Chicken Corn Soup for my non-PA Dutch friends

When I moved away to college a long time ago, it was the first time I had ever been away from home for any length of time.  Having grown up in PA Dutch country, I had no idea that other parts of the country and even other parts of Pennsylvania didn't have some of the delicacies that I was raised on: scrapple (well, to some it's a delicacy--personally I think it's gross), Utz chips, Unique pretzels, and of course Chicken Corn Soup.  Imagine my surprise when I ordered Chicken Pot Pie and got, well, pie with chicken in it.  NO PEOPLE, CHICKEN POT PIE IS SOUP....GET IT RIGHT REST OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!  (note to self, need to blog about this in future).  And I think the first time I ordered dippy eggs in a restaurant, the waitress looked at me like a had a third eye.  (translation for my non-PA Dutch friends: dippy egg=sunny side up only with the whites fully done. "dippy" because you dip the toast in the yolk.  Duh!).  But I digress. 

Today was a cold windy day in South East PA.  The perfect day for soup.  And oddly enough I had nowhere to go and nothing to do (believe me, days like this do NOT happen often in my world!).  I did have a chicken in the freezer, so decided to make chicken corn soup.  If you have a rock hard frozen chicken like I did, you're gonna need all day to cook it.   If you have pre-made stock you can make this quickly (but then your house doesn't smell nearly as good from having a chicken boiling in a pot in your kitchen all day!  Someone needs to make a "boiling chicken" candle!).  If you are one of my Berks/Lancaster County friends, you can stop reading here.  I know you already know how to make this.  But for the rest of the world, here is one of the yummiest. soups. ever.

Start with your chicken--it can be rock hard frozen solid or thawed.  Put it in a large soup pot of water (like for my bones stock--see link above--I put it and all the solids in a pasta insert to make it easier to pull out).  Add some celery (you can include the tops--this stuff gets thrown out and is just to flavor the broth and add more nutrients), onion, carrots (no problem if you don't have any of these, it will still be good), peppercorns, a bay leaf, and a handful of fresh thyme if you have it).  Cover and simmer all for 4-5 hours or so (less if your chicken is thawed).  At some point during that time, hard boil some eggs--I usually make around 6-8 of them) and save for later.  When done, throw out solids (well, except for the chicken of course--you still need that!).  De-bone the chicken and shred.  Add to stock.  If you're already starting with pre-made stock, add diced chicken to it.  Also add a large bag of frozen corn and a bag of egg noodles (some people make rivels--little bits of dough--to add, but I prefer egg noodles).  Slice the hard boiled eggs and add, along with a few stalks of sliced celery.  Boil about 15 min or until the noodles are done and the celery is soft.  And there you have it. 

Awesomeness!

PS.  If you have never made it before and decide to try it, be sure to let me know how you like it!!!