Wonton soup and Hot and Sour soup are among the most cherished from our childhoods and Chinese education—then we moved on to Velvet Corn and Crab Soup. To make any of these properly, first: we must have good stock.
Jerry Weinberg
Ingredients
- chicken bones, fat, chicken trimmings, and skin. (several pounds)
- 1½ quarts water (filtered)
- 2 ginger (1" slices)
- 1 carrot (trimmed)
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- In a plastic container freeze chicken bones, fat, chicken trimmings, and skin.
- When you have several pounds, add it all to a quart and a half of filtered water, with two 1” slices of ginger, a trimmed carrot, salt to taste. (Half the liquid may be from soaked Chinese mushrooms.)
- Bring to a slow simmer—don’t boil. Cook covered for hours, until the stock is rich, the bones gone soft, the fat trimmed from the surface. Strain well and use for any soup recipe herein, calling for chicken stock or broth. (One may strengthen these with judicious use of good,non-MSG-containing chicken soup broth or bouillon.)