Red Date Chicken Soup

From the garden

• 12 dried jujubes (red dates), rinsed and pitted · fully brown, wrinkled fruit from the date stage, not the crisp stage
• 4 scallions, trimmed and tied in a knot
• 2 tbsp dried goji berries (optional) · the usual partner to jujube in a tonic broth

From the pantry

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces · about 3 lb; bone-in thighs work just as well
• 8 slices fresh ginger, unpeeled, cut into coins
• 2 tbsp dry white wine · or Shaoxing wine if there is a bottle in the house
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water 20 minutes (optional) · the soaking water goes into the pot too
• 1½ cups long-grain rice · cooked, for serving
• salt · to taste
• black pepper

1. Rinse the jujubes in warm water, then slit each one lengthwise and press the single hard stone out with a thumb. That stone is inedible and easy to swallow by accident in a bowl of soup, so pit every fruit, and never hand an unpitted dried jujube to a small child.
2. Cover the chicken pieces with cold water in a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes, then drain, rinse each piece under the tap and wash out the pot. This blanching is what makes the finished broth clear instead of muddy.
3. Return the chicken to the clean pot with the pitted jujubes, ginger coins, knotted scallions, wine, and the shiitake along with their soaking water. Pour in 10 cups of cold water and bring slowly up to a bare simmer.
4. Simmer partly covered 75 to 90 minutes, skimming the grey foam off during the first 15 minutes and never letting the surface do more than tremble. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat and clouds the whole pot.
5. Add the goji berries for the last 10 minutes, then fish out the scallion knots and the ginger. Taste the broth: the jujubes give it a dark, molasses-sweet backbone that needs a generous hand with the salt to come forward.
6. Ladle over rice in deep bowls, three jujubes to a bowl, and pass black pepper at the table.