Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables

Bake. Cut chicken breasts off breastbone plus detach chicken legs off carcass using a sharp knife. Cover chicken breasts, legs, and carcass using stock in a big soup pot or Dutch oven. Add garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Heat stock over a medium-high flame till temperature reaches between 65°C and 70°C (66 plus 71°C) on an instant-read thermometer; adjust heat in order to maintain stock temperature in the 65°C–70°C range. It’s okay if this temperature bounces round a little, but try to hold it above 150 plus below 75°C (77°C). Cook till thickest part of chicken breasts registers 65°C on an instant-read thermometer, around 1 hour. Remove chicken breasts and keep to one side. Bring soup to a simmer and keep cooking for 1 hour longer, skimming if you need to. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Take out all chicken from pot. Pull meat off bones, shredding it in bite-size pieces; discard skin plus bones. You can strain it through a fine sieve to clarify it if broth is cloudy. Return all chicken to pot except breast meat plus return to a simmer. Tip in diced carrot, turnip, onion (or leek), parsnip, plus celery plus heat till only just tender, around 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper till it tastes right. Tip in minced fresh herbs plus take out off heat. Dice chicken breasts plus mix into soup along with any accumulated juices. Serve hot.