Favorite Soups

[Eric_Malson]

With one notable exception, most of my faves are covered in Jason Perlow's and Mr. Bourdain's lists (although I like my Hot and Sour soup good and sour--spiciness is secondary).

My favorite soup in recent years is one I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned (only because it's so very delicious)--sauerkraut soup. I bought a Hungarian cookbook several years ago, was intrigued by the recipe, tried it, and it was fantastic first time out. But how could anything but ambrosia result from bacon, onions, egg barley, sauerkraut, paprika, slices of smoked sausage and sour cream cooked together? Definitely a winter soup.

Thank you, Jason, for mentioning Spanish garlic soup....I haven't thought about it in years. The first time I tried it was in my first meal ever in a restaurant in Spain, and I've never tasted a sopa de ajo as good since. Not quite knowing what to expect when I ordered it, I was presented with an earthenware crock, higher than its width, crammed with chunks of cured ham, cubes of stale bread, a poached egg, and the garlic "broth", seasoned with paprika. It was heavenly, and several attempts to reproduce it in my kitchen have not produced anything nearly as delicious.

My second-favorite soup (if frequency of preparation is an accurate guage) is Portuguese sopa alentejana, a reduced-to-the-bare-essentials cousin of the Spanish garlic soup.....I made it once for bergerka and slkinsey, who can provide testimonials as to its garlicky goodness.

I'm also a big borscht fan, with or without beets.....my hands-down favorite is the white borscht you can get in Polish restaurants in the East Village (ok, I'm probably going to love anything with slices of smoked sausage, sour cream, and a sour kick to it....).

I can't wait for the weather to get cold enough to try that white cheddar and ale soup!

[maggiethecat]

I can't wait for the weather to get cold enough to try that white cheddar and ale soup!

Me too. I have a serious date lined up with this soup.

Upthread someone mentioned popovers. Recipe for family happiness: Soup and popovers, with lots of butter and five year old Balderon's cheddar. Yeah, yeah you could make a green salad, but you'll throw away half. Give everybody a plate of Ambrosia for dessert instead, if you really want a crisp fruit/veggie component.

Edited November 6, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[Mark Sommelier]

Hungarian goulash soup. Find it all over Germany.

[lovebenton0]

Homemade soups as favorites are mentioned too often to quote any one post on this. They are my favorites. Perhaps part of that comes from the joy of making them, for me, and sharing the goodiness We tend to make soup a meal, so we can eat as much of it as we want.

My favorites have to be: (not in any order)

Split pea soup w/home smoked bird (garnish:caramelized onions)

Leek and potato (garnish:bacon)

Navy Bean Soup (garnish: salsa)

Chicken and Dumplings (garnish: just a sprinkle of carroway seed)

Tomato/eggplant w/Italian sausage (onions, mushrooms, fresh oregano, garlic, crushed red chilis, red wine and twisted macaronis in vegetable broth served with garlic toasted Italian bread (garnish:parmesan/romano cheese)

Mushroom Soup (garnish:avocado slice and thin sliced fresh mushroom w/a drizzle of sour cream)

newest inspiration we love:

Hearty Bay Scallop Chowder (garnish:crumbled bacon and sharp Tillamook cheddar) served with thin sliced crispy toasted sourdough bread

(I'll post the recipe if anyone is interested) I was hungry for some chowder, no clams, no way to get out, but I did have some other stuff

Holiday soups:

Rich broth Turkey Soup made after the holiday, w/plenty of fresh vegetables; carrots, onions, squash, mushrooms, dried peppers, fresh rosemary and lemon basil; ladled over wide egg noodles (garnish:croutons) w/sourdough rolls

Lamb Soup We have made it our tradition to roast a leg of lamb for New Year's, to eat with blackeyed peas, (yes we really do like them), and sourdough cornbread. (garnish: roasted green chilis or green onions) serve w/more cornbread

Schnitz and Knepp (Pennsylvania Dutch ham and dried apple soup) no garnish but serve with a hearty german rye bread and butter

But I won't discount the soups I crave when someone else is doing the cooking and clean up for me:

Pho

Hot and Sour

Cauliflower Cheese soup

Eric_Malson Posted on Nov 4 2003, 08:56 PM 

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned (only because it's so very delicious)--sauerkraut soup. I bought a Hungarian cookbook several years ago, was intrigued by the recipe, tried it, and it was fantastic first time out. But how could anything but ambrosia result from bacon, onions, egg barley, sauerkraut, paprika, slices of smoked sausage and sour cream cooked together? Definitely a winter soup.

œ

The first time I had this soup, with a slight variation, was, in all places, Tuscaloosa Alabama, in a little cafe across from UA. They called it Reuben Soup. It had slivers of real corned beef, sauerkraut, onions, sourcream, and no barley, in a very thin but rich broth. If you didn't get there by 11:30AM on Reuben soup days you just had to have something else. Thanks for reminding me of this! I lived on this soup on Mondays and Wednesdays in the winter through two years of grad school.

[bergerka]

My second-favorite soup (if frequency of preparation is an accurate guage) is Portuguese sopa alentejana, a reduced-to-the-bare-essentials cousin of the Spanish garlic soup.....I made it once for bergerka and slkinsey, who can provide testimonials as to its garlicky goodness.

Yes, indeed, and in fact sopa alentejana has made it to the very top of my "favorite soup" list, as a result of EM's making it for us. WOW.

2. Potato leek soup

3. Chicken soup - either grandma Rose's chicken soup with kreplach or slkinsey's fab chicken soup with all kinds of stuff.

4. White bean soup, at least the way slkinsey makes it.

5. I absolutely adore Spade's Noodles-n-more's won ton soup with udon noodles and roast pork.

K

[Richard Kilgore]

Judith -- the Tomato, Eggplant & Sausage soup sounds great. Would you be willing to add it and the Chowder to the eGullet recipe archive?

Thanks for posting.

[babyluck]

Just found this recipe for a soup w/ chestnuts & celery root--good starting point to play with, with chestnuts in the freezer & an abiding love for celery root... too bad I lost that damn plug that lets you make foam without making espresso...

[Tmnoland]

French onion with lots of gooey moz.

Italian wedding soup. I love they way the pork sausage and basil wake up the chicken broth. Yum.

-therese

[guajolote]

I have a friend who makes a quick & dirty Asian soup recipe adapted from Nigel Slater:

start with chicken stock & add a couple each smashed lemongrass stalks, ginger rings, & garlic cloves

bring to a slow simmer

steam some greens (mustard greens or bok choy)

"cook" some bun (thin noodles)

when the stock simmers, fish out the aromatics & season with dark soy sauce, fish sauce, shiracha, & lemon or lime juice

put noodles & greens in bowls & cover with the stock

[hjshorter]

I made navy bean with smoked chorizo the other night. Good stuff.

[Janedujour]

Yes, I LOVE SOUP TOO!

Every kind in the world from Lobster Bisque to Pho.

It's my favorite thing to cook too.

Try this:

Country Soup Baked in a Pumpkin,

Carve out a large pumpkin and make a nice lid. Saute lots of onion in a soup pot, season with salt, pepper, dried cardamom and sage. Add a good rich turkey or chicken stock then bring just to a boil. Meanwhile preheat oven to 365, and add a couple of cups EACH of chopped cooked chicken or turkey and homemade toasted bread cubes to the pumpkin. Pour very hot broth and onions into pumpkin about 2/3 of the way full. (Cover with lid, place in a shallow pan) Bake about 1 1/2 - 2 hours till it's cooked through. Just before serving carefully lift lid and add 1 1/2 cups grated greyuere, 1 cup light cream, and lots of grated nutmeg.

When you serve it, use your ladle to scoop some cooked pumpkin from the side of the pumpkin along with the broth.

ENJOY!!!

p.s. I'll understand if this needs to be moved to recipes

Edited November 7, 2003 by Janedujour (log)

[timothycdavis]

For fall, any bean soup with a hearty sausage/bacon tilt to it gets me salivating.

[dankphishin]

Soup is Awesome:

Tops:

Mouloukhia: An egyptian soup made with "Green Jew's Mallow" served with garnish of chicken and onions in vinegar. My grandma makes an awesome version of this.

Also:

My Mom's Beef Stew: Beef, a ton of vegetables, what else can i say?

Any Hot and Sour Soup

Chicken Top Ramen

Tom Yam

Red Miso

Patcha? i know how to say it in armenian, its veal feet boiled down to the gelatin and meat and broth, served on a bed of broken stale pita, with lots of fresh crushed garlic and yoghurt

[jat]

Dankphishin, I love to try new soups. Your mouloukhia sounds interesting. What

is "green jews mallow"? Can you post the recipe or e-mail it by any chance?

Thank you.

[misgabi]

We make great pots of butternut pumpkin (squash to you americans!!) in winter but I always add some orange juice to it just before I puree (I think this is an australian thing) - it really adds something to the soup.

I love :

leek and potato soup

split pea and ham

I make something very similar to the "quick and dirty" asian soup - also after watching Nigel Slater

French Onion Soup - gruyere on thick slices of french stick

Miso (essential to make when I am having tempura)

Roasted Tomato Soup

Creamy Prawn Soup - (lashings of sherry in this one)

Cream of Celeriac

Carrot and Corriander

A summer tomato "soup" which is mainly pureed roast tomatos, yoghourt and good curry powder (sounds gross tastes delicious chilled)

[arjay]

The best soup I ever ate was Tortilla Soup in Hermosillo, Mexico. Chicken in a rich broth with slices of avocado, chunks of tomato, and floating on top were sliced scallions, jalapenos, and strips of fried tortillas. Also a small dollop of sour cream.

I managed to have this all seven days of my stay.

I wax nostalgic.

[lovebenton0]

Quote Richard Kilgore Nov 6, 2003

Judith -- the Tomato, Eggplant & Sausage soup sounds great. Would you be willing to add it and the Chowder to the eGullet recipe archive?

Seems my computer may too low tech to handle that. I have tried using the Ingredients Wizard, as well as entering ingredients one at a time. It's just not happening here. I will try again later, maybe it was the time of day?

Here is the chowder recipe, to start.

Hearty Bay Scallop Chowder

4 to 6 servings as a main dish / 8-10 as a soup course

Ingredients

2 medium sweet yellow onions/diced to 1/3 inch

1 T unsalted butter

1 large baking potato (3/4 lb)

1/2 cup beer

1 large fresh thyme sprig (or one large dried sprig)

1/4 t white pepper, or more to taste

1 lb bay scallops

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups baby carrots cut in 2 or 3 pieces

1 ear kernels from cobbed fresh corn

1 lean pork chop (1/2 lb) diced to 1/2 inch

3/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup fat free half and half

1/4 t salt, or to taste

garnish for 4-6 servings

1/4 cup bacon crumbles

1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar (fat free or regular)

Method

Dice onions; cook 1 onion in butter in covered 4 quart heavy saucepan over low heat until very soft, stir occasionally; 10 minutes. Reserve the other onion to cook with diced pork chop.

Wash and dice potato into 1/3 inch. Reserve all but 1/2 cup in cold water for parboiling with carrots and corn.

Add beer, thyme sprig, and white pepper to onions and boil down about a minute or so; most of liquid will be evaporated. Add 1/2 cup diced potato, 1/2 cup scallops, vegetable and chicken broths, then simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes; potato should be tender.

Cook the reserved potato with carrot, and corn in salted boiling water, until tender, 5-10 minutes.

While that is parboiling, discard thyme sprig, then carefully purée soup base in a blender until very smooth; do in 2 batches. Transfer puree to a bowl.

Wash saucepan, cook diced pork chop with 2nd onion, until pork is cooked through and onion is tender.

Return puree to pan, then drain and add vegetable mixture, the remaining scallops, milk, half and half, and salt. Cook chowder over medium heat, until scallops are just cooked through, for about 2-3 minutes, stirring, so that it does not reach a boil.

Serve sprinkled with 2 tsp bacon crumbles, and 1 tbsp grated sharp cheddar. I like to serve with small thin sourdough toasts on the side, but you can serve with Oyster crackers or other similar crackers. A green salad completes your meal.

Each two cup serving of chowder (not including crackers, or whole fat cheddar) contains about 290 calories and 7 grams fat.

Tomato Eggplant with Italian Sausage later. I'm cooking dinner.

[snowangel]

Seems my computer may too low tech to handle that. I have tried using the Ingredients Wizard, as well as entering ingredients one at a time. It's just not happening here. I will try again later, maybe it was the time of day?

I fixed it; recipe complete in the archive. This one looks yummy. It is soup season in what is soon to be the land of ice fishing.

[jat]

Lovebenton, aka Judith, question about scallops and sharp cheddar, why does

it work so well?

[babyluck]

Just found this recipe for a soup w/ chestnuts & celery root--good starting point to play with, with chestnuts in the freezer & an abiding love for celery root... too bad I lost that damn plug that lets you make foam without making espresso...

I tried this last night, kind of combining my celery root bisque recipe & flavor ideas from this one. Mr. Babyluck says it's better than the other, which is saying a lot--I haven't met anyone who doesn't love my bisque!

I altered it to make it less fussy so that the flavors in the garnish were incorporated into the soup and to make it heartier and more savory. I sautéed an onion in butter, added 1 chopped celery root, 2 Yukon Golds & 1 russet. Added crumbled chestnuts (I stopped far short of the pound called for in the recipe because of peeling difficulties--probably 4 oz. or so), salt & white pepper, then some sugar & let it caramelize. Added 1 lg. can chick broth and a handful of soaked Polish mushrooms & their liquid (about a cup). Simmered for 30 minutes & puréed with immersion blender (for company, I'd probably put it in the Vitamix). Added a scant 1/2 cup heavy cream. Served with a dusting of nutmeg (absolutely makes the dish), a twist of white pepper, a drop of truffle oil, and a drizzle of cream.

Big winner. I was afraid the mushroom flavor was taking over too much until I added the cream. I can see how the prunes soaked in Armagnac in the original recipe would be nice, even for my vastly adjusted version, to pick up on the sweet undercurrent going on--I might even blend them in with the soup, or replace them with something else to get the same effect, but that's the only thing I'd change. In the end, the celery root flavor came through strong--it's amazing how it takes over a soup. The bisque has parsnip, thyme & spinach vs. chestnuts, mushrooms & nutmeg, but they ended up tasting remarkably similar. I love it both ways but I think I agree that last night's soup was better.

[lovebenton0]

Seems my computer may too low tech to handle that. I have tried using the Ingredients Wizard, as well as entering ingredients one at a time. It's just not happening here. I will try again later, maybe it was the time of day?     

I fixed it; recipe complete in the archive. This one looks yummy. It is soup season in what is soon to be the land of ice fishing.

Thank you, Susan. I'm not sure what what my problem is with that, it takes the Method section with no problem. I'm on AOL and use Explorer 5.0 for this site (and most others) because I can enlarge the font to be readable for for my screwy eyes. Thanks again, for taking the time to enter that for me. Hope you enjoy it. The bay scallops make it easy, no cutting; they grow to just the right size.

Quote jat Nov 12 2003, 09:07 PM

Lovebenton, aka Judith, question about scallops and sharp cheddar, why does

it work so well? 

I think it's the beer and the pork, with the sweet vegetables. That's why I was inspired to try it. It does add a nice balance to the natural sweetness of the sweet onions, fresh corn and carrots in the chowder. The scallops love it as much as the rest of the ingredients. I use the fat free cheddar; it melts well in the chowder without any oily glump. Maybe your tastes will inspire you to try a different garnish. If you try it, let me know what you think.

[Megaroo]

I would have to say to say that my absolute favorite soup is one that I got the recipe for 12 years ago (from a cookbook from the "American Girl" series). It's a Cream of Carrot Soup, with lots of butter, cream, carrots, onions and seasonings (including a bit of cayenne, so it has a hint of a kick). It's really simple to make and is soooo good. It's the ultimate comfort food for me on a cold day!

[bigbear]

Fanesca.

[Pan]

What's that?

[bigbear]

Fanesca is a heavy, Ecuadorian soup made around Easter. It contains salt cod, milk, cheese, ground peanuts, vegetables, many grains, beans and legumes. Very filling.