Nectar of the gods

Homemade chicken soup is not a quick affair.

Even with the shortcuts I took (not using a whole chicken) - it still takes hours.

The gallon of water added at the beginning is now reduced by more than half.

After four hours of simmering - I turned off the burner and let the soup cool. Then I strained the stock and pulled all the meat off the drumsticks (discarding the bones).

You can choose to discard the vegetables at this point and add in fresh ones - but I just chopped up the ones that were in the pot.

I chopped the meat into chunks and everything went back into the pot.

At this point I added in a couple of pinches of salt and black pepper. 

I do have to say that what I love about homemade chicken soup is that when the bones are left to simmer for hours it gives a wonderful (very slight) mineral undertone to the taste of the soup.

That and the fact that I can control the sodium content.

The soup turned out wonderful!

If I was a patient person I would have skimmed off the rest of the fat floating on the top - but I am not patient :-)

This bowl was so much more satisfying than the canned chicken soup I got from 7-Eleven next door on Saturday.

Will it be a miracle cure? I am keeping my fingers crossed.