Chicken Broth

When you are sick, chicken broth can be a great comfort. The best chicken broth is homemade, and lucky for those of us who have to make our own when we are sick, it is easy to make.

Can I just say, it is so worth making your own chicken broth. It is lower in salt and fresher in flavor, but more importantly, it has natural chicken goodness that comes out of the marrow of the chicken bones. I know there is a scientific explanation for how it works, but in my sick, fuzzy, overmedicated state, I am not going to begin to talk about the molecular formulas or the antioxidents or...whatever. The broth is gelatenous when cold, and this means that it has stuff in it that will help you get over your cold. Really. Just believe me. Besides, it has no MSG, no artificial flavor, no artificial color. Even though I am not quite well yet, I am much better than I would be without my fresh, homemade chicken broth.

Here is how you make it:

CHICKEN BROTH

1 broiler/fryer chicken (you do not need a stewing hen--I am scared of stewing hens)
8 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried, minced onion
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper

Put ingredients into a large pot, bring to a boil and boil for 1-2 hours, the longer the better.
Remove chicken from pot (it makes a very nice by-product; your menfolk will eat it, or you can separate the meat from the bones/skin/fat and save it to use in casseroles).
Cover the pot and set it out on your deck or your porch or somewhere else very cold, and let it sit until it is cool.
Remove the fat from the top of the cooled broth. Discard.
Put the gelatenous broth into a container and reheat it as desired to nurse your cold (at our house we usually heat up a mug at a time).
You could strain the broth, or run it through cheesecloth. I never do.