Unsightly chicken soup
The chicken in my chicken soup turns into little stringy pieces--i.e. it doesn't stay in nice bite-sized pieces. It happens in chicken/rice and chicken/noodle recipes. Is there a way of avoiding this?
Best Answer
Yes, don't cook the chicken the entire time in the soup. Any chicken that is simmered long enough to create broth or stock is going to be very well cooked, and will shred easily.
Instead, near the end of the cooking, add fresh diced chicken, that poaches in the broth. You can also cook it separately, and add it at the time of service.
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Quick Answer about "Unsightly chicken soup"
It sounds like you are badly overcooking the chicken. Try first cooking the browned chicken pieces in the broth for a very short time, just until done, then getting them out and cooking the rest of the soup in the broth. Add the chicken pieces back to the pot after you have turned the stove off.What can I add to chicken soup to make it taste better?
Best Herbs and Spices For Chicken Noodle SoupHow do I doctor up chicken soup?
Start by melting a little butter in a pan and add some fresh herbs like ground pepper, oregano, thyme, and basil. Mix the sauteed herbs into the broth to add flavor to a boring canned soup. You can also toss a sprig of rosemary or fresh sage into the pot while you heat up the soup.Why did my chicken soup turn cloudy?
Generally speaking, the cloudy nature of stock is simply due to impurities or particles in the stock. Stock should always be started with cold water and cooked, uncovered, at a simmer, without ever coming to a full boil. If the stock does boil, some of the fat will emulsify into the liquid, which can make it cloudy.How do you remove impurities from chicken stock?
The traditional method of collecting the impurities in a stock is to make a raft out of egg whites. You lightly beat some egg whites and stir it into the the stock while it's simmering. Let it rest, and the egg whites will cook, float to the top, and collect impurities along the way.Chicken Soup For The Incel Soul, Being Ugly Almost Got Me Fired
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Answer 2
It sounds like you are badly overcooking the chicken. Try first cooking the browned chicken pieces in the broth for a very short time, just until done, then getting them out and cooking the rest of the soup in the broth. Add the chicken pieces back to the pot after you have turned the stove off.
The above paragraph assumes that you are cutting white meat (chicken breast) into neat bites. I can't imagine this to work for dark meat (chicken thighs), but if you are using dark meat, you should cook it for a long time and live with the fact that it looks ugly. White meat gets tough and dry when overcooked, besides falling apart into strings; dark chicken meat is tough if it is just cooked, it only gets pleasantly soft after it has reached the stage where it shreds by itself.
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