spoon to skim off the layer of solid fat that has risen to the top of the cold stock.

Combine the stock and the remaining ingredients (through celery) in the stockpot. Bring to a gentle simmer over high heat, watching so that it does not at any point go into a full boil, which will cause the stock to become cloudy. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 1½ hours, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Using a pair of tongs, carefully remove the chicken pieces from the soup. Set them aside until cool enough to pick the meat from the bones. Discard any gristle and the bones. Shred the meat, and return to the soup. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. If you’re serving the soup immediately, heat it through. Ladle into serving bowls, making sure everyone gets some chicken meat in their bowl, and garnish with the chopped herbs. If you’re serving it later, refrigerate or freeze immediately.

Excerpted from the book THE FREDS AT BARNEYS NEW YORK COOKBOOK by Mark Strausman; with Susan Littlefield. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Strausman. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Life & Style. All rights reserved.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.