Chicken with Rice Soup for 60
480 oz chicken stock (we used Central Market 48oz)
5 cups white rice
1 lb bag of carrots (5 cups sliced)
1 bunch celery (5 cups sliced)
5 lb raw boneless chicken cubed
Salt & pepper
Method:
Gently heat the soup stock until it is just about to boil
and then turn down heat so that it bubbles.
Stir in sliced carrots and celery (which we prepared in the food process
with the thicker slicing blade). Cook
for 20 minutes or until crunch just comes off the vegetables. Add the cubed chicken and cook until meat
becomes firm. Add rice and the soup is
ready when the rice is cooked.
What we learned:
- It best to use two large pots to make this quantity of soup, so that it does not burn on the bottom and
- Adding the rice too early leads to broken, overcooked rice so we have added it at the end.
- Breast meat is tougher and less flavorful (though easier to cube) than thigh meat, but if cooked sufficiently each will work well. I found myself wishing we had some chicken back bones (removed before serving), and at least some of the chicken to have skin to give the broth some depth. Lack of depth was corrected by adding about a quarter cup of soy sauce to each pot, and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.
Start about 60 minutes before serving.
Adapted from How to Cook Everything, but Mark Bittmann, p128
