The 'Secret Weapon' Tyler Florence Adds To Chicken Noodle Soup

Tyler Florence's chicken noodle soup has all the traditional vibes of a recipe you could find cooking on the stove in your mom or grandmother's kitchen. It's full of healthy, wholesome ingredients and a lot of TLC, just like grandma's. One thing that we really admire about the instructions for this chicken noodle soup is how the details truly reflect Florence's food philosophy. The Food Network star revealed in a Q&A interview with William Sonoma that his cooking style is straightforward and American, which is why Florence's magic for this beloved soup starts with homemade stock.

In a video clip from "Food 911," the celebrity chef shares that the beauty of making your own chicken stock is you get a good amount of delicious, fragrant stock to use for soup, and you get a lot of chicken — both of which are needed to make this nourishing and satisfying comfort food. But the true brilliance of Florence's chicken noodle soup is the "secret weapon" he adds to his version of this dish. He adds a piece of fresh produce you wouldn't normally expect when making stock, but the result is perfection.  

Sure, Tyler Florence uses classic ingredients like garlic and mirepoix for his foundation, along with bay leaf and thyme, but during the "Food 911" episode, the chef divulged that he uses a root vegetable to make the broth pop. Florence said, "My little secret weapon when I'm making chicken stock is a turnip. I really love that smell." And it must be good because the recipe on Food Network has been reviewed over 500 times and has a 5-star rating.

If you are unfamiliar with the turnip, it is a white and purple autumnal vegetable that can be eaten both raw and cooked. In terms of taste, turnips can be described as mild and sweet. A blogger at I'd Rather Be A Chef suggests if you are going to cook with this root vegetable, you should buy smaller turnips because they are going to be more enjoyable for your taste buds. The turnip might add a nice but subtle flavor to your stock canvas, so the next time you're cooking up a chicken noodle soup you may consider using a turnip.