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Every soup recipe has carrots and celery in it. Why?


Randomguy

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Mirepoix

A mirepoix (/mɪərˈpwɑː/ meer-PWAH; French: [miʁ.pwa]) is a flavor base made from diced vegetables cooked—usually with butter, oil, or other fat—for a long time on low heat without coloring or browning, as further cooking, often with the addition of tomato purée, creates a darkened brown mixture called pinçage. It is not sautéed or otherwise hard cooked, because the intention is to sweeten the ingredients rather than caramelize them. It is a long-standing cooking technique in French cuisine.

When the mirepoix is not precooked, the constituent vegetables may be cut to a larger size, depending on the overall cooking time for the dish. Usually the vegetable mixture is onions, carrots, and celery (either common 'pascal' celery or celeriac), with the traditional ratio being 2:1:1, two parts onion, one part carrot, and one part celery.[1] Mirepoix is the flavor base for a wide variety of Western dishes: stocks, soups, stews and sauces.

Similar flavor bases include the Italian soffritto, the Spanish and Portuguese sofrito/refogado (braised onions, garlic and tomato), as well as the Turkish variation with tomato paste instead of fresh tomato of the eastern Mediterranean/Balkan region, the German Suppengrün (leeks, carrots and celeriac), the Polish włoszczyzna (leeks, carrots, celery root and parsley root), the Russian/Ukrainian smazhennya or zazharka (onion, carrot and possibly celery, beets or pepper), the United States Cajun/Creole holy trinity (onions, celery and bell peppers), and possibly the French duxelles (mushrooms and often onion or shallot and herbs, reduced to a paste).

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I think the celery, and onions too, have a strong positive flavor effect on the broth.

Carrots taste good and can be boiled a long time without turning to mush.  Soups also use other root veggies like potatoes and parsnips that have the same qualities.

I seems, from my small sample of make-it-from scratch favorites, that celery is a key to good soup broth because the two soups I make most often, chicken soup and white bean, potato and ham soup both call for a good amount of celery.

But my two favorite stew recipes, where the broth barely covers the meat and veggies, don't call for celery.  Martha Stewart's Savory Fall Stew, has other veggies as as an option but does used onions and fennel that flavor the broth.  The other stew, Mulligan Stew, uses no celery but a lot of onion.

I slightly modified these online versions to fit my tastes and convenience (sliced sweet onion instead of pearl onions, etc.) and they're all really good:

Bean, Potato, Ham Soup: http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--3032/white-bean-and-ham-soup.asp

Mulligan Stew and Dumplings (can sub eggs noodles): http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/index.php?topic=2204.0

Faster, excellent dumplings from 3:1 bisquick & milk: https://www.cooks.com/recipe/zd32z3ul/mike-mulligan-stew-with-drop-dumplings.html

Martha Stewart's Savory Fall Stew: https://www.marthastewart.com/337234/savory-fall-stew  "You can make this a vegetarian dish simply by omitting the [mild Italian] sausage and the first step in the instructions" - if you like butternut squash in chunks, not pureed, this is dynamite!

The original source of my chicken soup recipe is no longer online and I merged parts of several online recipes. It was a "crock pot recipe" and, with the same ingredients, you can do it that way or in a 6 qt. pot on the stove, but I just stick all (frozen chicken parts ok) except the optional diced tomatoes in a 6 qt. instant pot (a 6 qt. pressure cooker works, too), set it to 25 min of high pressure, it takes about 23 min. to reach high pressure and then it counts down from 25 min.  Shred the chicken, add diced tomatoes if desired, and add the chicken back.  Cook the noodles separately (1-2 oz. of dry noodles per bowl) if you want fresh noodles with leftovers.

Ingredients (for a 6 quart Instant Pot. Makes 5 qts chicken 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 [optionally 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 (6 tsp called for – try zero if low sodium is desired and 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 shredding 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!)

 

In 4 1/2- to 6-quart slow-cooker bowl, combine all but chicken: veggies for soup, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, thyme, 4 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Place whole chicken on top of vegetables and spices. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 8 to 10 hours or on high setting 4 to 5 hours.

Transfer chicken to cutting board. Discard bay leaves. Remove and discard skin, fat, and bones from chicken; shred meat. Add chicken back to soup. If adding canned tomatoes, continue heating 15-30 min.

Then cover, refrigerate overnight, and remove fat by laying a paper towel on the surface.  The next day, heat on the stove for 20 minutes at medium heat. Add hot noodles (I use wide egg noodles but any -even Chinese work- fine), if desired and serve!

 

 

 

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