I have a chicken carcass and a pot. Now what?

[ps4624]

We want to make chicken soup. We have a chicken carcass with a generous amount of meat on it, some vinegar and a pot. We are totally confused how to come out with chicken soup. Do we:

A. Boil the meat off the bones, remove the meat, add vinegar to the bones and let sit for an hour, then boil and remove the bones, then add the meat/veg back in OR

B. Add vinegar and the carcass, let sit for an hour, boil together, remove the bones and throw some veg in with the meat OR

C. Some other combination we have yet to think of OR

D. Order a pizza and call the whole thing off

I know it shouldn't be this hard, but we are obviously in need of some help here!

ETA: My hubby wants to know if he should be cracking the bones to expose the marrow during some step of this process.

[mbravebird]

Oh, goodness. I don't think I understood all your options, but this is the way I make chicken soup when I'm in your situation:

Make broth first. I make a 12-16 hour broth. Any less and the taste is poor, in my opinion. The taste gets better as time goes on, but the gelatin denatures, too, as time goes on, so I try to get some of all worlds: the minerals and the gelatin and the taste.

The next day, make the chicken soup. Pick off the meat from the carcass and use your favorite recipe. I like to saute onions and sweet potatoes, add curry and garlic, then add broth and vegetables and chicken and spices/salt. Yum.

No need to chop up the bones if you do a long simmer, at least 12 hours. The bones get really soft by 16-18 hours.

[my_baby_love]

I usually add the carcass to the pot, toss in some veggie stuff (carrot peelings, onions, celery tops, etc.), add some herbs (whatever you like - I usually use thyme and basil, sometimes parsley), and some vinegar (1/2 cup maybe?), then add enough water to cover it by about an inch. Then turn it on and let it simmer away! I usually do mine about 8-10 hours, mostly because I am impatient but also because if I start it in the morning then I can use it for dinner that night. When it is done simmering I strain out the solids and pick the meat out to toss back in. Then I slightly cook some onions, carrots and celery in another pan, just to get them soft, and add them to the strained stock with the chicken meat. Sometimes I skip this step and just toss them in raw with the stock, but then I have to let it all cook together longer. I cook until the veggies are the texture I want them (20 minutes or so), adding some noodles or whatever else I want in the soup right before it's done. Then serve and enjoy!