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Talk to me about soup philosophy


Randomguy

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I am kind of a one-trick soup pony, I make great chicken soup (not that that is so hard or anything).   People do say it is excellent, though.  I have not really expanded much beyond that, though, and I am wondering what veggies other than carrot and celery go really well in soup.  I have been putting a couple of Fresno peppers in the soup to make it super cozy in addition to the carrot and celery I have previously mentioned.

Are there generally known guidelines I don't know about?  How do you start your soups?  Are there things you put in yours that I should put in mine?

 

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Just now, Dangling Participle said:

 

How do you start your soups?  Are there things you put in yours that I should put in mine?

 

I put the microwaveable container in the microwave.  It's so much easier than that time consuming Cup A Soup, although I have some of that too.

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2 minutes ago, KrAzY said:

I prefer alphabet soup. It calls me bad names and tells me it hates me. 
Sometimes these feeling from the soup make me feel wanted. 

My step daughter, Paige, can relate. As a four year old in daycare she was eating alphabet soup. Her fellow inmate, Melissa, proudly announced that she had an M in her soup. Paige searched to no avail for a P. Getting frustrated, she yelled out: I want a P in my soup. 
The end. 

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Just now, BuffJim said:

My step daughter, Paige, can relate. As a four year old in daycare she was eating alphabet soup. Her fellow inmate, Melissa, proudly announced that she had an M in her soup. Paige searched to no avail for a P. Getting frustrated, she yelled out: I want a P in my soup. 
The end. 

Sometimes the soup works in your favor and other times it does not. I do have to saw that no matter how angry my soup made me, I have not P'd in my soup. 

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12 minutes ago, Philander Seabury said:

Lentil is my speciality. With collards. But I hardly ever make it. 

How do you make it?  I have made excellent butternut squash soup in the past when I was with the quarrelsome ex, even got an immersion blender for that very porpoise, so it isn't like I am completely inept or anything.   I think I stumble onto stuff that is beautifully simple and classic and use good ingredients. so I achieve a kind of slightly heightened competency in cooking and most often stop there where it tastes really good.

Tonight I did buy some dried split peas, and I also bought a small bag of barley, lentils, and split peas combined.  I want to expand RO's menu and I am trying to get her to eat more veggies, so I was thinking I would make some meatball soup with little meatballs in place of much of the chicken and just cutting the veggies small enough to be inconsequential to a small child.

I will go big into soup this winter.

27 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

I purchased some chicken Andoulie sausage at Trader Joes... I am going to cook that up with a bag of 15 bean soup mix...but not using the seasoning packet.

Hmm, that might be a situation for tiny bits of kale?  What are the 15 beans?  Inquiring minds and all that...

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11 minutes ago, Dangling Participle said:

How do you make it?  I have made excellent butternut squash soup in the past when I was with the quarrelsome ex, even got an immersion blender for that very porpoise, so it isn't like I am completely inept or anything.   I think I stumble onto stuff that is beautifully simple and classic and use good ingredients. so I achieve a kind of slightly heightened competency in cooking and most often stop there where it tastes really good.

Tonight I did buy some dried split peas, and I also bought a small bag of barley, lentils, and split peas combined.  I want to expand RO's menu and I am trying to get her to eat more veggies, so I was thinking I would make some meatball soup with little meatballs in place of much of the chicken and just cutting the veggies small enough to be inconsequential to a small child.

I will go big into soup this winter.

Hmm, that might be a situation for tiny bits of kale?  What are the 15 beans?  Inquiring minds and all that...

Here is the Dutch meatball soup my mom was famous for.  Other than making the meatballs it’s super easy. 

Meatballs: ground meat, we use turkey but any will work. Chicken bouillon, nutmeg & bread crumbs.  I generally flatten the meat out in a bowl,  give it a good sprinkle of dry seasonings & breadcrumbs & mix it.  Don’t add eggs as you want the meatballs on the dry side or they will fall apart in the soup.  Roll in any size meatball you want but I do about 1/2” balls as they need to fit on a spoon. Get the soup stock going and roll the meatballs and toss into the pot.

Soup base is chicken stock, garlic powder S&P but I use bouillon & water, not boxed stock.  Once all the meatballs are done I add the veggies. Veggies are  onion, celery , carrots, and just before the fresh veggies are soft I add a bag of frozen broccoli & cauliflower. We then take a handful of spaghetti pasta and break it into 2-3 inch pieces and toss it in and let it finish 10-15 minutes. 

My mom would make white rice and serve the soup over rice. A Euro/Asian thing I guess but that’s how we ate it.

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1 hour ago, Dangling Participle said:

How do you make it? 

I just google up a recipe. Beans and greens is snot really a soup but pretty similar, like dewatered soup. Dried lentils are aboot the only dry bean I cook with because they soften up pretty easily. I usually use brown lentils but red or yellow or black would be fun too. Ham is  an excellent addition but pretty disgusting actually when you consider all the fat it has. But it sure does add flavor!

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3 hours ago, Dangling Participle said:

I am kind of a one-trick soup pony, I make great chicken soup (not that that is so hard or anything).   People do say it is excellent, though.  I have not really expanded much beyond that, though, and I am wondering what veggies other than carrot and celery go really well in soup.  I have been putting a couple of Fresno peppers in the soup to make it super cozy in addition to the carrot and celery I have previously mentioned.

Are there generally known guidelines I don't know about?  How do you start your soups?  Are there things you put in yours that I should put in mine?

 

The basic guidelines are:

1. Make sure the meat is either precooked or that the cooking time correctly cooks the meat.

2. If a thickening agent is going to be used (a roux, cornstarch, etc.) mix it into the broth before adding anything else.

3. Root veggies like potatoes and carrots take longest to cook.

4. Some quick-cook veggies should cook the whole time when they are important for flavor, particularly onions.

5. Some veggies should only be cooked during approx. the last 10 minutes to avoid becoming mushy, including cut-up tomatoes and peas.

Otherwise, throw it all together with the broth and and other seasoning components and let it cook.

For me, beef or ham or sausage soups or stews tend to go with potatoes, carrots, onion, green beans, peas, or "frozen veggies for soup" and most other root veggies and onion-related things like fennel.  Ham also works well in starchy bean soups made with Cannollini or Great Northern Beans and Onions, etc.

For chicken soups I like with carrots, celery, and onions and a little "frozen veggies for soup" just to add variety. When I remove the chicken to shred it then add it back to the soup, I add diced tomatoes to the soup just because I like the added tomato flavor.  Canned diced tomatoes have calcium salts in the water and that keeps the tomatoes from becoming limp, so I like canned better than fresh tomatoes here.

Below is what I put in chicken soup that I love - I separately cook 2 oz. of egg noodles per large bowl of soup and it's great.

I make it in a 6 quart Instant Pot (high pressure) but the same ingredients work in a 5 qt. crock pot or 5 qt cooking pot, making sure not to fill the water too high.

Ingredients (for a 6 quart Instant Pot. Makes 5 qts soup, six 26.6 fl.oz. servings):
1 lb, carrots, either baby carrots cut in thirds or whole carrots cut into 1/4-inch slices [some sauté (fry in a small amount of cooking oil for several minutes) all the veggies first for sweetness]
12 oz, 6 medium stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch slices.
10-12 oz. 1 large onion, chopped [some add garlic, sautéing it with the onion first]

8 oz of veggies for soup (or can/frozen/fresh: corn, peas, parsnips, etc.).
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon(s) dried thyme [and/or 1 tbsp dry Italian Seasoning]
Salt (add at table)

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2-3 lb chicken parts, very heavy on chicken: 5 lb chicken (whole, 3 1/2 to 6 lb ok)

4 cups + more later to fill Instant Pot to 4 qt. Mark and, at end 5 qt mark

2 tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base or 6 chicken bouillon cubes.

Optional: 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes with juice (added while shredded chicken)

1 tsp garlic powder optional or 5 cloves garlic (optional, perhaps sautéing it with the onion first)

4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 tbsp dried parsley)
Optional: 12 oz. dry egg noodles (cooked) or 2 oz. Per 25 oz. serving of soup.

Optional (not better for me): 1 tbsp dried or ¼ cup fresh chopped dill (some reviewers rave!)

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28 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

We have some soup books.  Parsnips soup is really good.  

It is a very good flavor. 
 

I really like soup and make it frequently in the winter. As soon as it is done, I freeze half. Makes no sense to wait until it is three days old to freeze some. 
 

@Randomguy, I make this Italian wedding soup and have since my kids were vegetable haters. They loved it then and now. Sometimes I leave out the egg but it is good with it in too.  If you plan to freeze some, do it before egg.  This recipe is very close but feel free to make changes as you like. http://www.insidenanaskitchen.com/italian-wedding-soup.html

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21 minutes ago, Airehead said:

It is a very good flavor. 
 

I really like soup and make it frequently in the winter. As soon as it is done, I freeze half. Makes no sense to wait until it is three days old to freeze some. 
 

@Randomguy, I make this Italian wedding soup and have since my kids were vegetable haters. They loved it then and now. Sometimes I leave out the egg but it is good with it in too.  If you plan to freeze some, do it before egg.  This recipe is very close but feel free to make changes as you like. http://www.insidenanaskitchen.com/italian-wedding-soup.html

This thread had me thinking aboot Eyetalian wedding soup, and then petite’s recent thread reinforced that. 

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