Chicken noodle soup

Read through the recipe, gather the equipment, and use the ingredient lines to prepare everything: dice the onion, slice the carrots and celery, and mince the garlic. Pat the chicken dry on a separate board, then wash your hands and anything the raw chicken touched. Everything is cut, measured and within reach.

Melt the butter in the 5- to 6-quart heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and cook, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and see-through but not browned, about 8 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant. Add the broth, chicken thighs, thyme sprigs, bay leaf and black pepper, and bring the pot to a simmer over medium-high heat, until the liquid comes to a simmer.

Turn the burner down to low heat and hold a bare simmer, with only a few small bubbles breaking the surface at a time and the lid set slightly ajar. Skim off the gray foam and fat with the ladle now and then. Cook until the meat is tender and the thickest part of a thigh reads 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer held away from the bone, about 25 to 35 minutes.

Lift the chicken thighs, thyme stems and bay leaf out of the pot with the tongs. Cool the thighs on the board until you can handle them, about 10 minutes, then discard the skin, bones, thyme stems and bay leaf, and shred the meat into bite-size pieces with two forks.

Raise the heat to medium-high heat so the soup bubbles steadily all over, and add the noodles, stirring once or twice so they do not clump. Cook, tasting a noodle often, until tender with a little bite, about 6 to 8 minutes. Turn the burner back down to low and stir in the shredded chicken.

Stir in the parsley, then taste a spoonful with some chicken and a noodle. Aim for rich, clear chicken flavor, seasoned enough that you want the next spoonful. If it tastes flat, add kosher salt to taste, a little at a time, then finish with 1–2 tsp fresh lemon juice until the broth tastes bright.

Ladle the soup into warm bowls as 4 servings, scooping from the bottom first so every bowl gets chicken, vegetables and noodles. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and reheat them until they simmer and reach at least 165°F (74°C) on an instant-read thermometer.