Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Dutch Oven Apple Wood Smoked Chicken Noodle Soup

Save this cook for a day when you are not in a hurry. There is nothing difficult about preparing this soup. It just has several steps. I will say that is well worth trying. The smoking of the soup just adds something special.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken approximately 3 ½ lbs.
4 quarts of water
2 large sweet onions
8 stalks of celery
1 1/2 lbs. of carrots
4 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 ounces of canola oil
2 tablespoons of Salt
1 tablespoon Pepper
Put the canola oil in the oven. Brown 1 coarsely chopped onion for a few minutes. Add one teaspoon of salt. Place 3 inch sections of carrot and celery (from 3 carrots and 3 celery stalks) in the dutch oven. We are building a bed for the chicken to sit on while smoking and braising. Place the whole dry chicken on the bed of vegetables.  I tied the legs together and left a small loop of string just to make it easy to handle, not necessary though. (do not season the chicken) add water to the top of the vegetable bed.
Start with 12 coals on the bottom of the oven lid off and  add a handful of Applewood chips to the coals and place the feed pan on top of the other feed pan the oven is sitting in upside down with a small slit to allow some of the smoke to escape. This will allow the chicken to take on the smoke flavor. Note: do not use new feed pans until all of the preservative oil has been burned off. These ones I am using are several years old and have no residue on them, I know the pans are galvanized but we are just smoking here at a low temperature. If you are concerned cover with aluminum foil. The chips will be done smoking in about ten to fifteen minutes. Remove the top feed pan and adjust the water level to the top of the vegetables place on the dutch oven lid and add 20 new coals to the top. Braise the chicken in the oven until the coals are dead (about an hour). Remove the chicken and let it cool.
Start another 10 coals in the chimney. Remove all of the meat from the chicken and place the skin, bones, and carcass of the chicken back into the dutch oven in the braising liquid. Add 1 1/2 quarts of water and place the 10 new coals to the bottom of the oven. Place the clean lid back on the oven. Bring the liquid to a simmer (do not boil the liquid) you will need to adjust the lid opening to accomplish and regulate the simmer. After an hour add another set of ten new coals under the oven. Repeat this step again. After the second hour remove the bones and vegetables and discard them. Strain the braising liquid and now you have a smoked chicken broth for the soup. Let the stock cool slightly and skim all unwanted fat from the top. Add the broth (approximately a quart) and 1 quart of water back to the dutch oven. Add 2 1/2 cups of carrots, x1 1/2cups of celery, and 1 large diced onion and 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of pepper to the broth.  Now place the 10 new coals to the bottom of the oven. Bring the broth to a boil (lid on) and then remove or adjust the lid for a simmer for 30 minute or until the carrots are cooked to your preference. Add the chicken meat and one pint of water back to the oven and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.  Add 6 ounces of egg noodles to the oven and simmer until noodles are cooked thru. Serves 6 easily. Total time cook time approximately 4-5 hours.


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