Asparagus soup raw flavor

[Vijay]

I did recently asparagus soup for the children of a pre-school. I followed the recipe but after completion the raw flavor of asparagus soup is persisting. This may be my concoction also. But the same soup which I tasted hot in a fine dining restaurant didn't have this raw flavor.

 

After the completion of soup There is a transport of almost 1.5 hour and children take after another 2 hours. The teachers say they reheated and served to the children but their complaint is children didn't like it. So they told me remove from the menu . I am disappointed. 

 

Should I ask the teachers why the children didn't like? 

 

Is the reason for their dislike is because of the raw flavor of asparagus in the soup which I suspected initially when I made? 

 

Here is the recipe I followed. 

 

http://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/asparagus-soup-with-lemon-and-parmesan.html

 

I have excluded onion, garlic and chicken broth from the recipe as we have a prohibition to use them in our cooking. Rest all the recipe remains the same. 

Edited April 15, 2017 by Vijay
Last paragraph missing something (log)

[Anna N]

 I would say that if children in your country are like children in my country asparagus is not high on their list of favourite foods!   You might want to look at soups made with sweeter vegetables such as sweet potatoes, squash and carrots if you are feeding children. However it's fairly apparent that you follow a religious form of vegetarianism so I am not sure what vegetables would be allowed. 

[Vijay]

Please correct me Anna if I am wrong. So do you mean to say cream of asparagus is not a choice of children? But when I tasted this soup in our commercial restaurant unit it was awesome (may be for me). The raw flavor was not dominant. I thought to propose it to the school. 

 

Earlier I used to send cream of corn, cream of tomato. For three to four months they didn't object but recently I was told to completely stop sending soups. I feel the teachers at school not following the proper serving method. 

 

Apart from this,

 

could you direct me is there any forum here which explicitly discusses on "transportation of food and food packaging". 

 

I have every day requirement to transport prasadam (food offered to lord) across twenty to thirty kilometers of the city. 

 

For Indian food transport we have SOPs but did not have for foods like sandwiches, burgers etc.. 

 

Please suggest 

[Lisa Shock]

I think what she is saying that, whether in soup or any other dish, many children simply do not like asparagus.

 

For transport and handling food, the basic rule is that food should not be in the 'danger zone', which is 4° - 60°C or 39 -140°F, for more than 4 hours. -Less time if possible. If a soup is to be reheated, places I have worked at have chilled it as quickly as possible, and transported it cold. To chill, we place pots of hot liquid inside of larger pots with ice in them. We also use ice wands, HERE is a large wand.

 

The guideline we use is the FDA food code. It is huge, but searchable. Most answers about food handling can be found there.

 

I have found that cream type soups can be difficult for some people to re-heat. The soup needs to be gently heated and some people try to put it on high heat and burn it. Soups made with a vegetable stock, or tomato, base seem to work better for me if they will be reheated. I also avoid noodles.

 

I hope this helps!

Edited April 16, 2017 by Lisa Shock (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My second worst food memory from grade school was canned asparagus.  After that asparagus never passed my lips till I was 21 -- and by that time I had discovered hollandaise.

 

 

[Vijay]

Thank you for your replies. 

 

So is there any replacement, which is a kind of hot beverage which is safe and tasty to offer for children? 

[liuzhou]

I'm confused. You say you didn't like the soup because of the "raw" taste.

Why did you send soup which you thought tasted not good?

You then guess that the children felt the same for the same reason, but ask us why the school doesn't want you to send it again. Think about it or ask them!

 

15 hours ago, Vijay said:

Here is the recipe I followed. 

 

http://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/asparagus-soup-with-lemon-and-parmesan.html

 

I have excluded onion, garlic and chicken broth from the recipe as we have a prohibition to use them in our cooking. Rest all the recipe remains the same. 

If you omitted around half of a recipe's ingredients then I wouldn't say you followed anything. Of course, it is going to taste a bit odd, at best. All you have left is puréed boiled asparagus, which doesn't sound great to me, either.

But, then you reveal that the school had already asked you not to send soup. So why did you send it at all?

 

Why are you asking for a replacement when they have told you it isn't what they want? They don't want soup.

Edited April 16, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Vijay]

Sorry liuzhou, for the confusion. 

 

Just after that asparagus incident, they told me not to send to any more soups. Till then I was sending cream of corn, cream of spinach, cream of tomato etc. 

 

I have Even asked our commercial restaurant chefs. They also don't use onion, garlic and meat products. But all their soups were good which I confirmed. 

But their billing price is more, so the school can't afford their products. 

 

May be while doing the soup I didn't take enough care or at the school end some thing might be wrong. 

 

I am a newbie to this kind of continental stuff. So my question is, is there any hot beverage replacement to the soup?

 

May be hot milk is the last choice if I m not wrong. Now in India it's summer but in winter season they may ask us to provide the children something hot. Please suggest. 

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, Vijay said:

May be while doing the soup I didn't take enough care or at the school end some thing might be wrong.

 

Why are you still blaming the school? You said yourself that the soup didn't taste good?

 

4 minutes ago, Vijay said:

They also don't use onion, garlic and meat products. But all their soups were good which I confirmed. 

 

Yes, it's possible to make good soups which don't use onion, garlic or meat products, but you can't take a recipe which does, remove most of the ingredients you don't want and still expect the recipe to work.

But they don't want soups!!!

[Vijay]

OK liuzhou, understood. But what to serve hot after summer? 

 

With this conversation I am remembering one of my older colleague Stephen Zhou while I was working with him at Boston, in a  software company acoworldwide. 

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Vijay said:

But what to serve hot after summer? 

 

Ask them what they want!

[Anna N]

@Vijay

 

I do not know the ages of the children you are attempting to feed but I would suggest that hot liquids and small children  are a dangerous combination without adequate supervision.  One adult to 20 or 30 children is no place for hot liquids.  As suggested, ask for input as to what would be suitable.  

[Vijay]

They have a dietician and in their proposed menu corn palak soup, baked beans, sweet corn soup, cream of tomato, cream of brokoli, oats cookies, fruits, sandwiches, pasta were there. The children are aged around 5 years. 

[GlorifiedRice]

 

9 minutes ago, Vijay said:

They have a dietician and in their proposed menu corn palak soup, baked beans, sweet corn soup, cream of tomato, cream of brokoli, oats cookies, fruits, sandwiches, pasta were there. The children are aged around 5 years. 

 

Are they Jains?

[Vijay]

Not Janis, they follow Iskcon standards. Menu is attached here

Break fast and snack menu.xlsx

[jedovaty]

Hi: I have heard of a few diet restrictions in certain indian regions, including no foods like onions/garlic since they come from inside the ground.  I looked up the Iskon standards.  Bummer that it excludes mushrooms, because mushroom soup would be a great idea.  Can you have potatos?  I don't see them included or excluded.  I was also going to suggest miso soup without the bonito (fish flakes), but it appears soy beans are prohibited.  It also appears lentils are prohibited?  Oh boy, that's tough because lentil soup can be delicious. 

 

If potatoes can be included, consider potato soup.  Also, how about various squash soups, such as zucchini?  My central-euro culture has a wonderful squash/zuccini soup that's made with a little fresh dill.  These are the soft squashes, similar to bitter melon, but, not so bitter.  You can explore other squash varieties, too, they may be called "gourd" in some areas (think pumpkin, butternut squash, etc). 

 

What about carrots, or celery?

 

Other soups to consider:  green bean, split pea soup, watercress, cabbage, cauliflower.  You can do these like plain soup, like a stew, or even "cream of..".  You might also consider multiple vegetable in one soup; for example, green bean with caulflower, or tomato with watercress.  Or put them all together and make a chili

 

As far as raw-tasting, are you allowed to broil the veggies first?  Maybe do that with the asparagus, broil it to pre-cook, instead of sauteeing.  Then put that into water and continue your regular cooking, blending to make it a cream of roasted asparagus soup :)!

Edited April 24, 2017 by jedovaty (log)

[Vijay]

Thank you for your suggestions. I came to know that here the chefs are adding good amount of butter and fresh cream to improve the taste of soups. 

Also I will try your version of soup also.