Chicken Broth with Egg

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Get the listed ingredients ready. Use only farm-raised poultry — it makes a golden, rich, wholesome, nourishing broth. Broiler birds are better for roasting and frying, since they have more meat than fat. Try to buy your poultry from trusted suppliers, since many sellers rub the carcasses with banned substances to keep them looking fresh longer!

2. Step 2:

   

   Peel and rinse the vegetables. Cut them into large pieces: the onion into quarters, the carrot into rounds. It's best to cook farm poultry in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker, since it needs long cooking — at least 1.5 hours! Rinse the chicken in water, put it in the pot or cauldron, and add the cut vegetables and bay leaves. Try not to use peppercorns.

3. Step 3:

   

   Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Don't add any fresh herbs at all! If you add herbs before cooking, the broth will turn green, whereas you want a bright yellow, golden color. Herbs go into the bowls when serving, and only then. Pour the water into the pot. If your slow cooker holds 5 liters, add 4, since the liquid will boil. I recommend adding more water — once cooled, the broth can be frozen in containers.

4. Step 4:

   

   Cook the farm poultry with the vegetables for 1.5 hours, being sure to skim off the foam that forms with a slotted spoon, while trying not to remove the rendered fat. Once it's done, take the cooked chicken out of the pot and pull it apart into pieces, letting it cool a little first.

5. Step 5:

   

   Ladle the broth into bowls. Ahead of time, hard-boil the egg for 10–12 minutes, then cool, peel, and rinse it. If you didn't skim off the foam and the broth came out cloudy, strain it through a layer of cheesecloth.

6. Step 6:

   

   Cut the egg in half and put it in the bowls, garnishing with fresh dill, parsley, green onion, or garlic. I recommend pouring the remaining broth into containers with the picked boiled chicken meat and freezing it if you don't plan to eat it soon. This kind of make-ahead really simplifies cooking soups — just thaw it in a pot or cauldron and cook a vegetable soup in 10–15 minutes, or make a main dish.