Great and timely - thank you. Despite my name, I was raised by Italians who hail from Naples. My grandmother's generation made wedding soup for most family celebrations, and to be sure there was a contest always among the sisters (there were four of them) for the best soup. My grandmother, of course, asserted that hers was best. The major reason she felt hers was that she used her own chicken stock rather than canned broth/stock. In fact, this point became family legend at her favorite sister's funeral mass: the priest was talking about what made my Aunt Carmela special, and he noted that many said she made the best wedding soup. There and then, and well into her 80s, my grandmother shouted, "Bull%#*&! She used canned stock!" Certainly that was much needed comic relief at an otherwise sad occasion. We just buried my grandmother on 1/12/2010, well into her 95th year, and in celebration my brother, mother and I prepared her wedding soup, fresh stock (juiced-up a bit by my mother's secret ingredient... a little yellow food coloring to make it look more "chickeny"). So, go ahead and honor my Nana - make your own stock!
What a wonderful, touching story, Erin - B*#$%%^ and all! I can see my grandma-in-law having done that, too. And yes, homemade stock is good and quite easy; I make it regularly. And next time I'll think of your Nana... Thanks for sharing - PJH
January 26, 2010 at 1:29pm