The Soup Topic (2005–2006)

[Jaymes]

Maggie -- I hope sometime fairly early on in your project you'll try Tortilla Soup. It's practically the Official State Soup of the Great State of Texas.

It's what we eat down here when we feel a cold coming on. Or when we're tired, lonely or bored. Or just cranky. Like immediately after a Cowboys' football game.

Edited January 2, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[FrenchWench]

Soup oh wonderful soups!

Looking forward to this project. Especially since I teach and LOVE the concept of cook once, eat many times.

I too am slightly confused (perhaps the bubbles from the champagne haven't totally dissipated!) -- is it lentils or barley?

Just finished whipping up a batch of banana, cranberry, walnut mini-muffins and don't quite feel like doing lesson plans yet, so I'd LOVE to start the soup.

[maggiethecat]

Abra: It's lentil. It's chacun a son gout.

But for me, it's not today. I've got some kind of tummy flu and the only thing that sounds good to me right now is Jello;something I haven't willingly eaten in thirty years.

But please, go ahead and make soup and report! I'm crawling under the covers with an empty paper bag handy.

[Marlene]

Beef barley! Yes. I'll have to watch from the sidelines when you do soups with mushrooms, but I could be all over this one. Lead on Dark Lady.

[bloviatrix]

Abra: It's lentil. It's chacun a son gout.

But for me, it's not today. I've got some kind of tummy flu and the only thing that sounds good to me right now is Jello;something I haven't willingly eaten in thirty years.

But please, go ahead and make soup and report! I'm crawling under the covers with an empty paper bag handy.

←

Sounds like you could use a nice, steaming bowl of chicken soup. Afterall, it cures a myriad of ills.

Feel better.

[jgm]

I'm in for doing soup every week. Sounds like a great New Year's resolution.

I highly recommend the Potato and Leek soup in Saint Julia's Mastering the Art , Vol. 1. Couldn't be easier or better, and just the thing when you need comfort food.

If you do a search for "celery bisque" on Epicurious, and select the option that includes stilton toasts, that's also a nice soup that is really just a variation on Potato and Leek. I don't always make the stilton toasts. It's very good, with or without them.

Jaceuqs Pepin, on his website (www.jacquespepin.net), has a wonderful recipe for a simple soup that I think he calls "Peasant Soup." It's a matter of toasting a handful of day-old bread cubes, throwing them into a soup bowl and putting some shredded Swiss cheese over them, and then drowning the whole business in hot chicken broth. So extremely good, and so fast and easy when it's cold and you're tired.

[Jaymes]

I've got some kind of tummy flu ... I'm crawling under the covers with an empty paper bag handy.

Sounds like you could use a nice, steaming bowl of chicken soup.

Yes, Maggie....a nice, steaming bowl of chicken soup....with a little salsa, and some tortillas on top. Voila! Tortilla soup!

Actually, I've got an easy quicky version which is what I whip up when I'm too sick to actually "cook" anything.

Quick-I'm-Sick Tortilla Soup

1 can condensed Chicken w/ Rice soup

1 soup can water

1 5-oz Can white chicken meat

bottled salsa to taste (remembering that spicy stuff helps clear the sinuses)

tortilla chips

grated cheese

Combine soup, water, chicken meat and heat. Add salsa to taste. Ladle into bowl. Top with tortilla chips and grated cheese.

Sniff.

Edited January 2, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[ScorchedPalate]

I'd be up for a weekly soup-a-thon. :)

Favorites here, some mentioned already:

- Chicken (our house standard is from The Best Recipe, topped with hubby's dumplings )

- Tortilla

- Potato-cheese

- tom yam kung (and/or tom kha gai)

- cuban black bean

~Anita

[Dana]

I don't know if Chili counts as soup, but it's this week's soup at my house. I made a gigantic pot with ground chuck, venison, and venison sausage. Hubby took a big bowl of it to work with him and I'll freeze some for future dinners.

[snowangel]

Don't think anyone's mentioned posole. Reminder to make this one at least one day in advance of consuming.

[Jensen]

I had my soup today but I ate out to get it...

Bún Cari Vit (curried duck vermicelli soup) from TK Noodle Restaurant

I'm thinking back to the comment about making stock in the microwave. How is that done? I bought some pork neck bones to make stock for some Asian-style soups later this week or next week and the prospect of no scum appeals to me.

[marie-louise]

Maggie, what kind of soups are you thinking about making for those hot summer nights?

[Jinmyo]

I'm thinking back to the comment about making stock in the microwave. How is that done? I bought some pork neck bones to make stock for some Asian-style soups later this week or next week and the prospect of no scum appeals to me.

Uh, if there's no scum then what happens to the impurities?

[Jensen]

I'm thinking back to the comment about making stock in the microwave. How is that done? I bought some pork neck bones to make stock for some Asian-style soups later this week or next week and the prospect of no scum appeals to me.

Uh, if there's no scum then what happens to the impurities?

←

Maybe using the micro-nuker doesn't have the same effect on the proteins as boiling does. And isn't that what the impurities really are? Proteins that have been changed by being boiled?

[Marmish]

We ate at a restaurant of dubious quality the other day, but our first choice was closed for the holiday. I had a taste for the wedding soup, but the waiter's comment was, "Well, I think it's the best of the soups" in such a way that I ordered salad instead. Now I have a hankering for a good Italian Wedding Soup.

[ScorchedPalate]

It's lentil. It's chacun a son gout.

←

I like this format: Picking a type of soup and letting everyone pick their own favorite (or want-to-try) version.

...my favorite type of split pea soup, an austere, pureed, all-veg version from the 1981 Los Angeles Times California Cookbook supposedly based on the famous-pea-soup-restaurant Andersen's recipe.

←

Oh, this is one of my favorite old-school cookbooks. My mom gave me a copy when I first moved out of the house, and I am continually amazed at how often I still turn to it ... not only for "pea soup andersen's" but for Little Joe's spaghetti and meatballs, El Cholo's chiles rellenos, and a number of other family faves. (It actually has 2 recipes for lentil soup: one from a priest at Our Lady of Malibu parish, and the other from Sportsmen's Lodge!)

[Fat Guy]

I was sorely tempted to make lentil soup today, especially since I just made a really lame bean stew (I committed the cardinal sin of overpowering the beans with too many other flavors) the other day and I really wanted to redeem myself, but I'm in the middle of reorganizing the kitchen cabinets and had to use the stovetop as counter space today. Maybe tomorrow or the day after.

[KatieLoeb]

Someone already beat me to mentioning Cuban Black Bean Soup. A definite favorite and great for cold weather.

I like Turkey Noodle Soup better than Chicken Noodle somehow. But they're actually both good.

Just as one can make a quick Cream of (Vegetable of Choice) Soup, I sometimes like to mix it up and do a Parsnip Soup instead of Carrot, or garnish with unexpected things like a drizzle of Pumpkin Seed Oil atop the Squash or Pumpkin Soup. A drizzle of Truffle Oil makes virtually any kind of soup tastier. Combinations with a favorite herb to accent a plainer soup are also a fave like Tomato-Coriander or Wild Mushroom-Rosemary. Floating a croute with a spread of goat cheese or toasted crisp with shredded cheese in soup can be yummy too. A crusty piece of baguette with Fontina in Mushroom soup is very yummy.

[jsolomon]

I decided I would try to make fifi's mushroom soup, as I am not a normal soup-eater, and it sounded easy enough.

I went to the grocery store and this is what they told me: "We are out of mushrooms"

?????!!!!!!!

I'm astounded. I'll try later this week.

[dawnie2u]

I absolutely love soup and make it several times a week. Last night I made Caldo Tlapeno, which is a chicken soup with garbanzo beans and rice. Tonight I am going to make a potato soup. I start by browning a few slices of bacon, which I set aside and crumble. Then saute some onions and celery in the bacon fat. I add a couple large potatoes and a sweet potato that have been chunked, sprinkle in some fresh rosemary and black pepper. Cover with water or chicken broth and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Then I add either half and half or cream. Using my stick blender, I puree the soup until smooth. Taste it and check for seasoning, adding salt, pepper and/or more rosemary, as desired. From this base soup, I can go a few ways with it. I have added jalapenos to spice it up a bit, recently I added some gorgonzola to it, and loved it that way. It is great just as is. I garnish it with the crisped bacon bits. I adapted this recipe from my Mom's basic Irish potato soup.

[fifi]

I will be making the beef barley (of sorts) today or tomorrow.

I will have a hard time doing a "recipe of the week." I tend to use soups to use up things I have cooked. The beef barley is a case in point. I did this little chuck pot roast smothered in mushrooms. They were just plain button type but huge and very fresh. I ate them all. Now the little roast has been put into service for sandwiches and into a salad. Its last gasp will be in the soup. I plan to saute some shallots and maybe a little garlic. Then I will use my mushroom base cheater and cook the barley in that, adding the diced roast at the end to heat up. I have never done this with roasted beef before so we shall see if that is a noble end for the beast. I am just wishing it were a little cooler than 75 F here.

[zilla369]

Tooling around the internet looking for soup, i found Soupsong. Some interesting stuff, not just recipes, but soup lore, confessions, history, etc.

According to them, Julia Child's last meal was French Onion.

P.S. - feel better, Maggie!

Edited January 3, 2005 by zilla369 (log)

[Jaymes]

I will have a hard time doing a "recipe of the week." I tend to use soups to use up things I have.

Couldn't you do two soups a week? One new 'recipe of the week' one, and one 'use up the leftovers' one?

[jackal10]

Ahem

eGCI Thick Soups unit

APPENDIX I: BISQUES

APPENDIX II: CREMES

APPENDIX III: PUREES

APPENDIX IV: VELOUTES

On Consommee

[Toliver]

I second fifi's bean soup for a winter meal.

My mom sends frozen jars of home-made navy bean soup back with me after my visits with her. It's always better the next day, too...don't know if it's something about the starches thickening and the flavors co-mingling or what, but it's great. I top mine with fresh diced onion (adds a subtle crunch) and a splash of cider vinegar (or balsamic or whatever if you're feeling adventurous).

Of course, you'll need to make a pan of corn bread to go with it, as if you need the excuse. And that in itself can lead to loads of variations.

Three military pushups? You're a far better man than I!