Sweetcorn and chicken soup

Last night, I dreamt I was making two kinds of soup - but my mother messed both of them up by putting in some extra ingredients, and they turned out horribly. Finally, I tried a third batch (some kind of black bean soup) and caught my mother throwing in some limes. The soup came out great. Thanks, dream mum! Next time I've got a batch of black beans, I have to try that.

It must have been the chicken and sweetcorn soup I made from scratch last night, sitting in the fridge, sending rays of soup-panic my way. Because soup is difficult; I think what I'm trying to capture in a soup is a food memory. That may be why I'm so picky. Chicken soup, for instance, isn't chicken soup without some sweetcorn. Vegetable soup isn't complete without potatoes. And tomato soup can't have any other veg in it. Why? I don't know. But the wrong kind of soup gives me a nasty headache. Or bad dreams. The problem is, food memories don't have recipes. So you have to make them from scratch, very patiently, and experiment.

Chicken soup done right - serves 6, takes 3 hours to prepare + left overnight
Carcass of a 1 kg organic chicken (back, neck, tail, bones etc.)
3 sticks of celery
3 medium-sized carrots
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 organic chicken stock cubes
1 can of sweetcorn (300 grams)
1 can of bamboo shoots (150 grams)

1 chicken breast

salt and pepper

Put the pieces of chicken carcass in a pot with a teaspoon of salt and cover completely with cold water. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer. A lot of white fluff (the impurities off the chicken carcass) will come to the surface. Skim these off until the surface remains clean.Then put the lid on the pot and let simmer for 1.5 hours. Then remove the chicken pieces and let them cool. Chop up the celery, carrots and onion into small cubes and put these in with the chicken stock. Add the stock cubes and stir. Let the soup simmer for another 1.5 hours. Once the chicken has cooled, strip off the nicer pieces of flesh and add to the soup. When the 1.5 hours are up, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool off before putting in the fridge overnight (don't put it in the fridge immediately, or the other things in your fridge will warm up and spoil quicker!). The next day, remove the layer of fat on the surface of the soup. Bring to a simmer again, then add the corn and bamboo shoots. Chop the chicken breast into bite-sized chunks and add these to the soup as well. Once the breast pieces have cooked, serve. This soup is nice served simply with artisan bread and butter.