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1
Put the chicken in a large pot and cover with cool water.
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2
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, occasionally skimming the foam off the top.
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3
Peel and slice the onions.
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4
Add the onions to the soup and simmer 30 minutes longer.
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5
Peel the parsnip and carrots.
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6
Trim the carrots, parsnips, and celery and cut each in half crosswise or as needed to fit your pot.
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7
Add the peppercorns, carrots, celery, parsnip, parsley, and bay leaf to the soup.
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8
Cover partway and keep simmering over low heat at least one hour longer.
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9
The chicken should be very tender, almost falling apart.
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10
Add salt and dill and simmer 10 minutes longer.
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11
Chop the cooked vegetables into spoon-sized pieces and return to soup.
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12
Remove the chicken from the soup, separate the chicken meat from the bones and skins, shred or cut the meat into spoon-sized bits, and return it to the soup.
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13
Serve hot with matzo balls, noodles, or kreplach (Jewish meat-filled dumplings).
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14
You may also save the meat for another use and serve the broth with just the vegetables and noodles or dumplings.
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15
It's nice to chill the soup briefly to solidify the fat, then remove the fat, before reheating to serve.
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16
You can save the fat to use in another recipe, for example in matzo balls (yum!
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17
).
