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Italian Chicken Soup

1 (5 to 6-pound) fowl, or 7 to 8-pounds of broilers, with neck and all giblets except liver
10 to 12 cups water, as needed
2 medium carrots, scraped and quartered
2 or 3 celery stalks with leaves, whole or cut in half
1 medium whole yellow onion, peeled or unpeeled, inserted with 4 to 6 whole cloves
2 canned Italian plum tomatoes (about 1/3 of a 14 1/2-ounce can)
2 small leeks, white and green portions (optional)
2 garlic cloves (optional)
1 medium boiling potato, peeled (optional)

2 small or 1 large bay leaf
4 to 5 large sage leaves, or 1 sage sprig (optional)
3 parsley sprigs, preferably the flat Italian type
8 to 10 black peppercorns
2 to 3 teaspoons coarse salt or 1 to 2 teaspoons table salt, or to taste

1. Clean, trim and quarter the chicken. Place quartered chicken in a close-fitting 5-quart soup pot. A whole chicken should fit into a 6 to 7-quart pot. Add 10 cups water if you use broilers or 12 cups if you use a fowl. Water should cover chicken. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a slow simmer and skim foam as it rises to the surface. Soup should cook at a simmer.
2. When foam subsides, add all remaining ingredients with only 1 teaspoonful of salt. Cook chicken until it is loosened from the bone. If chicken is quartered, allow 1 1/4 hours for cooking broilers and 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a fowl. If you cook the chickens whole, allow an extra 15 minutes for broilers and 30 minutes for the fowl. Add more water during cooking if chicken is not seven-eighths covered. Turn chicken 2 to 3 times during cooking. Add salt gradually, tasting as the soup progresses.
3. Remove chicken, giblets, and bones and set aside. Pour soup through a sieve, rinse pot, and then return soup to pot if it is to be served immediately. Skim fat from surface of soup if it is to be served without being stored.
4. Soup can be prepared in advance up to this point. If you are going to store the soup, strain it over a bowl but do not skim. Cool thoroughly, uncovered, then cover and place in refrigerator. Store wrapped chicken separately in the refrigerator. Discard (or nibble on) giblets, bones, and soup vegetables. Chicken can be reheated in soup, either in quarters with bones and skins for a lusty dish, or trimmed of bones and skin and cut into smaller, easily spooned pieces.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.