Favorite Soups

[SobaAddict70]

I love soup.

This is one of those things that I can have any time of the year, preferably warm or hot to chilled or cold, preferably at the beginning of a meal as opposed to the middle or end.

The range of soups out there is amazing and stunning. Things from a simple bowl of consomme to elaborate affairs such as chrysanthemum hot pot and the liquid formed at the end of having shabu-shabu. Gazpacho, fruit soups, vichysoisse, potage, mulligatawny, miso, chicken-based soups, soup with dumplings or matzoh balls, bouilliabaise...these are the ultimate comfort foods, in my opinion.

I don't have a favorite soup. I love them all...although my three "must" favorites are chicken noodle soup (and the quality of the stock matters), lentil soup, and miso.

What are your favorite soups?

Discuss.

Soba

[Chris Cognac]

A hot bowl of thick corn chowder...oh yea......maybe a good bowl of french onion with some melted guyere cheese.....mmmmmm

[Ling]

Chinese:

1. fa gao (fish stomach? but only if it's the best quality)

2. snake

3. shark fin

Other:

-french onion with lotsa cheese!

-miso

-tomato-based, slightly spicy seafood chowder (with a nice ribbon of cream on the top)

[pho]

I like brothy soups, but I don't like creamy soups for the most part.

Pho, Hu Tieu, Tom Yum.. all lovely.

Fruit soups are great.

Bouillabaisse, also lovely.

Yep, I love soups too.

[canadiancook]

1. Caldo Verde (Portugese Sausage and Kale Soup) - I just made this for the first time yesterday. Very easy and extremely good. A big bowl of this and some crusty bread makes for a perfect winter meal. I think it could be my new favourite.

2. Tortellini in Brodo - One of my favourite comfort foods is a rich and perfectly seasoned chicken broth.

3. French Onion Soup - Cheese....enough said.

other honourable mentions: lobster bisque, rosted tomato soup, broccoli and garlic

[bloviatrix]

My favorite soup is whatever I'm eating at that moment.

[Toliver]

There's a deli in my town that makes a cream of tomato basil soup.

In addition to the fresh basil, I know they add lemon pepper and I think they even use cream in it. Man, it's incredible. Decadent but incredible.

[tejon]

Mmmmm...soup

Top three for me would be:

* French Onion made with long caramelized onions, crusty bread and lots of cheesy goodness

* Pho

* Lentil soup with ham - made with ham stock simmered long and slow....had that last night

[Jason Perlow]

Oh man. Difficult question. There are so many.

In no particular order:

1) Any vietnamese noodle soup, particulary Pho, Hu Tieu and Bun Bo Hue.

2) Chinese velvet chicken and corn soup.

3) A really hot and spicy chinese Hot and Sour Soup.

4) Thom Kha and Thom Yum anything.

5) Pasta Fagiole and Minestrone.

6) Two words: Matzo Ball.

7) Wonton Soup, particularly the "subgum" kind with all kinds of good stuff floating in it and fried wontons.

8) Malaysian claypot noodle soup.

9) Soupe Le Oignon Gratinee.

10) Kreplach, the Jewish Wonton Soup.

11) Clam chowder, red or white.

12) Spanish garlic soup.

13) Posole.

14) Navy Bean or any bean or lentil soup

15) Split pea made with smokey ham hocks.

16) Cream of mushroom made with good wild mushrooms.

17) Lobster Bisque.

18) Gazpatcho

19) Japanese rice potage, or Zousui.

20) Ramen. RAMEN! Any kind of ramen.

[Ling]

Oh yeah, add hot and sour soup and pho to my list too!

[Squeat Mungry]

15) Split pea made with smokey ham hocks.

This is my favorite soup, although I prefer it made with fatback.

[coolhandluke]

Ummmm...feijoada....yeah, feijoada.

Potato leek soup with Irish soda bread shmeared with fresh butter

Tomato soup out of tha can with grilled cheese (American cheese of course) sandwiches......(nostalgia)

[Bicycle Lee]

farrow (sp?) soup....

white bean and ham

[torakris]

for me nothing is better then a French onion soup in the dead of winter or a thick gazpacho in the dead of summer

[Jinmyo]

Tteok-guk too.

[schnitzel]

Favorite soups are homemade:

Baked potato and leek

Beef, vegetable and barley

French onion (veal stock)

FRESH clam chowder

Roasted tomato basil with bacon

Split-pea with ham (made with a ham bone)

Vietnamese asparagus and crabmeat

[HungryChris]

Hot and Sour

Split Pea (made with smoked shoulder leftovers)

Turkey

Chicken

Pasta Fagiole (I think Olive Garden does this one well)

Ramen

[hillbill]

Manhattan Clam Chowder

Hot and Sour

I've probably never had better'n canned Progresso and mediocre-to-middling Chinese take-out versions of these two and it will probably be revelatory if I ever do, now that I'm becoming more cognizant of differences in the quality of ingredients and in the taste of things.

But that's probably true of 99% of everything I've ever eaten.

[curlywurlyfi]

butternut squash with garlic and ginger and a drizzle of creme fraiche - tastes like velvet

[elfin]

Cream of Mushroom

Pho

Lobster Bisque

Fish Chowder

Clam Chowder (New England style)

French Onion (without the crouton/cheese

Split Pea with plenty of ham off the bone

These are not in order of preference which mood dictates.

[hillbill]

Lobster Bisque

I met this lawyer, we went out to dinner, I had the lobster bisque, we went back to my place, yada yada yada, I never heard from him again."

"But you yada yada'd over the best part."

"No, I mentioned the bisque."

[snowangel]

We eat a lot of soup. In fact, split pea is on the menu tonight; stopped at the meat market yesterday and there were some lovely ham bones.

When I was working outside the home, one of my fall-backs that was really popular was potato leek soup. It's a really fast one, and I almost always have potatos and leeks in the house.

[marie-louise]

I like them all, but a perfect mazto ball soup is high on the list. Also Mexican Vegetable Soup (with crispy tortillas, cheese, and lots of other things as garnishes.) And a nice clam chowder that is not too thick, made w/ pancetta and fresh clams steamed in a little chicken broth so the soup is not too salty. Onion soup (Michael Chiarello's recipe is the best), Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, Hot and Sour Soup, that Italian Bread and Tomato Soup, I could go on and on!

Since we have cool and foggy nights on a regular basis during the summer, we get to eat soup all year long in the Bay Area! I always make them with homemade broth and fresh vegetables. I do not support the concept of the soup pot being one stop shy of the compost heap. Unlike Soba, I prefer soup as whole meal, with far too much of a great loaf of bread to round things out. It's a perfect weeknight dinner-and one recipe provides dinner for a few meals that week.

Only problem, I never like to drink wine w/ soup, so I can't have wine w/ my meal the nights we eat soup. Is it just me, or does anyone else think wine w/ soup doesn't go somehow? (For me, it's having liquids with liquids, rather than a flavor pairing problem.)

[Jinmyo]

Favorite soups are homemade

Goes without saying, I should think?

Or does it?

[Jinmyo]

I prefer soup as whole meal, with far too much of a great loaf of bread to round things out. It's a perfect weeknight dinner-and one recipe provides dinner for a few meals that week.

Only problem, I never like to drink wine w/ soup, so I can't have wine w/ my meal the nights we eat soup. Is it just me, or does anyone else think wine w/ soup doesn't go somehow? (For me, it's having liquids with  liquids, rather than a flavor pairing problem.)

Doesn't sound like a problem. You like what you like.

I'd have wine with a leek and potao pottage, baguette, and a cheese course.

But usually where soup is the meal, I wouldn't bother with other liquids including water.