The nick name of the people of Brussels is the kiekenfretters, which means chicken eaters, comes from the food we took with us to go and siege the castle of Gaasbeek.
The people of Brussels decided to siege the castle because the bastard son of the sheriff of Gaasbeek attacked the local war hero t' Serclaas who was on is way to between Brussels and Lennik. The main source of food they took with them was chicken and that way they became known as chicken eaters.
The following soup recipe is one I got from my grandmother who used to eat this soup at home during World War II. She told me that it was a very typical soup for that time. Personally I think it is remarkable that once again chicken is involved. In the old days everything you could find of the chicken went into the soup but do to legislation you can't buy stuff like chicken paws any more but according to my grandparents it was something like a delicacy.
Ingredients:
- 1 tray of pealed chicken stomachs
- 1 tray of chicken wings
- 1 cube of chicken stock
- a couple of carrots
- 2 branches of celery
- 2 small leeks
You start by cutting up the carrots, celery and leeks into small pieces that are approximately 1,5 cm long and are 0,5 to 1 cm (a pinky finger) thick.
You clean the stomachs and chicken wings under running tab water.
Next you put them on the boil for approximately 15 minutes. You will see a white foam forming on top of the water. Remove the foam.
Add the cube of chicken stock to the water and put in the vegetables.
To find out when the soup is ready you take a fork and try to put it into a stomach. When it goes in smoothly without putting any pressure on it it is ready. Don't forget to test the vegetables as well.
When I was a kid and my grandmother used to make this soup she would add in some soup balls. The soup balls are just small balls from minced meat and some bread crum that you boil in some water with minced pepper. They are ready when the float. You don't add the balls into the karabitjessoep until you will be serving the soup.
We usually make it and than reheat the soup because we have the impression that the flavors intensifies by letting it stand over night.
