Cock-a-leekie soup

Cut up chicken and lightly brown, cover with water and simmer until no longer pink. Reserve liquid, skim off any fat or scum. Add enough water to make 6-8 quarts. Remove skin and bones from chicken, cube cooked meat. Clean and slice leeks removing the tough green part, add to broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until leeks are tender, then add cut up chicken. Auntie's tips to prepare the your best stock: If you only let this stock develop for 1 hour and/or you use boneless chicken you are making broth not stock. Breakdown the chicken into 4 large pieces the thigh/drumsticks- the breast and the wings-back. Trim all excess fat from the chicken, salt the pieces, then render the rest of the fat by frying until both sides are lightly browned and crisp. I added big leek leaves, the stem ends of flat leaf parsley and cilantro and an un peeled rough chopped carrot to the stock pot pot (you can add other period herbs such as marjoram, sage, thyme, sweet basil, and savoury) and brought it up to a boil while I was browning my chicken. *I taste the water for salt about 10 times as I am making stock… adding salt a tiny bit at a time because you can not take it back out and you don’t want to add water to your stock once you’ve achieved your balance. Add the chicken pieces and bring back to a boil, reduce heat to simmer for 4-5 hours. (If you have an oven available pre-heat to 350 degrees and place the covered stock pot in the oven for 4-5 hours) checking every hour or so for taste, add water if needed but only to maintain the level; covering the pot only if it’s in the oven. At hour 4 you need to taste your stock, if it is very intensely chickeny you are ready to remove it from the heat and let it cool for about ½ hour, then remove all of the chicken and herbs with a spider scoop or slotted spoon. Place the chicken on a sheet pan and let it cool enough so you can touch it and not be burned. Pick all the meat from the bones; be sure all of the gristle and skin is removed. I piece the chicken with my hands discarding any pieces that don’t feel firm. As you are doing this, the excess fat is cooling in the stockpot and coming to the top of the stock. Skim the fat with a sieve (I use a 3 inch sieve for this process) sieve several times to achieve a clear stock. Set chunked chicken aside. Cleaning and prepping the leeks: Leeks are a very dirty root vegetable but giving them a cold water soak will make them easy to clean: Step one – trim the root end and the dark green (woody) tops using only the white and light green parts. Step two- Half them lengthwise and place cut-side down in cold water – push then up and down in the water a couple of times and let the sit in the bath for a few minutes. The dirt and sand will sink to the bottom of the pan. Check the inside for dirt before removing the leeks, being careful not to stir up the water from the bottom of the sink or pan. Step three - Place clean leeks on a tea towel and let them drain. Place the cut side down and cut into half coins 3/8 inch wide. Set aside. Gwen’s tip for the perfectly cooked leeks in this soup: Saute the leeks in a frying pan: So this is what I did: Heat 2 Tbls olive oil and one Tbls butter in a large skillet add the coined leeks stir them until they are well coated – cover and steam for a few minutes – I checked, by taste and steamed until they were el dente (just like pasta) as they will cook a bit more when added to the hot stock. One half hour before serving add the chicken and leeks to the hot stock, the soup remains clear, the chicken stays moist, leeks stay firm.