Best Fall Soups

[JRage]

That sounds pretty good, but then again anything with bacon in it sounds good to me. I'll have to stop by for some of that.

[morela]

Soup and wine? I can do that...

Our soup right now is a celery root chestnut soup with a serrano ham buttermilk biscuit and drissled with pumpkinseed oil. Very tasty...

JRage:

You are kind.

That soup sounds good.

Flowers Perennial that I like still there by the glass?

Maybe I can do a soup tour...

Edited January 9, 2004 by morela (log)

[morela]

Cream of turnip with bacon-n-egg crust.

That's what I can offer.

wow, that sounds yum too.

[hillvalley]

Maybe I can do A Soup Tour...

Don't forget to take notes for your book!

[Malawry]

John, how do you encrust a soup?

[John W.]

We coat the top of the soup with buttered bread crumbs, then hit it with minced bacon, herbs, and hard cooked egg whites and yolks.

[JennyUptown]

Mmmm...bacon. Jenny BACON.

And with wine? I'm sold.

[Malawry]

Chef John is my hero.

[morela]

Toying w/ idea of trying one of these guys from Ceiba:

Cuban Black Bean Soup

Ham and Manchego Cheese Croquetta, Pickled Red Onions, Latin Crema  6 

West Indies Conch Chowder

Sweet Corn Johnnycake, Dark Rum, Outerbridges Sherry Pepper Sauce 

...sounds tasty enough.

Say Ahh at Ceiba

Just got back from a go at both of these soups and a few mojitos at thebar.

Here's my report:

Cuban Black Bean Soup

Ham and Manchego Cheese Croquetta, Pickled Red Onions, Latin Crema

Tunks style, the bean/liquid portion of soup is poured when served (in this case, into the bowl that has croquetta and onions; latin cream scribbles on sides).

Visually speaking, it's not as festive or attractive as, say, the bright/creamy squash soups are (which they do at Coast), but who cares. The soup itself was several grades colder than I would have liked and much beanier than I hoped. I guess I tend to like purees the best (as opposed to whole beans), unless there's seafood or some other meat to help balance. Overall, though, good beans that just begged to be HOT.

The croquetta was awesome! I could have eaten that and the onions on a bed of warm spinach salad and been in heaven. For $6, I say have the bean soup, make sure it's hot, and do a mojito to boost you blood sugar level (and to make your cheeks feel warm).

Overall value: HIGH. I'm being awful by analyzing a soup to death at a place where everyone was SOOOOO nice to me. They don't know me, but they treated me like gold.

West Indies Conch Chowder

Sweet Corn Johnnycake, Dark Rum, Outerbridges Sherry Pepper Sauce

This one was served in bowl; on the side you get a shot of pepper sherry and a shot of dark rum, both to be mixed in before you eat. It's not a creamy chowder, but a dark one that works on your palate much more the way wine does than food. It wasn't very salty or sweet, but was full of spices and was the temperature the beans should have been (steamy hot). It was a soup that makes your nose run and makes you drink an extra mojito...just because. The conch was pleasant in texture and danced around the bowl with plenty of diced potato. The best part, though, was the jonnycake

( several fried oyster-sized pieces of cake floating in soup) . The cake was sweet, filled with whole corn cornels, and was still crisp (even toward the last few bites). Having given it some thought, my read is that both of these soups are designed to be eaten in big bites (appetizer: a food or drink that stimulates the appetite and is usually served before a meal) so you can then forge onto the bigger and better things. You can't scrutinize $6 soups like these ones (as I shamefully have).

On a night like tonight (colder than ever), that West Indies spice along with rum has worked wonders. I have three times the energy I had before eating (which has nothing to do with nutrition), my cheeks and lips are on fire...and I think my metabolism is highest it's ever been.

I need something more to drink to cap the night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS: Edited stylistically; editorial content unchanged

PPS: The flan was damn good too, but that has no place in my soup tour thread

Edited January 10, 2004 by morela (log)

[morela]

Tour continues tomorrow, but it's going more upscale...

Edited January 10, 2004 by morela (log)

[Mark Sommelier]

Tour continues tomorrow, but it's going more upscale...

uh..oh.......

[morela]

Tour continues tomorrow, but it's going more upscale...

uh..oh.......

chestnut soup with duck confit and foie gras at 'uh..oh.......'

wasn't my plan, but it certainly can be!

Razer clams might hurt.

[Huevos del Toro]

One word...Chowders! Especially Jasper Whites 50 Chowders : One Pot Meals - Clam, Corn, & Beyond. Or here.

[morela]

What if I did a soup tour that went:

Citronelle

Nectar

Firefly

one night, 6 hours long...

or reversed the order?

Minus, the wine, that's prolly less liquid than two small cans of soup.

[vengroff]

Nectar has a velvety pumkin soup with crisp sweetbreads. The perfect middle stop on your soup tour. The mussels aren't technically a soup, but the rich sauce poured over them has the feel of a really good cream soup.

Firefly's Turnip soup with bacon and egg sounds like a real winner too. Good luck as you hop from one to the next in the bitter cold weather.

[bilrus]

My wife and I are going to Vidalia this evening and this thread has inspired us to go for:

Charleston She Crab Soup

cream of blue crab with dry sherry, onion crackers and chives

and

Five Onion Soup

rich duck stock with caramelized onions, duck confit, shiitake mushrooms and spoon bread

as our openers followed by some grits and shrimp and pies. And a little wine. And maybe some cheese.

I'll be sure to report back.

[morela]

Leaving for (a) soup now...

but 'tour' might be canceled, due to bearish qualities of taster. I enjoy hiberating!

If the first stop lives up to my expectations, I will forge ahead! I don't even know where I'm going; all depends on what race the cab driver is (I'm joking)...

[morela]

SOUPS LAST NIGHT

Galileo

Organic Chick Pea Soup with Pancetta, Crispy Onions, timbale and Chives

Here's what it sounded like:

Go to 'Listen to Samples'

Solo Ieri

Marcel's

Roasted Autumn Chestnut Soup, Roulade of Duck Confit, Caramelized Onions

Here's what it sounded like:

Felicidade

(music has to be really loud...and picture low light with little procession of cigar smoke clouds)

More TK, I promise. I have plenty of detail for later...

Everyone needs a break from me. I need one...

[hillvalley]

Ahhh the temperatures we brave in the name of egullet! I love the sound effects.

[bilrus]

My soups at Vidalia lst night were both quite good, though not in that really satisfying, hearty winter soup way.

The cream of crab was rich and flavorful, with just a hint of sherry. The five onion soup was full of the eponymous onions, with small shreds of duck mixed in with the broth. It was a little too sweet though fromteh combination of the duck and the (Vidalia?) onions.

Sorry - no musical accompaniments available.

[Huevos del Toro]

One word...Chowders!  Especially Jasper Whites 50 Chowders : One Pot Meals - Clam, Corn, & Beyond. Or here.

Here's his Corn Chowder. Yes, I know you'll have to use frozen corn as it's a little past fresh corn season but, besides seafood chowders, corn is about my favorite. The final result depends upon the quality of the bacon as much as anything.

[morela]

SOUPS LAST NIGHT

Galileo

Organic Chick Pea Soup with Pancetta, Crispy Onions, timbale and Chives

Here's what it sounded like:

Go to 'Listen to Samples'

Solo Ieri

Marcel's

Roasted Autumn Chestnut Soup, Roulade of Duck Confit, Caramelized Onions

Here's what it sounded like:

Felicidade

(music has to be really loud...and picture low light with little procession of cigar smoke clouds)

More TK, I promise.  I have plenty of detail for later...

Everyone  needs a break from me.  I need one...

Alright, I'm back to tell you about my soups from Saturday.

Galileo's

Organic chick pea soup with onion flan and pancetta, topped with crispy

onions

I was very pleased.

It was really hot, a nice smooth froth; an otherwise empty bowl came with the little timbale (an onion flan), crispy fried onions, and of course, the pancetta. Then, as you might guess, a friendly old Italian bartender poured the soup from a big silver pitcher into my bowl. I think this is one of those soups that needs to be the right temperature to get the most out of the flavors, and I'm happy to report it was. Onions and ham sort of melt into base, timbale was tasty and added depth; it held up well. Yum. It was good enough to push me to the next place, Marcel's, and for that, I thank god.

**Other details:

Music there is essentially Italian elevator music, not really my kind of thing. Also a bit distressing is the fact that Galileo seemingly didn't have any heat on a night when the evening high was 14 degrees. I hope they pull through.

It was hard to leave there and not have a little pasta something...but I managed.

MARCEL'S

Roasted Autumn Chestnut Soup, Roulade of Duck Confit, Caramelized Onions

Okay, this might be the best soup I have ever had. It was really bacony-tasting and the onions were like candy. I can't even find an adjective that would do the roulade justice, but it was three times what I hoped it would be. My expectations are high in general, higher at Marcel's, but that soup makes up for every not-so-great soup I've ever had. The presentation was beautiful, the temperature was right (steamy), I didn't feel cheated on the portion.

My soup tour is designed for soups like this.

**Other details:

Sometimes guests at Marcel's can be a little nutty. This time a couple from Harrisburg, PA begged me to take my hair down and were put off when I said 'no'. They were perplexed by my ability to be in there alone... They had plenty of loot, but no manners (man kept hiccuping in my face) and they pronounced foie gras in one of he very worst ways. This kind of thing certainly won't keep me from that soup, though. I can live with the strangers at Marcel's.

Go get the soup;

I bet it disappears from the menu soon...

Edited January 13, 2004 by morela (log)

[JennyUptown]

This time a couple from Harrisburg, PA begged me to take my hair down

For those of you who don't know you by anything other than your marvelous posts, describe a bit if you don't mind.

[bilrus]

This time a couple from Harrisburg, PA begged me to take my hair down

For those of you who don't know you by anything other than your marvelous posts, describe a bit if you don't mind.

Now I'm picturing Marge Simpson.

[JennyUptown]

Or...

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel...let down your hair!"