Feb 28, 20212 min read

Gertrude Berg's Chicken Soup

Gertrude Berg was a writer, actress, producer and pioneer in radio and television. She won the Best Actress Emmy and Tony Awards, but isn't well know by the public today. Danny Miller suggested that we make chicken soup from her cookbook and encourage others to learn about her life and career.

The Recipe

Ingredients

I opted to make a reduced version of this for one person, but Danny closely followed Gertrude's recipe.

1 6-pound (pullet)

Chicken feet and giblets

2 1/2 quarts water

1 onion

3 stalks celery

8 sprigs parsley

2 carrots, scraped

2 leeks

1 parsley root or celery root, scraped

1 tablespoon salt

Directions

Singe and wash the chicken thoroughly. Scrape the chicken feet. Combine the chicken feet, giblets, water and onion in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Skim the top. Cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hour. Add the celery, parsley, carrots, leeks, parsley root, and salt. Cook over low heat for 1 1/2 hours longer, or until the chicken is tender. Strain the soup and serve with any desired soup garnish such as noodles, kasha, rice, etc. The chicken may be served separately.

Special Guest

Danny Miller is a journalist, editor and film history expert. He also co-authored the book "About Face: The Life and Times of Dottie Ponedel: Make-up Artist to the Stars" by Dorothy and Meredith Ponedel.

The Final Product

Due to the pandemic, I couldn't be at Danny's house in person to taste this authentic version of the chicken soup. The downscaled version I made still tasted delicious! You really can't go wrong with this recipe.

Learn More

Gertrude Berg wrote an auto biography called "Molly and Me The Memoirs of Gertrude Berg". I also recommend reading this article about Gertrude on the Jewish Women's Archive. In 2010 the documentary "Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg" played on the film festival circuit to great acclaim and is now available on DVD.