Every year, without fail, I get sick for the holidays. It used to be a joke. Then as I got older, the joke just wasn't funny anymore. So I took matters into my own hands. I started eating Grandma's Penicillin. It's a staple in any Jewish deli, where I first learned about it, but every culture has their own version. I remember the first time I had matzoh ball soup when I was a kid. It was Corky & Lenny's at Cedar Center. And I swear it worked on contact. Before I sat down I was a sniffling, coughing, winter wreck. After a single bowl I was as good as new. As an adult I learned that the chicken broth is where the good stuff is. When I was living in Sweden, and far from Corky & Lenny's, I learned how to make my own chicken soup, and thus began the homebrew experiments for my own Grandma's Penicillin. Here's my recipe. Photo by brandi666.
Take a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Use your bare hands and peel all of the meat of the bones. Separate the skins from the breasts and thighs as much as you can. Put the skins and the carcass in a pot of simmering water. Maybe 6 cups. Maybe 4. The water should just barely cover the whole chicken carcass. Use a pot small enough that the chicken fits snugly all sides.
Since it's a rotisserie chicken, you're also going to get the herbs and spices that came with it in the broth. Go with a garlic and herb chicken for maximum cold-killing power. Add more garlic for more power.
Simmer for an hour. That’s going to boil out all of the chickeny goodness from the bone marrow and fat in the skin and all that good stuff that makes up the broth. Yum.
After 60 minutes your house will smell strongly of both. This is good. Stand for a minute over the steaming pot and take it all in. See how whatever bits of meat that were attached are now circling in the bubbling broth. See the layer of fat floating to the top. Stir the pot to see how loose the bones have become.
Use a siv to strain the broth. You're going to throw away the carcass now. Keep the broth in the pot. Continue to simmer. Add a bunch of chopped vegetables. I like to think of my chicken soup as one part pot roast, so I put carrots, potatoes, celery, and onion. You’ll also need more seasoning. Salt and pepper to taste. From there, you need to create your own spicy signature. I use Tabasco. Something extra hot will help clear the sinuses. Any good Italian will tell you keeps the evil spirits away with garlic. Don't be shy. Garlic is your friend.
Simmer until the veggies are soft enough to chew but not too soft they turn to mush. When you can stab your potatoes with a fork and they are just flaky enough to crack apart, you're done. Turn off the stove. Set the table. And eat directly from the pot with a big, big spoon. Don't stop until you finish the entire pot. Colds hate a full belly.
Though you may be tempted to crack open a beer or a glass of wine, resist. You must not — not least while you are ill — partake in any pleasures but the pleasures of eating. Ginger ale, if you must. Seven-up is always a welcome addition to infirm dining. And water. Never forget your hourly doses of water.
What's your favorite homemade chicken soup recipe? Got any other healing homemade concoctions that fight off winter colds? Share 'em in the comments.
Guest contributor Kelly Abbott's weekly post, Ungeek to Live, highlights all the ways you get can stuff done without (gasp!) a computer.

</img> </img> </img> </img>