Cock-A-Leekie

Cock-A-Leekie is a simple and delicious chicken and leek soup, or thin broth. Chicken meat, along with rings of leek, are simmered in a home-made chicken stock – making this a broth substantial enough to make a meal on its own, when served with a little buttered home-made bread. Although thought to be Scottish in origin it was also often made in Wales and Devon. The cock of the title may have been the old farmyard rooster, past his prime, and therefore such tough meat would needed long simmering – but the stock was all the better for this, imparting great flavour.

Nowadays a good quality capon gives the best flavour to a Cock-a-Leekie, but a well-seasoned boiling fowl or a roasting bird simmered in prepared stock will also make a good broth. In poorer households the leek broth was eaten without the chicken, which was reserved for another meal, in richer households the chicken was diced and added back in to eat with the soup.

Cock-A-Leekie Recipe

Serves 4.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 chicken or capon (with giblets, cleaned)
• 1 onion (unpeeled, washed and quartered)
• 2 carrots (unpeeled and chopped)
• Bouquet garni (herb bag)
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon sea-salt
• 1.5 litres of water
• 40g butter
• 6 leeks (trimmed and washed of grit)
• 2 spring onions (trimmed and finely sliced)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Recipe Method:

Place the cleaned and trimmed chicken (with its giblets) in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Add the quartered onion, carrots, bouquet garni, peppercorns and the sea-salt to the pan, and cover with the water.

Bring the pan very slowly to the boil, skim off all the white impurities and scum. Put the lid on and then leave on a gentle simmer for about 2 hours (120 minutes) until the chicken is tender. Skim frequently.

After 2 hours remove the boiled chicken and reserve. Strain off the stock, through a fine sieve, into a large bowl, leave it to cool, and then chill it in a refrigerator until the fat has risen and hardened on the surface. Spoon off the hardened fat carefully. Discard the strained out vegetables, chicken neck and heart, bouquet garni and peppercorns.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin from it and cut all the usable flesh into thin strips.

Cut half the leeks into rings and the other half into very small pieces, the same size as the finely chopped spring onions. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan, add the chopped leeks and the spring onions and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes, until they are soft and transparent, and the butter has been absorbed. Add the reserved chicken stock, from which the fat has been removed, bring to the boil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer the soup for about 30 minutes until the leeks and onions are tender. Add the chicken strips and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Mix in the chopped parsley and serve. Transfer to serving bowls and serve with some fresh baked bread spread with a little butter.