Message: | Yes! Chinese chicken soup is the best this time of year when the winds outside are blustering. "Good for you" too. My grandmother makes it, and I love to see a pot waiting for me when I go home. She buys a whole black chicken (not sure why, but she says something about the meat being sweeter and therefore the soup being better) and simmers it for hours with water and ginger. Each time she adds in different ingredients, different amounts: sometimes red dates, ham, ginseng, shitake mushrooms, and a lot of unidentifiable other things...always different, almost always good.
If I can't get that, the winter melon soups (served in the whole melon, not diced) at most Chinese restaurants are also spectacular.
I also remember really enjoying the Hot and Sour soup at Chinese Friends in Chinatown. Dark, rich soup with bamboo bits, woodear, swirls of egg. Good peppery spiciness to it, with an aftertaste of vinegar. Perfect balance. |