Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Chicken Noodle Soup, The Old Fashioned Way!

If you want chicken in your soup the first thing you have to do is go to the barnyard and catch an old hen that has done her time, laying eggs and raising biddies.

If you are lucky, you can find one of your kids that can shoot a match head off at 30 paces, and have her shoot the chicken for you. If you can't find someone as talented as that, just run the chicken down. This will give you the exercise needed to reduce your cholesterol (unknown in those days.)

After you have caught the poor thing, grasp it's two legs firmly in the right hand, (left hand if you are left handed.) Oh, first you must alert your father that he should sharpen the ax. After this is done, you lay the chickens head on a chopping block that is made from the scrub oak that your men have dragged from the mountain, and hold the chicken so it won't move. With one mighty blow, you hope, the head will be cleanly severed from the chickens body.

Then throw the chicken out into the grass and let it flop around until all the blood has drained from it's body. Soon it will be ready for the next step!

I am getting things, sort of, in the wrong order, but anyway, before you chase after the chicken you should have planned to start a fire in the wood-burning range and carried a tub of water from the ditch and have it boiling by this time. Then immerse the carcass into the boiling water and then you can sit down on another oak stump and enjoy the smelly task of plucking the feathers off the bird.

Save the small feathers for pillow making, at a later date, because you must not waste anything. Do not save the big feathers, because they poke through the pillow ticking and this does not make for comfortable sleeping!

After all feathers are removed find a wood match, some of your 10 kids homework papers and light the torch. Hold the chicken above the flame for this singes all of the little hairs and the small down that may be left on the bird. Rub your hand around the chicken to remove the singed hairs-feathers and you are ready for the next step.

Have you instructed your father to sharpen the butcher knife? If not do it now, for you will need the knife sharp so you can remove the chicken's entrails. Save the giblets, because they will add flavor to your soup. First take the craw and cut it lengthwise and remove all of the gravel that the chicken has in there to grind up it's food. Don't save the gravel for the soup, because they may prove harmful to the teeth.

After this is accomplished, take the chicken down to the clear, un-contaminated stream and wash the chicken thoroughly. Cut the chicken into serving pieces and toss them into a big pot. Boil until tender. If the hen has been around for a few years, this tenderizing may take a long time!

NOW, if you want noodles in your soup you must break about 5 fresh eggs into a large pan. Salt and pepper them to taste. Then add several cups of flour, that has been ground at the nearest grist mill. Make a stiff dough, flour a big place on the table, get the heavy rolling pin down, that your father has carved out of a large oak stump. Roll the stiff dough into almost paper thickness. Flour the dough, generously on top. This will prevent the dough from sticking together when rolled. Starting at any edge, roll the dough into a nice tight roll. Your father has already sharpened the butcher knife, so starting at one end of the roll slice the dough into 1/8 inch rounds. Then call your 10 kids. They will want to help you unroll the little slices and line them up on a floured table. Let noodles rest and dry out a bit before dropping them, a few at a time, while stirring, into the hot chicken liquid.

One must not drop the whole glob of noodles into the boiling liquid all at once, or they will cook into a big wad and you will have to call them dumplings! The best way is to stir the liquid as you add the noodles, so they will cook separated.

If you want some peas and carrots added, you should have thought of this sooner. If the vegetables are not already gathered and cleaned you have to summon your 10 kids again and have them go out to the garden and pick a big batch of peas. They should also be instructed to pull a big bunch of carrots. They may have to be told a few times to get going, but after they gather them they should be instructed to take the carrots to the ditch and wash them. Instruct them to twist the tops off the carrots, but this may take longer, because they will want to slap each other with the wet carrot tops. They also will have to shell the peas. This will possibly delay supper a bit, but you have plenty of time!

Dice, or slice the carrots and add them before you add the peas, because carrots take longer to cook than do peas. The peas can be added a short time before the soup is ready. This whole process of gathering vegetables will take a while, because the 10 kids may eat the first batch of peas raw and have to go for another batch to shell for the soup.

Oh, I forgot the potatoes! If you want potatoes in your soup you should have already sent some or your 10 kids out to dig a few. Tell them that they are only to take the potatoes that are exposed to the sun. Some potatoes always push away from the soil, when they are growing. These should be used first. After the potatoes are cleaned in the ditch and pealed with the sharp butcher knife, they should be diced into the hot liquid. If you dice them small enough they will cook as fast as the carrots.

Now it is time to call the crew in for a delicious feast. You will have to tolerate watching your 10 kids suck up the noodles, because the only way to eat the long noodles is to put one end into the mouth and suck! Grose, you say!? Yes, but what fun for the little darlings!

Now doesn't that sound more fun than opening a can of chicken noodle soup? Much better, also!

Thanks to Julie Janson for this...interesting recipe! Now that's doing chicken noodle soup right!