No Mrs Clucky didn’t get put in the pot!
But we’ve had our share of colds in this house for over a week.
Why oh why didn’t I remember Jewish Mothers chicken soup? Well luckily its come back to me just in time, since my partner’s now down with a dose of the dreaded lurgy (all my fault of course, I had it first.) But at least I still had the energy to pop down to the Co-op and get a chicken.
My mother was very keen on Jewish chicken soup although we are not Jewish. She got the idea from working in the fashion industry as a young women in the West End of London where many Jewish families lived making their living as tailors.
She would buy a chicken, boil it for about 3 hours, throw away the chicken and drink the broth with not much else added.
It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you chop up the whole chicken add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper and boil for say an hour or so. If froth comes to the surface drain it off. Let it cool and put it in the fridge overnight so you can scoop the fat off.
Added niceties can be a chopped onion, a couple of carrots, or a stalk of celery. One recipe I read said add dill or a herb bundle.
I looked up the origins on line today, and some say it was first popular in Russia as chicken was their main food source. However chicken soup is still served as part of a Shabbat meal in most Jewish homes, at festivals and weddings and as a general cold weather pick-me-up.
There is even some medical evidence that suggests it is good for the system and in relation to colds it frees up mucus and makes for a quicker recovery.
My own personal cold remedy ideas are:
1. Breathing a pinch of old fashioned menthol crystals diluted in boiling water a couple of times a day.
2. A hot toddy of lemon, whisky and half a spoonful of honey.
3. Of course a couple of lemsips can come in handy, but with a few bowls of Jewish mothers chicken soup, a hot toddy and at least you can be cheerful and snuggle up in bed until it blows over.
No we’re not about to eat this lot either, they are strickly egg laying
and escaped from next doors garden!
Ann Perrin 