Chicken soup: Results

Last night I got the soup ready to go, intending to plug it in this morning. At the last minute I decided to start it cooking before I went to bed, so it could be an early lunch instead of a late dinner.

Bad idea. I'm a really, really light sleeper, and the smell of it cooking kept waking me up. ("What's that?! Nothing's supposed to smell-- Oh, right." over and over and over again.) The smell wasn't a good smell, either (see below, about the spice packet).

When I woke up, I fished out the four drumsticks, took the meat off them, and tossed the meat back in, then let it cook for a few hours more. Grand total cooking time was about 12 hours, which was more than required but didn't hurt it in any way (probably).

While doing the drumsticks, I taste-tested it. SALTY. And some odd herb-y flavor. Tasted like chicken soup concentrate, so I added a good deal more water. That fixed the saltiness, but there's still some odd herb in it that I don't like.

Ingredients were: two boneless chicken breasts, four drumsticks, a can of mixed vegetables (liquid included since it had "onion flavor" added), most of a container of chicken stock, a packet of "spices for chicken soup", and at the end noodles.

I wouldn't use canned veggies again, no matter that they're claimed to be okay. The packet of spices was a big pile of yellow powder (I suspect chicken bouillon, which would explain the saltiness, and I think the long cooking time might have meant some of the liquid boiled off, making the saltiness more concentrated), next time I'd figure out my own spices to use. I'd also add a lot more chicken. I think the noodles actually take away from the soup (as much as I love noodles). They're bland.

All in all, the soup came out okay. Not great. Maybe not even good, but okay. Still a touch salty (and I love salty things, but it's salty even for me). The chicken meat in it is really good (I don't usually like dark meat, but the drumstick meat was delicious).

I'm eating a bowl now, and I'll pack the rest of it away and hopefully will eat sometime.

Chicken soup: Results

Last night I got the soup ready to go, intending to plug it in this morning. At the last minute I decided to start it cooking before I went to bed, so it could be an early lunch instead of a late dinner.

Bad idea. I'm a really, really light sleeper, and the smell of it cooking kept waking me up. ("What's that?! Nothing's supposed to smell-- Oh, right." over and over and over again.) The smell wasn't a good smell, either (see below, about the spice packet).

When I woke up, I fished out the four drumsticks, took the meat off them, and tossed the meat back in, then let it cook for a few hours more. Grand total cooking time was about 12 hours, which was more than required but didn't hurt it in any way (probably).

While doing the drumsticks, I taste-tested it. SALTY. And some odd herb-y flavor. Tasted like chicken soup concentrate, so I added a good deal more water. That fixed the saltiness, but there's still some odd herb in it that I don't like.

Ingredients were: two boneless chicken breasts, four drumsticks, a can of mixed vegetables (liquid included since it had "onion flavor" added), most of a container of chicken stock, a packet of "spices for chicken soup", and at the end noodles.

I wouldn't use canned veggies again, no matter that they're claimed to be okay. The packet of spices was a big pile of yellow powder (I suspect chicken bouillon, which would explain the saltiness, and I think the long cooking time might have meant some of the liquid boiled off, making the saltiness more concentrated), next time I'd figure out my own spices to use. I'd also add a lot more chicken. I think the noodles actually take away from the soup (as much as I love noodles). They're bland.

All in all, the soup came out okay. Not great. Maybe not even good, but okay. Still a touch salty (and I love salty things, but it's salty even for me). The chicken meat in it is really good (I don't usually like dark meat, but the drumstick meat was delicious).

I'm eating a bowl now, and I'll pack the rest of it away and hopefully will eat sometime.