Holiday Chicken Soup -- The Soup You Make When Your Heart Needs to Catch Up

James Edward Bergstrom was born on Tuesday at 3:47 in the morning, because Bergstroms don't arrive at convenient hours. Seven pounds, eleven ounces. David called at four AM and said, "It's a boy. James. Everybody's fine." I said, "Good." And then I hung up the phone and sat at the kitchen table in the dark and didn't move for ten minutes because some feelings need a quiet room and no audience.

Helen and I drove to Montpelier on Wednesday. The hospital was the same one where David and Sarah were born, though it's been renovated three times since then and the maternity ward has moved to a floor I don't recognize. Karen was tired and radiant, which is the specific look of a woman who has just done the hardest work in the world and knows it. David was standing by the window holding the baby with the expression of a man who has just realized that three children is a lot more than two.

I held James. He was small and warm and wrinkled and looked like every baby looks, which is to say like a very old man who has seen things. Helen says all our babies looked like Edward — my father — in the first week, and then they shift into looking like themselves. She might be right. He had my father's forehead. Or maybe I wanted him to.

I held him with my enormous hands — that's what Helen calls them, carpenter's hands, though I'm a teacher, not a carpenter — and I said nothing, because what is there to say to a person who has just arrived in the world? Welcome? Be careful? The carrots are split the difference? He'll figure it out. They all do.

When we got home, I made Helen's chicken soup. Not because anyone was sick, but because chicken soup is what you make when something important has happened and you need to do something with your hands while your heart catches up. Whole chicken in the pot, water, onion, carrots, celery, salt. Simmer for hours. The house fills with the smell that means everything is all right, or will be.

James is the third grandchild from David's side. He's born the same year I started writing this blog, which is a coincidence I find meaningless. He'll probably find it delightful someday. Children are sentimental about things that adults have learned to dismiss. Maybe the children are right.

Three grandchildren from David. Two from Sarah. Five grandchildren. Helen is counting on her fingers and smiling. The farmhouse has room. It always has room. There's soup on the stove. There's a new Bergstrom in the world. Tuesday, 3:47 AM. Begin.

Helen was still counting on her fingers when I went to write this down—five grandchildren, a new name in the world, and soup on the stove that had been simmering since we got home from the hospital at dawn. This is the recipe I reach for when ordinary cooking won’t do, when the occasion is too large for anything fussy and too important for anything careless. It’s not a holiday soup because of the name; it’s a holiday soup because of when I make it.

Holiday Chicken Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), giblets removed
• 12 cups cold water
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch rounds
• 4 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, leaves included
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped (for serving)
• 2 cups egg noodles or 1 cup long-grain white rice (optional)

Instructions

1. Start the pot. Place the whole chicken breast-side down in a large stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the cold water — it should come up to just cover the chicken. Set over medium-high heat and bring slowly to a boil, skimming any foam that rises to the surface.
2. Build the broth. Once the liquid is simmering and mostly clear, add the onion, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low. Cover partially and simmer gently for 1 hour 30 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through and the meat is beginning to fall from the bone.
3. Pull the chicken. Carefully lift the chicken out of the pot and set it on a cutting board to cool for 15 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the spent onion, garlic, herbs, and peppercorns. Return the clear broth to the pot.
4. Add the vegetables. Return the strained broth to medium heat. Add the carrots and celery and simmer for 20 minutes, until just tender but not mushy.
5. Shred the chicken. While the vegetables cook, remove the chicken meat from the bones, discarding the skin and carcass. Shred or chop the meat into bite-sized pieces. You should have about 3 to 4 cups of cooked chicken.
6. Finish the soup. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot. If using noodles or rice, stir them in now and cook according to package directions until just tender. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
7. Serve. Ladle into deep bowls and finish with a scatter of fresh parsley. The soup keeps well refrigerated for 4 days and improves overnight, as all good soups do.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 480mg