The Soup Topic (2013–)

[suzilightning]

Johnnybird isn't feeling well......came home from skiing with a fever and a sore throat.  All he wants is chicken noodle soup and has had it at least once a day for the last two days - except for the beef short rib ragu for dinner last night.  Soooooo.......pulled 2 quarts of chicken broth from the freezer.  Started it in a pot and added some minced carrots and red and orange bell peppers.  Silly me I want veg in any soup/stew I make as most Reeds seem to be allergic to vegetables in almost all forms.  When softish added the minced whites of some scallions and some shredded garlic cloves.   Chopped up some leftover chicken breasts and added that along with some crushed up rice vermicelli.  Three more minutes and cool.

When we reheat it I'll see if John wants to finish it with a drizzle of sesame oil.

[blue_dolphin]

Marcella Hazen's White Bean Soup with Parsley and Garlic made with Rancho Gordo Marcella Beans

This recipe is from Marcella Hazen's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  It is a very bean-y soup - as written, it calls for just one cup of broth for 6 cups of cooked, drained beans. I added more broth and may go back and add even more to the leftovers. 

Or I may follow Marcella's suggestion of simmering to reduce the amount of liquid and serving the beans as a side dish.

I couldn't resist making Marcella's soup with her namesake beans.  It comes together in just a few minutes and the simplicity really lets the flavor of the beans shine.  I only added a squeeze of lemon juice my bowl for a little more brightness.

[shain]

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I confess I seldom make soup and have not been reading this thread -- but I need some help:  I have a few ounces of hamachi (yellowtail) and some large shrimp.  I'd like to make a French/Spanish/Italian style fish/seafood soup, something like a bouillabaisse.  Preferably before the fish goes south.

 

Could anyone give me ideas and technique?

 

[JohnT]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I confess I seldom make soup and have not been reading this thread -- but I need some help:  I have a few ounces of hamachi (yellowtail) and some large shrimp.  I'd like to make a French/Spanish/Italian style fish/seafood soup, something like a bouillabaisse.  Preferably before the fish goes south.

 

Could anyone give me ideas and technique?

 

What I would do:

 

I would remove the shrimp from their shells, devein and cut them into small chunks. Cut the fish into small chunks and set aside with the shrimp meat.

Take an onion or two and chop finely then fry slowly with some crushed garlic in some butter, until translucent - do not let the onion brown. Then add the shrimp shells and continue frying until the shrimp shells turn red.

Add a bit of fish spice, some fish stock (2 cups) and cream (also about 2 cups) together with a tablespoon of tomato paste. Boil this until the soup starts to thicken (about 20 minutes).

Strain the lot into a clean pot, extracting as much liquid out of the strained solids. Add the shrimp and fish to the liquid and simmer for about 4 minutes, until cooked.

Serve in a warmed bowl with a good sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley and a nice thick wedge of fresh bread. Of course, you need to season the lot with a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper during the boiling phase.

 

That is how I would do it off the top of my head!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For better or for worse the shrimp shells are gone now.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I confess I seldom make soup and have not been reading this thread -- but I need some help:  I have a few ounces of hamachi (yellowtail) and some large shrimp.  I'd like to make a French/Spanish/Italian style fish/seafood soup, something like a bouillabaisse.  Preferably before the fish goes south.

 

Could anyone give me ideas and technique?

 

 

Jo, I've never made bouillabaisse at home, but have enjoyed it in restaurants. I know you own "The Joy of Cooking". My edition (last copyright date 1997, but 20 some other dates going back to 1931) by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker has a recipe for it on page 115. It is basically a sofrito cooked in a little olive oil and butter in equal proportions of leeks, fennel, celery, bay leaf, saffron and salt. After the veggies are soft, but not browed, you add garlic and cook for a minute or so. Add dry white wine, bring to boil and simmer 3 minutes. Then add canned tomatoes, broken into pieces, with their juice, fish stock, ground red pepper and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add your seafood and cook just until the seafood is done, not long.

 

If your copy of the book doesn't have this recipe, and you need more detail, let me know.

 

I used to enjoy bouillabaisse at Cafe Georgio's many years ago when George Bakatsias was running it as his only restaurant. He erm, got in a spot of trouble with the Infernal Ripoff System and got shut down in Cary, but he is still in business elsewhere. The bouillabaisse was one of the most expensive and best dishes on the menu. It had a very complex broth, with plenty of saffron, but I don't remember fennel or star anise (sub) , like is mentioned in "Joy", as part of the flavor profile. I do remember it had red bell pepper, not overcooked as it would be if it were fried and simmered as long as called for in "Joy". Sometimes you lucked out and it had half a lobster in it and sometimes not, but it was always delicious. It was accompanied by a small side of pasta and crusty bread. Deliriously good! To top it all off, my brother was working there at the time and I had a friend who worked waitstaff there who lived upstairs from me in the only apartment I have ever lived in in my adult life. You know I came out of there with a tip top experience every time.

 

Bottom line is that I think this recipe is very flexible, but you want to lean in the direction of your own tastes. 

[JohnT]

6 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

For better or for worse the shrimp shells are gone now.

 

That's a pity - the shells I always keep for making an intense stock or for enhancing a dish such as a fish soup or bouillabaisse. If you ever have an abundance of yellowtail, it makes the best pickled fish due to being a firm fish that does not break down when cooked or pickled.

 

But, you can always make the soup without using the shrimp shells. Of course, you can also add ingredients such as fennel and some diced potato to the pot - and even throw in some mussels or calamari if you have some, but it is not a necessity.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I tried to make shrimp stock one time and it was a complete failure. I was working with only the shells from beheaded shrimp, though so the little meat in the legs was all was that was there. I have a feeling that advocates of shrimp stock have the heads in the mix?

[JohnT]

2 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I tried to make shrimp stock one time and it was a complete failure. I was working with only the shells from beheaded shrimp, though so the little meat in the legs was all was that was there. I have a feeling that advocates of shrimp stock have the heads in the mix?

Yes, heads, tails and body shell all go into the pot. Although it is always good to make your own fish stock, there is nothing wrong with using a commercial fish stock. Some of the more upper-class restaurants will never admit it, but they do use commercial stocks on a regular basis and use the shrimp shells just to enhance the flavours.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I've never seen commercial fish stock here. We do have clam "juice" from a bottle, which is quite good, but salty enough that you have to adjust the salt in the recipe around it. Of course, I'm just a home cook and don't have access to restaurant suppliers.

 

I've seen fish heads down in the bottom right corner of the ice bin display case for fish and seafood at my local fishmonger's though. I'll bet that would make an excellent stock.

[JohnT]

Fish stock is available here in small tubes of concentrated stock in the normal supermarkets - use one tube and boiling water to make up a cup. Commercially we can get either frozen stock in 500g blocks from a few of the fish processing factories and also dehydrated stock sold in 1kg tubs. Then you can go to any fishmonger that deals in fresh fish and buy the filleted carcasses that they would normally dump. Never buy carcasses that come from a fishmonger that buys in frozen fish - you will most likely end up with food poisoning!

 

When I was doing catering, we went through a lot of the dehydrated stock which I used for bouillabaisse style soups as well as a calamari and mussel soup I used to make. That is why I wrote a simple soup for Jo - most seafood based soups are actually very simple with very few extra ingredients. A lot of cookbooks tend to not publish simple seafood based soups and dishes and try to push ones with too many ingredients that often leave the consumer wondering what happened to the seafood. Kiss is the way to go with all seafood dishes.

[hongda]

Better than Bouillon makes a fish version and a lobster version of their stock concentrate.  Available at several online retailers.

 

[lindag]

My current favorite is clickety.  As a matter of fact, I have kale on my shopping list for today so I can make up a pot.  It is really a lovely, flavorful dish.

Like this.

Edited April 29, 2017 by lindag (log)

[btbyrd]

Asian noodle soups are my favorite "genre." "Asian is sort of a cop-out, meaningless term... but whatever, that's what I like. Beef pho is probably my favorite, and my own is my favorite. It's probably inauthentic in a thousand ways, but my broth is better (to me) than anything I've had out anywhere. That's probably because of the amount of meat and bones I use relative to water. In any event, it's deeply beefy, with tons of body, but is light on account of the anise, cinnamon, and clove.

 

Also a fan of the OG Momofuku ramen recipe with the bacon-dashi base. I go a step further and put smoked, pulled pork shoulder on mine (as opposed to just pulled pork shoulder) as a nod to my North Carolina roots.

 

My favorite soup that I've had out anywhere is probably the spicy beef tendon soup from Katy's Dumpling House in the Chicago suburbs. Spicy and aromatic with fantastic, toothsome hand-pulled noodles Mmm... hand-pulled noodles. They sell those noodles frozen to go, and I've even made a batch or two of Momofuku "ramen" with them. So good.

[kayb]

Tough call, but it would have to be either vegetable beef soup, made from leftovers from pot roast, or white bean and Italian sausage soup.Other favorites are seafood chowder, Asian noodle soups, and tomato soup. I love soup and make it a LOT.

 

[FeChef]

PA dutch Ham and String bean w/potato soup. I can literally eat 2-3 bowls at a shot.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

My favorite is French Onion soup, but it has to be made correctly. I've had some pretty sad versions of it.

 

It starts with slowly caramelized onions, of course, but also critical is a deep, rich beef broth, and good bread, dry and toasted. Wine or not is not critical to me, and the cheese is flexible. Compte is hard or impossible to find here, so gruyere, or emmental is fine, and even provolone, mozzarella or muenster works for me, as long as it is on top of a great French onion soup.

 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, FeChef said:

PA dutch Ham and String bean w/potato soup. I can literally eat 2-3 bowls at a shot.

This is the new one to me. Perhaps I lead a much too sheltered life. But I've added to my list and hope to make it very soon before the weather gets too hot for this sort of soup.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, FeChef said:

PA dutch Ham and String bean w/potato soup. I can literally eat 2-3 bowls at a shot.

 

Huh? I didn't realize this was a PA Dutch recipe. I used to cook a ham hock and home grown pole beans (the flat kind) all day on low in a Crock pot. When I got home, I'd add the potatoes because I don't like potatoes cooked that long. Turn it up to high and and hour or so later, voila: dinner! This is good, especially with good bread or cornbread. It is cheap and easy too.

[sartoric]

I love most soups and would have a hard time picking a favourite.

French onion is up there, as is minestrone with a dollop of pesto. If I see seafood chowder on a menu I have to try it (we once spent two weeks in New Zealand, I think I had eight seafood chowders), vichyssoise, cream of chicken, pho, gazpacho, crab and asparagus .....I better stop now.

[JohnT]

23 hours ago, lindag said:

My current favorite is clickety.  As a matter of fact, I have kale on my shopping list for today so I can make up a pot.  It is really a lovely, flavorful dish.

Okay, I perused the "clickety" and the recipe calls for a quantity of "Italian Sausage", then shows a photograph of what appears to be a pack of what I would term "minced meat" or what appears to be some form of freshly ground meat. Can you please expand on this and explain to me exactly what is "Italian Sausage". It is certainly not what I would term "Sausage". The recipe does peak my interest.

[lindag]

The sausage in the recipe is Italian Sausage that has been removed from the casings...also it is found loose here (without the casings).  They are the same, just presented differently.      like this.

Edited April 29, 2017 by lindag (log)

[JohnT]

Thanks for the heads-up. So, it appears it is pork sausage meat (ground/minced) with some fennel seeds, a touch of dried chilli (red pepper) flakes and a glug of red wine and other basic seasonings. If so, that is easy to make - I have never seen Italian Sausage here. Other than our local sausages, if you want it, you make it yourself! Thanks for the clarification.

[JohnT]

Unfortunately, I enjoy a good hearty soup. I say unfortunately as my wife is not that fond of soup! But that has slowly changed over the years. I now often make a really thick split pea soup with a couple of smoked pork neck steaks in the pot. Once all cooked up, I remove the steaks and wiz the soup with a stick blender then dice the steaks and add them back to the pot. The split peas, by the way, are a product of Canada.

 

I also love to make a pot of vegetable soup which is more veggies than liquid - but that soup is basically made on the spur of the moment when I see all the fresh veggies at the market and buy them for a hearty soup. Then it is consumed with a door-stop chunk of warm bread out the oven.