Thank God for Netflix. When the temperature drops the way it has here in NYC, weekends start to consist of lots of tea-drinking, baking, and Netflix-watching. Frank is on a mission to catch me up on all of the movies that I should be embarrassed to admit I haven’t seen (I’m a child of the 80s who saw Ghostbusters for the first time last week… so what?). I made it my mission to finally watch the PBS series that I had intended to watch when it aired, The Mind of a Chef.

If you’re unfamiliar, this miniseries features Chef David Chang of the Momofuku empire, along with many of his food-person friends. Whether or not you’re a fan of Momofuku, the mix of food, travel, and the general goofiness of Chang and his friends is enough to keep any food-lover entertained.

In one episode Chang demonstrates his version of chicken noodle soup, which he insists everyone should know how to make (I agree). His take involves the infusion of some Asian flavors (soy sauce, sesame oil), but what intrigued me most about it was the fact that he created two separate broths — a straight chicken broth and a vegetable broth.

The day after we watched this episode, Frank started suggesting that since it was snowing out and since I was going to head home a little early that maybe I would be interested in trying to make David Chang-style chicken soup for dinner. The things we do for love.

Making this soup was time-consuming, but it was super simple and 100% worth the effort. The chicken broth tasted full-bodied and (for lack of a better word) chicken-y. The veggie broth was deliciously sweet and surprisingly complex — don’t underestimate the lowly veggie.

We gave our soup a little bit of a ramen flair with some sliced scallions, mushrooms, and a soft-boiled egg on top. We also used our homemade fettuccine for the noodles.  You can add whatever your heart desires.

David Chang-style Chicken Noodle Soup (Adapted from Kurt R.A. Giambastiani)

Ingredients

• 6 quarts water (divided)
• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 2 white onions, halved
• 2-3 scallions, cut into 4-inch lengths
• 2 shallots, halved
• 1 carrot, cut into 4-inch lengths
• 3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Soy sauce
• Sesame Oil
• Noodles of your choice (udon, fettuccine, egg, etc.)
• Garnishes of your choice (chopped scallions, hard-cooked egg, bamboo shoots, sliced mushrooms, etc.)

Instructions

1. Fill each pot halfway and put over medium-high heat.
2. Salt the chicken liberally and put them into the large pot of heating water.
3. Coarsely grind some fresh black pepper into the pot (6-8 grinds)
4. Put onions, shallots, scallions, carrot, and garlic into the smaller pot of heating water.
5. Bring both pots to a simmer and turn down the heat. Let them simmer for one hour.
6. After one hour, pull the chicken breasts, legs, and thighs from the pot. Let them cool; pick the meat off the bones and reserve. Return the bones, skin, and gristle to the large pot.
7. Bring both pots to a slow, gentle boil and let them cook for two hours, uncovered, until reduced by about half.
8. Strain the vegetable broth, discard the vegetables, and return the broth to the smaller pot.
9. Strain the chicken broth, discard the bones, skin, etc. De-fat the broth and return the broth to the larger pot.

To Serve

1. Break the chicken meat into bite-sized pieces and put a serving in the bottom of the bowl.
2. Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce, or more to taste.
3. Add 1/2 tsp of sesame oil, or more to taste.
4. Add some of the garnish elements (chopped scallions and sliced mushrooms are good here).
5. Bring the chicken broth to a boil and cook your noodles in the broth, according to specifications for your choice.
6. Strain into a bowl to separate cooked noodles and broth.
7. Add a serving of noodles to each bowl.
8. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth to each bowl.
9. Add 1/4 cups vegetable broth to each bowl.
10. Serve hot and enjoy!