The history of chicken soup

Claudia Roden, a leading authority on Jewish food and author of The Book of Jewish Food (Penguin; £12.99), suggests adding a good pinch of powdered saffron at the end of any standard chicken soup recipe for a more authentic amber-golden colour.

At Six 13, London’s first-ever kosher fusion restaurant, chef Stephen Collins, formerly of Quaglino’s, serves a contemporary interpretation of chicken soup billed as consommé with herbed matzoh balls. It’s made by boiling the fowl, then adding minced chicken pieces, vegetables and a touch of tomato paste. Collins adorns his masterpiece with a spaghetti of carrot, courgette and mouli (a Chinese root veg).

As Greek chef Theodore Kyriakou of The Real Greek restaurant in London asserts, Jewish mothers don’t have an exclusivity deal on chicken soup. 'At the slightest hint of someone in the family getting a winter cold, Greek matriarchs also dish out nutritious chicken soup to all and sundry. It has a legendary reputation as a hangover cure too.' He serves his own chicken avgolemono soup, a Greek take on classic chicken soup, which is made with milk, Greek short-grain or risotto rice, lemon juice and eggs. The whites are folded into the broth first with the lemon juice, and the yolks are added on a very low heat that mustn’t reach boiling point or it will curdle. Finally a knob of butter is floated in each bowl to serve.

Mexican chicken soup has a spicier twist. It’s invariably served with a wedge of lime, a scattering of coriander and a dollop of fiery salsa. As American-Jewish food writer and chicken soup devotée Marlena Spieler says, 'This is a pick-me-up with a vengeance which will see off practically any known adversary.'