Traditional Hungarian Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is the crown of Hungarian Sundays: a clear, golden, richly flavoured stock, slowly cooked out.

1. Clean the chicken, and rinse it thoroughly in cold water. Prepare the vegetables: peel the carrot and the parsley root, trim the kohlrabi and the celeriac, then cut them into larger pieces. Peel the onion and the garlic cloves, wash the savoy cabbage, remove its outer leaves, and cut it into larger wedges.

2. Put the meat into a large pot, cover it with about 2.5-3 litres of cold water, and start heating it slowly. When it comes to the boil, carefully skim off the foam that forms on top with a spoon, so the soup stays clear and a nice golden colour.

3. Add the onion, the garlic, the carrot, the parsley root, the kohlrabi, the celeriac and the savoy cabbage. Salt it to taste, then cook it on at just a bare simmer.

4. Do not boil the soup hard, as that can make it cloudy. Cook it for about 2-2.5 hours, until the meat softens completely and the vegetables give up their rich flavour.

5. When it is done, strain the soup carefully. Serve the meat and vegetables separately, or put them back into the clear stock to taste.

6. Chicken soup is traditionally served with a cooked soup garnish.

Tip: For an even more golden soup, cook the onion in with its skin on (well washed) – it gives a natural colour and extra aroma.