No recipe repertoire is complete without a good recipe for chicken noodle soup. This version is basic and no-frills, but it delivers better chicken flavor than most of us are accustomed to. The key is making a rich homemade chicken stock to use as the soup's base. Instead of using chicken legs, backs, and/or wings as demonstrated earlier in the lesson, you'll be making your stock with a whole chicken. You'll be cutting it into pieces, but the chicken breast requires special treatment because the meat will be shredded and added to the soup. The simplicity of this soup lends it to variations of all sorts. Once you've mastered it, in place of the egg noodles, you can try wild rice, cooked dried beans, or small pasta shapes like orzo or ditalini; season it with herbs of your choice; or change up the vegetables to suit your taste. Once chicken noodle soup is done, it should be served immediately; those noodles will become soft and mushy very quickly. If you like, you can make the stock a day in advance; just refrigerate the stock and poached breast meat separately until you're ready to make the soup.