The Honey Pot

Potion of Recovery (Chicken Soup)

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This is a traditional poition acquired from Poland. It is ideal through the wintry months to warm your soul, or to replenish nutrients when you are ill.

Ingredients:

  • 600g chicken (I recommend bone-in chicken thighs)
  • 1 carrot
  • Roughly 20cm of leek
  • Parsley root (Hard to find in the UK, sometimes I use parsnip instead)
  • Celery root
  • Ground pepper
  • Vegeta spice (vegetable spice, found in Polish sections of shops)
    • Use salt or vegetable boullion if you cannot find vegeta spice.

Steps:

  • Purify the vegetables by scrubbing them in clean water then slice them into large pieces. The carrot can simply be cut in half, and the other root vegetables quartered.
  • Fill your cauldron with 2.5L of water and add the chicken while it is still cold. Turn the heat up to high.
  • As the chicken begins to cook you will notice some foam forming on the top of the water. Remove this with a spoon or the potion will be cloudy.
  • Once the foam has stopped forming add the vegetables and vegeta spice.
  • Gently stir the pot three times clockwise, then three times anti-clockwise.
  • Reduce the temperature to low and simmer for one and a half hours.
  • Use a slotted spoon to remove the potion's ingredients.
  • Holding the spoon in the broth, close your eyes and conjure a happy thought. It can be anything that brings you comfort or joy; if you are brewing this for somebody else it would help if the thought included them in some way. Try to think of all the senses, what do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? Make the image as solid as you can, then imagine that thought leaving your mind, travelling down to your shoulder, through your arm and into the spoon. Open your eyes and stir the pot slowly for thirty seconds.

At this point the potion has been successfully brewed. Some people like to slice up the veg and add it back in to the broth, this is your choice.

Given the chicken we used in this potion gave its life so that we could gain its nutrients it would be disrespectful to let the meat go to waste. I recommend you shred the chicken then fry it in butter, or mix through a sauce or eat it in sandwiches - Consume however you like but throw nothing away.