Chicken soup is a classic food throughout history and all over the world. At its most basic, the term describes any soup made by boiling chicken bones or other parts in water, and adding flavorings and vegetables. However, there is a lot more to it than that.
Classic chicken soups consist of clear or yellowish broth, and often have small pieces of chicken in them. Depending on the soup, dumplings, noodles, barley, rice, and vegetables may be included. In the US and many other countries, this soup is a classic example of real home cooking, and is a traditional remedy for colds and flu.
Does that make chicken soup a health food? Homemade chicken soup is definitely a lot healthier than a lot of the foods you get in restaurants and pub food. It often is full of protein, relatively low in fat, and not too rich. However, you should watch commercially packaged chicken soups - they are often high in sodium.
This soup has been around for a long time, with some food historians citing evidence that ancient Egypt also believed it was a good remedy for colds. In addition, Avicenna, a tenth century Persian doctor, referred to chicken soup's curative abilities, as did the twelfth century Jewish sage and doctor, Maimonides. He felt that chicken soup was even a cure for early stages of leprosy!
Curative powers aside, chicken soup have been a classic food for ages. Originally, it was probably a way to use up the meat of a chicken that was too old or tough for roasting. Long cooking renders even the stringiest meat into a tasty part of this versatile soup.
We have recipes for different versions of these soups throughout the ages. For instance, one book on making food in the 1600s recommends using sorrel, raisins, currents, and dates to make a chicken soup called "China Broth.- Another recipe for "Capons in White Broth" calls for cinnamon, lettuce, and eggs!
There are lots of chicken soups in other cultures' foods, too. If you go to a Chinese restaurant, there is a good chance that most of the soups you can order will be in a chicken broth. It might be spicy, sour, or sweet, or have sesame oil and rice wine in it, but it is chicken soup, all the same.
Columbian chicken soup has avocado, capers, potatoes and corn in it, and is served with sour cream, while Greece, the soup is avgolemono and made with eggs and lemon. Hungarian chicken soup is clear and has whole pieces of chicken, including the heart and livers, and is full of spices and dumplings or pasta. In Korea, the soup is also thought to be medicinal, and is full of ginger, garlic, jujube fruit, ginseng, and glutinous rice. It may or may not contain noodles.
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