Chicken Recipes: supposedly good for the Soul!

• that has been raised in chicken-friendly beneficial surroundings and
• which hasn’t been treated with antibiotics and other artificial substances to make it grow big but not strong.

For some of the dishes I’ll put up, you can use chicken stock – the recipe is included in case you prefer to make it yourself – which you can also buy.

This is really a consommé which adds flavour and all sorts of other benefits to your dish.

You could also use turkey. It has its own flavour but if it was raised the same way it should have the same benefits.

Chicken Recipes

Chicken is reckoned in Chinese medicine to have mainly Yang qualities but that doesn’t mean it won’t benefit people who are Yin deficient.

A good chicken stock, made from the carcass, has many Yin characteristics. As a consommé it is easy to drink and digest.

With the addition of a few fresh lightly-cooked vegetables or good quality cooked rice, it can form the basis of a nourishing meal for a convalescent. To cheer you up, add a little white wine or rice wine!

By the way … the female chicken and the cock have similar qualities for making chicken recipes, but the cock is regarded as being more Yang.

Chicken Stock Recipe

A good chicken recipe for stock is made of water in which bones have been boiled to extract their nutrients. These ‘bone’ nutrients are thought to contain strong ‘Yin’ qualities.

To make this you need a large saucepan or ‘kettle’ with a flat base and a tight lid. Later you will need a jar with a lid to keep the stock in.

Ingredients for chicken stock

• Chicken carcass, bones and chicken flesh trimmings: buy chicken feet (wash them before using) if possible too. (If using game birds, use the carcasses of 1 – 2 birds.)
• One-quarter cup of vinegar
• 1 – 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 quarts of water
• A range of vegetable bits and pieces including, if possible, chopped onion or chopped leeks, cabbage, carrot, celery stick, some parsley and remains from vegetables eaten earlier
• Half a teaspoon of black peppercorns, crushed
• 3 ground or crumbled bay leaves
• A small piece of mild cayenne or a sprig of thyme

Method:

1. Chop all the bones into 2 cm (1 inch) pieces
2. Place the chopped bones and trimmings, the vinegar, salt, herbs and water into the large saucepan or kettle. Bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
3. Skim off any fat scum from time to time.
4. Check for smell of vinegar after this. If you can still smell it, remove the lid and boil it vigorously until the smell goes.
5. Now throw in the vegetables and cover. Make sure they sink beneath the liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat, with the lid still in place, and let it cool for at least 8 – 12 hours.
7. Strain it into a heat-proof bowl through a colander, so removing all the small bits and pieces, including fat-scum, bones and vegetables.
8. Put the stock in a bottle with the top on tightly. Keep in your refrigerator or larder until needed. It will keep for several days in a larder and for a bit longer in the fridge. For longer keeping, freeze it.

This stock can be used as a base for all sorts of chicken recipes, including soups, stews, consommés and sauces.

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• Yin deficiency
• Yin deficiency recipes