Tortilla Soup

[Steebles]

the Menger is THE old hotel in San Antonio.  It's where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders, and General Sherman Lee once rode a horse through its lobby.

Me and the SO stumbled (literally) into the Menger bar one night. Maybe the most Woody bar I've ever been in. We were informed that the slight disfigurement to the bar between us was wrought by none other than Carrie Nation, her righteous self.

With her little axe.

We thought that was the grandest thing ever and happily toasted Ms Nation for the rest of the evening :)

Thanks for the tortilla soup recipes! Will be making this this weekend :)

[Jaymes]

Does anyone have a good recipe for Tortilla Soup?  I am cooking for friends coming in this weekend (from New Jersey of all places) and they asked for Tortilla soup?    I can look it up on recipe web sites, but thought someone might have a proven recipe.

So?

Did they arrive?

Did you make the soup?

What recipe did you use?

Did they like it?

[NewYorkTexan]

I should have followed up with this sooner, especially since so many people were kind enough to post suggestions.

I went with the Mansion recipe. I figured if it did not come out edible, I would be able to blame it on inaccuracies in the recipe and not incompetence by the chef . I made two substitutions, I could not find epazote---yea, I know that it is probably at Fiesta or a dozen places east of 35, but I was lazy-----and used cilantro instead. I also used Claire de Lune from Pure Luck Diary instead of cheddar cheese, a brilliant substitution if I do say so myself.

The soup came out great. Excellent body, right amount of spice and a brilliant way to start a fajita dinner. My friends really enjoyed it. Even though they are from New Jersey, they used to live in Austin so they know something about Mexican food. This recipe is defiantly a keeper.

I will try some of the other recipes, including the Menger Beef version when the weather finally starts to gets cold.

[Suvir Saran]

Glad to know the Mansion recipe worked. I shall now write the chef and Mrs. Caroline Rose Hunt. Always good to congratulate people when things work...

[Jack Fisher]

I love good tortilla soup. Most recipes call for a chicken stock base. Recently I tried the soup at Baja Fresh, and I really liked it, but it didn't appear to be chicken stock based. It almost tasted like beef stock. It was a dark color and quite rich. Does anyone know?

[chezcherie]

this may be naive on my part, but i would think that if they use beef stock, that would be disclosed on the menu, as so many people do eat chicken (which the menu says it contains), but don't eat beef...?

their website says roasted tomato and "tortilla" broth, which i assume means that the broth includes masa to thicken it, although it is brothy, rather than thick...i would guess that the roasted tomato contributes to the deep color.

[sandra]

YOu can make tortilla soup with eirther chicken or beef broth as a base - if needed, it could even be a vegetable broth - all should have tomato added for color and flavor - how thick it is depends on your taste, you can thicken it with masa or you can have a thinner soup - with lots of tortilla strips and all the garnishes - cheese, avocado, chipotles, lime and sour cream...

[Hahabogus]

YOu can make tortilla soup with eirther chicken or beef broth as a base - if needed, it could even be a vegetable broth - all should have tomato added for color and flavor - how thick it is depends on your taste, you can thicken it with masa or you can have a thinner soup - with lots of tortilla strips and all the garnishes - cheese, avocado, chipotles, lime and sour cream...

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Nancy's Chicken Tortilla Soup

Soups/Chowders/Stews

1 medium onion chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

1 carrot; chopped

2-3 garlic cloves minced

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 4 oz can green chiles

1 15oz can Italian herbed tomatoes chopped; with juice

4 cups chicken stock; 4 -6 cups

1 tsp lemon pepper use a strong brand (nothing with salt in it)

2 tsp worchester sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin powder

1/2 tsp hot sauce (to taste)

1/2 cup water

4 tbsp flour

1 lb chicken parts skinned and de-boned; or Hot Italian Sausages

1/3 cup sour cream; see note

In a heavy large dutch oven over medium heat soften the onion carrot and

celery in the oil. Add the minced garlic and cook about one more minute.

Add the green chiles and the chopped tomatoes, then add the chicken stock

and the seasoning. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

In a small bowl stir together the flour and water then add to soup. Simmer

5 minutes more.

Add the chopped chicken meat. Simmer about 5 minutes more.

stir in the sour cream and serve.

Best served with corn tortilla chips .

Note if you are going to freeze parts of this don't add the sour cream till

ready to serve. Sour cream doesn't freeze well.

** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.82 **

[Lilija]

I've had Baja Fresh's tortilla soup, and it's very good, but I don't taste any beef, it's not rich enough. My guess is that they use a vegetable broth base.

[The Apostate]

I don't know about the flavor as I've never had that particular soup, but I have made hundreds of gallons of Tortilla Soup over the years and have found that the color of the finished product is determined primarily by the brand of chili powder used.

My parsimonious masters will buy whatever product is on sale (usually Sysco or Alliant) and depending on the source, the colors can range from orange to brown to bright red.

Hope that helps.

[cmsoulbrother]

Normally a Mexican stock is much lighter in flavor than an American or European stock. Could the depth of flavor and dark color come from a toasted, rehydrated and pureed ancho chile paste mixture. That's sometimes how we used to make it at my restaurant.