Mother knew (and knows) best: A steaming bowl of chicken soup can keep winter colds and coughs at bay. Researchers have found that "Jewish penicillin" (as Jewish-style chicken noodle or matzoh ball soup is often called) has anti-inflammatory properties that help soothe sore throats and prevent the build-up of mucus that comes with the common cold.

In a now-famous 1993 study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Stephen Rennard took his wife's grandmother's chicken soup into the laboratory to test the time-honored folk remedy. The results, which have been published in medical journals and featured in media outlets worldwide, show that the soup works by preventing the movement of neutrophils, white blood cells that guard the body against infection. When you have a cold or upper-respiratory infection, your body releases large number of these cells; eating chicken soup slows this process, reducing inflammation and therefore, symptoms of the cold.

Hot soups of all varieties are comfort foods, but old-fashioned chicken soup -- rich broth, onions, carrots, celery, perhaps some parsnips, noodles, rice or potatoes -- is the ultimate in feel-good cuisine. The nutritious benefits start with the stock; as it simmers, minerals and gelatin are released from the chicken bones, forming valuable and easy-to-digest electrolytes and amino acids. But Dr. Rennard's study found that stock or broth alone did not have the same restorative properties as the complete bowl of soup.

Even if you don't have a cold, the process of preparing chicken soup is soothing, particularly on a blustery winter day. For a double dose of comfort, roast a chicken one day and make chicken soup the next, using my simple recipe or one of your own.  

Simple Chicken Soup

Carcass from a 3-4 lb. roast chicken
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 cup each chopped carrots and celery
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup egg noodles or small pasta

Pull all easily accessible meat from chicken carcass and set aside.

Place carcass in a pot large enough to cover it with water by 2 inches. Add cold water to cover.

Add vegetables and bring to a boil over medium high heat. (I usually put the pot with the chicken and water on the stove and turn the burner on while I'm chopping the vegetables.)

Turn the heat down to simmer and partially cover the pot. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the pot from the heat and remove all bones and pieces of fat and skin from the pot.

Skim off any excess fat and add the noodles, reserved chicken and salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until noodles are done. Correct seasoning.

(Note: I season my chicken liberally with herbes de provence, plus extra rosemary, thyme and tarragon before roasting, so I do not add any extra herbs to the soup. If your roast chicken is plain, you may want to add fresh or dried herbs to the broth before simmering, but pull out any remaining woody stems and large pieces along with the chicken bones.)