Secret Ingredient

I put a secret ingredient in the turkey soup that I made the other day. For the broth, I simmered the drumsticks for a while along with a quartered onion, skin and all. As an experiment, I also added four good-sized chunks of horseradish root. I strained it all before using it as broth, and I think it was the horseradish root that made the soup exceptionally good.

After I strained everything, I sauteed some onions, celery and carrots. Once they started to soften up and brown, I added minced garlic, red pepper flakes and sliced mushrooms. Then I dumped the broth back in with everything else, along with the meat from the drumsticks, plus some rosemary, oregano, parsley, salt, black pepper and lime juice. I also added a little bit of reduced chicken stock paste, some soy sauce and white vinegar. How much? you might ask. Here's the thing: it's soup. Soup is not an exact science. You keep adding stuff until it smells good. After it stewed for a bit, I added some "old-fashioned" egg noodles out of a bag. Once they softened up, it was ready to eat, and I tell you, this was some damn good soup. I've made similar soups before. The variable this time was the horseradish.

Incidentally, the reason that I happened to have two turkey drumsticks in the fridge is because last time I went to the store, they had leftover turkeys from the holidays going for thirty-nine cents a pound. The one I got cost $6.82. I've always thought that Thanksgiving should happen way more often, anyway. 

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