flemmings | (no subject)

That 'Japanese the Japanese Don't Know' manga has a Finnish student introducing himself. 'The Japanese think a lot of Finnish names sound weird' he says good naturedly. I thought the mangaka was being funny, but no- googling reveals that Minna and Henna are common female names, and Aho and Pantsu are actual surnames, alas. Dunno about Minna Aho, but Henna Pantsu is a real person.

Othrwise, just made the best veg soup ever, for certain definitions of ever.

I wanted a rotisserie chicken the other day, but the local super has gone upscale and its rotisserie chickens are free-range expensive beasties. So I went to buy half a rotisserie chicken from the deli. But turns out a whole chicken from the rack is only two dollars more than a deli half chicken specially served. So I bought a whole chicken, good for four meals, and then boiled the remains for stock. Boiled on three consecutive nights, as it happened, with a carrot or two and an onion, and half a dozen peppercorns and the greens from my noshing carrots, at least on the first night. Long slow simmering is apparently what stock needs.

Then I sieved everything out and threw in a bag of carrots and two sweet potatoes and a thumb-size chunk of ginger (minced) and quantum sufficit of rice. And boiled that an hour or so until done. Amazing. Sweet enough and tart enough and flavourful, and not a speck of salt in the mix. (Of course, I then eat it with smoked salmon on rye. Who needs salt with that?)

Not that I expect to be able to manage this level of awesome a second time. My carrot mush recipe is hit-and-miss: a hit when it hits but a distinct miss when it doesn't. Fortunately there are no-MSG chicken bouillon cubes for future undertakings, of which I now have a stash thanks to

i_am_zan.

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We actually have a few brands of canned chicken broth that are MSG free (Swanson's comes to mind). Not the strongest flavor but they are nice to have on hand to add to home-made stock and for emergency quick soups.

Another way to add extra flavor to soup stocks is to bake the bones for a short while before boiling them for days.

I've never tried sweet potatoes in my chicken soup. Sounds good.

You mean, bake the bones even of an already roasted chicken? Doesn't that dry them further?

This wasn't a chicken soup, per se, since there was no meat in it to be speak of. Just a carrot-ginger soup made with chicken broth; and the yams added thickness and sweetness. They might overpower a real chicken soup, which I like delicate and bouquet garni-type, with celery and carrots and unassertive veg like that.

I didn't realize that you had roasted the bird already, sorry.

I buy whole chickens and cut them up myself and then roast just the carcasses to make my soups and save the pieces for meals. I don't always simmer them as long as you did and I know that makes the most difference. I like to put carrots and mushrooms and onions and potatoes and large couscous (or rice). I've also been known to throw broccoli in which is really good too. The only meat in it is what might have been left on the bone (I clean the bones off after 2 hours of cooking, and cook the bones more.) which is usually just enough meat to fool my 3 carnivores that it isn't an almost meatless meal chocked full of healthy vegetables.

Two countries divided by a single language. Here a rotisserie chicken is one you buy already roasted.

I got a stewing chicken today and on my sister-in-law's advice roasted it an hour before starting the stewing process. We'll see what the final product looks like.

That sounds wonderful and hearty but not heavy. Yummy!

And glad you are using those. ^_^ I will also be interested in other recipes you might use them in!

Yeah, we soup-ize our left over roast chicken bones, too!