Chicken Soup

I had mentioned in my previous blog that I had been sick with the flu and a cold.  The week I was sick my kind boss brought me chicken soup because it's what all Koreans eat when they're feeling a little under the weather.  This was unlike any other soup I have ever eaten.







She's not kidding when she calls it chicken soup because when I opened the large bowl, what to my wondering eyes did appear but an entire chicken!!  Bones, skin, and meat were all there, plus it was stuffed with rice (of course) and ginger.  There was an enormous amount so I put some of the broth into my bowl and grabbed out some of the breast meat.  This was a challenging feat because I was trying to remove the skin and bones without burning my fingers on the pan and avoiding the dark meat.  It was pretty good after I added in some salt and pepper.  I put the rest in the fridge to save for the next day.


So, when I opened up the container the next day, something didn't look quite right.  The broth seemed different somehow but I wasn't quite sure what had happened.  I began to tilt the bowl and realized that the broth wasn't tipping like it normally does.  I continued to tilt the bowl even more and finally figured out why the soup looked different - the broth and hardened to a gel-like consistency similar to jello or the canned cranberry sauce.

I wanted to vomit.  It was absolutely repulsive!  The jiggly mass of broth combined with the left over chicken and the chicken wings, skin, and bones still sitting there made me feel sick to my stomach.  Then I started to think about the fact that I had eaten some of it the previous day, so all that nastiness was actually in my body!!!!  Let's just say Korean chicken soup will now be avoided like the plague if I can help it.  I will stick to making my own soups - atleast I know what ingredients are in my own concoctions.



Now go and enjoy your Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup for me, and appreciate the fact that they leave out the fat that causes the broth to coagulate in the bowl and in your body.  Oh America, how I miss your normalcy.