In every partnership, a division of labor emerges over time that allows each partner to play to their strengths, stay out of each other’s way, and efficiently get shit done together.
In our house, I do most of the cooking, because I genuinely love everything about it … with one very important exception: I always fuck up the salt.
So I’ll do everything in a recipe until the “salt to taste” step. At that point, I summon Anne (usually with my voice, though in my imagination I am using a bat signal that projects the Morton’s girl with the umbrella) and she uses whatever weird magical skill she has to put in exactly the right amount of salt.
A few weeks ago, I was making soup. Anne had to run to the store when I got to the “salt to taste” step, and I would be lying if I told you that I did not panic, hard. I mean, a normal person would be, like, “Oh, I guess I’ll wait until she gets back,” but not me! Bill Junior was a DAREDEVIL! Just like his old man.
“Look on the Internet,” a mysterious voice echoed in my head, “look for ‘how much salt for two quarts of soup’ and math will save you.”
The voices in my head have never lead me astray (well, except for all those times they did), so I did a quick search.
This is where I tell you that this post isn’t about the salt, but I know at least one of you wants to know the answer, so I’ll also tell you that it’s about a teaspoon, which is what I put into my soup, with trembling hands.
Fuck yeah, math! It was perfect.
But that’s not what this is about. This is about an entirely different recipe that I saw a little further down in the search results; it’s about the Martha Stewart recipe for basic chicken soup.
Martha Stewart always makes food in such interesting ways, I was curious to know what her take was on chicken soup.
Oh my god, it’s incredible.
She tells us to buy a whole chicken, cut it up, and use it to make the stock. Then we pull it out of the stock, cut the meat off the bones, and return that meat into the stock we just made.
Quick aside: this is the point in writing this post that yet another voice in my head asserts that this isn’t interesting and I should just delete it. I’m doing my best to push on through, though.
I showed the recipe to Anne when she got home (after I asked her to taste my properly-salted soup — she loved it) and then texted it to our family chat, because Ryan likes to cook as much as I do (I love that I passed that along to him, without even trying). We all agreed that it looked amazing.
Last night was the first opportunity I’ve had to make this recipe and HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS.
It’s so much fun, it’s so satisfying, and the resulting soup was so magnificent, I almost couldn’t believe that I made it.
And yet, I needed to go further. I needed to make some matzo balls.
That’s also something I’d never done before, but I knew it was simple enough. So I made some matzo meal in the food processor, followed a simple recipe, and ended up with something that wasn’t too bad for a Gentile’s first attempt.
I put it all together and …
It was so good. The matzo balls were a little too big, but that’s an easy fix for next time.
Oh, and … it was perfectly salted.
Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
And perfect for Rosh Hashana!
Regarding your soup recipe, I’ll add one option…use a rotisserie chicken from Costco. The spices used add an excellent touch to the soup and the chicken.
Soup is such an excellent food and very comforting in so many ways. The seasoning aspect can be very frustrating, as you have obviously noticed. I love pepper, but my wife does not. So, do you season a batch of soup the way you want it, and then let her adjust it for her liking? Does that result in two containers of leftover soup, labeled accordingly?
I love it 😍
Somehow soup always reminds me there is hope in the world. Thank you for sharing this – I think we somehow even have all the ingredients on hand to make it for tomorrow’s supper. 🙂
I made my Grandma’s matzoh balls for my soup yesterday for Rosh Hashana. Super simple, no food processor required. But my family prefers sinkers, which is not for everyone.
Hey Wil! Extra hint with that whole chicken soup thing. Add more water and veggies than you need, then strain and freeze the extra stock for upcoming cooks. I normally start a batch of gumbo with a whole chicken, and the extra stock will get used in my wild rice dressing come Thanksgiving.
That reminds me…I have leftover gumbo in the fridge…
Two tips for next time you make chicken soup (or, CHICKENsoup as Jewish people say it). Cut off the two ends of a yellow onion, but do NOT peel the onion. Throw the whole thing in the stock, papery peel and all. You’ll fish the onion out later, remove the peel, chop the onion and toss it back in the soup. The papery skin has a surprising amount of flavour and will give your stock a beautiful golden colour.
Also, use WAY more dried bay leaf than any recipe calls for… like five or six leaves. Better yet, if you can keep plants alive, get a live Bay plant and snip off about three fresh leaves, tear the leaves several times down to the centre stem and throw those in… tearing the leaves allows the essence to come out into the broth.
SO good.
Good gracious! Why do I read about food when I’m fasting? And your posts usually aren’t about food. I thought I was safe. Damn. That looks so good. 😀
Wil,
I am really loving the blog lately, The thoughtful posts, the big posts, the small posts, the soup posts. As an internet oldster it reminds me of a time when blogs were more a part of the landscape before FB killed them by telling everyone no one read anymore.
Anyway definitely trying the soup recipe
Aw, thank you. I’m doing my best to post more small things, and I appreciate you noticing.
That looks so good! I love soup season! Nothing beats homemade broth and soup!
Y’all are magic. Thank you for sharing. If you are ever in northern Oregon I would love to explore cooking with you.
So glad you weren’t decapitated. I’ve tried a few Martha recipes and sometimes it really does seem like it’s worth the effort.
All right Wil. Always good to keep pushing for new things! I am proud of you
I saw another chef that used two batches of chicken. One to make the stock, and another to make the soup, saying that the first chicken have its flavor to the broth.
Also, with the division of labor, my wife can’t not mess up the matza balls. She can never get them fluffy and bouncy. So that’s my job.
Recipe has been saved! It really does sound amazing and it’s soon to be the perfect weather for it here on the east coast. Thanks for the heads up! FYI I always find your posts interesting.
Looks awesome!
Matzo balls are never too big.
The best matzo balls I’ve had in soup ARE large (2nd Ave Deli in NYC comes to mind but I may be mixing memories). So don’t knock yourself for that. Also, did you use schmaltz to make them?
Anne – KEEP HIM!!!!! A middle-aged man who is willing to cook, and do dishes!??!?!?!?!?!?
OK, so I misread one of the lines and thought you texted to your family cat. Which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. 🙂
Being perfectly salty is a skill …
I really think cooking ups our mental healing factor by 10. Love the blog!
Oh, dude!!! If you ever get tired of acting, you should totally open a restaurant!!! ❤️
If you find it interesting, then someone out on the web will also find it interesting. So never let the self doubt win.
Now you could also include the matzo ball recipe for those following along at home.
And if you’re taking requests, what do you have for tomato soup?
Thank you. I’ll give the recipe to my husband who loves to cook too.
omg that looks delicious. And there’s no such thing as a matzo ball that’s too big 😀
I love that you get so excited about soup! I just love it.
Yeah, soup, yummy. What I really want to know is where did you get those amazing coasters!!!!
Buy some matzo meal next time you grocery shop. Change the recipe from 2 eggs 2 tbsp oil to 3 eggs 1 tbsp oil if you prefer “floaters” over “sinkers”. Roll the mixture in your wet hands and you’ll be welcomed into the tribe. Oh, speaking of which, “may you be sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.”
That was so ridiculously wholesome I got healthier!
Soup is always delicious, but it’s even better when it’s home made… and even BETTER when you made it yourself. Enjoy it! And here’s to a sweeter new year. (I hope they don’t find your head over by the sno-cone concession.)
I just wanted to give a shout out to the cropping on the coaster. Keeping it classy!
Ha! Thank you! I did that intentionally, and it’s lovely that you noticed.
It looks delicious. But mazto balls in the food processor? Oy my grandma would be rolling her eyes at that one. 😛
I am very impressed! You must be very confident in that whole “getting food made” thing!
I also struggle with the demon salt.
OMG, Will, my mouth is so watering!! Now I gotta look up Martha’s recipe. Yum!
It’s beautiful. I can smell it through.the.SCREEN! Damn you. No really, it’s restaurant worthy. Thanks for the linky dinky to MS’s recipe.
I love this so much – I have only me, so making things that are many steps are usually not what I want to do but…..
With approaching soup season, and my instant pot, I bet I can cobble something together. Thanks for the inspiration!