Phood Tip #1: What Every Balabusta Needs; Or, The Best Martha Stewart Soup Suggestion Out There

For those of us who cook meat-based soups, we know that plentiful bones are essential for optimum, full-bodied flavor.  No bouillons, no cans of stock, no boxed soups masquerading as more healthful stock options.  Just lots and lots of bones that enable the stock to achieve its sublime rich taste.   But it gets pretty tedious when the time arrives and you have to remove all of those bones and cartilage.  I have tried many methods to get a nice golden, stuff-free broth:  cheesecloth, collander, and removal piece-by-tiny piece.

I present to you the product that brings the preparation of chicken soup to a new level for the balabusta  (female head of household who does the cooking but you can be a balabus too, I am all good with that).  The trick:   I have seen it only in the kosher supermarkets.  Oh, the products they invent for the woman who  juggles numerous children, work, and communal commitments!  With cooking for shabbes weekly (which, let's face it, is Thanksgiving every week), these bags are truly manna from the heavens.

It is so under-the-radar here in Philadelphia that even our kosher supermarket manager was unfamiliar with them, despite that they were sitting on his shelves.

I use one bag for two packages of chicken bones and an extra chicken thigh thrown in there for some extra meat.  The holes in the bag allow the soup to cook thoroughly.  They stretch a lot so you can fit in more than you think when you first look at it.  I put my vegetables directly into the pot, but these work well for the various herbs and other vegetables like onion that you might not want floating around in the pot.  For those of you concerned with the issue of borer (a Jewish law forbidding separation on shabbat), since some of the good soup is being taken away with the thing you don't want in the soup, I can't see why there would be an issue  (note:  I am not an authority on Jewish law).

Though they don't list them on their website, Rockland Kosher for sure carries them, most likely from 2 or 3 different companies.

Give 'em a call and see if they'll send you a case.

Better yet, take a trip to Monsey and get thineself to the supermarket of kosher supermarkets.

Just make sure you dress appropriately.