Cock-a-leekie soup

Cock-a-leekie soup is a simple Scottish soup made with chicken and leeks. Using just a few ingredients, it's deliciously comforting and perfect for a cold day.

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Being brought up in Scotland, I have many a memory of soups either for lunch or as an appetizer. I don't think I appreciated how much they are a part of Scottish culture until I was a bit older and realized that wasn't so common elsewhere. 

However, given the often grey, cold days in winter, it's probably no surprise soups are popular. Plus many of them have evolved as a way to make the most of leftover scraps of food or other foods that were readily available. (I found this article an interesting brief intro about soups in Scotland).

What are the origins of cock-a-leekie soup?

Cock-a-leekie soup was a way to use old fowl that were probably no longer good for laying eggs. It apparently dates back to the 16th century, possibly coming from French chicken and onion soup. As well as the change to leeks, the Scottish soup typically includes rice or sometimes barley for a heartier soup.

The chicken would be boiled along with vegetables, with leek typically being in there, to give a flavorful broth. Leeks are relatively common in Scotland and in fact it's one of the produce they are better known for. Some meat would be taken from the cooked chicken to add back into the soup.

What I never knew until I was looking into this soup a bit more was apparently prunes were in the original version, as a bit of a contrast in flavor. Some recipes still include at least a little on top, but it's certainly not part of the soup I grew up with. Feel free to add some if you like, though.

A speeded up soup

While you can, of course, boil fresh chicken as in the original, I generally go with a quicker method. Well, maybe not always if you need to make stock first, but it is as long as you have stock already, as I usually do. 

Then, all you do is wash the rice and cook it, along with the leeks, in the broth until the rice is tender. Season to taste and serve. This soup is typically given a pretty good dose of pepper, but go with an amount that suits your taste. 

Be sure to rinse the rice before you add it to remove some of the starch - you should see the water gets cloudy as you agitate the rice in the water. If you don't, that starch will end up in the soup. While I always had this with rice growing up, you can also add barley. It won't need rinsed, but will take a bit longer to cook.

Cock-a-leekie soup is easy to make with simple, comforting flavors. It's great to warm you up on a cold day, as part of lunch or as an appetizer (such as for a Burns supper).

Try these other Scottish favorites:

• Cullen skink (smoked haddock chowder)
• Haggis (this is a simplified version with easier-to-find ingredients)
• Cranachan (a simple classic Scottish dessert made with cream, oats, whisky and raspberries)
• plus get more British recipes in the archives.
• And if you like this, you may like other broth-based soups like sopa de lima (Mexican lime soup), German pancake soup and sopa de ajo (Spanish garlic soup).

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