How to Make Soup (for those who don't know! :-) )

[elleng]

'Soup is a true wonder of alchemy. Together, water, onions and time turn water into broth, bland into savory and thin into thick. But for those results, process is critical: The finest soups layer flavors every step of the way. We will teach you about soup’s building blocks, then walk you through combining them with a basic recipe that will help you transform practically any ingredient into a simple, satisfying meal.'

http://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/40-how-to-make-soup?

[Yonnie3]

1. We seem to prefer the "chunky" genre here, although

the brothy is made if we're not feeling well (Jewish penicillin).

A few new things there for me. For instance using raw chicken bones in the broth. I've read elsewhere to brown the carcass bones in the oven before using for a broth. I usually don't bother browning them, but it does add a heartier flavor to the broth.

Bookmarked for later study.

[Retrograde]

16. I've made chicken stocks both ways

with the raw wing tips, necks, and backs, and with the bones from rotisseried chickens, or roast turkey carcasses. The raw ingredients seem to produce a stock with more body, as they have more collagen in them; the cooked ones are darker in color and carry some of the tastes of the original seasonings. It's a matter of what I have on hand when it's stock time.

ETA:adding a good-sized bay leaf when cooking the stock makes a big difference - more IMHO than whether one starts with raw or cooked poultry!

[Yonnie3]

17. "It's a matter of what I have on hand when it's stock time."

so true.

Past their prime veggies and salt (or bouillon cubes) have made useful and tasty broths in my kitchen.

[TygrBright]

2. We have, alas, given up on soup...

Because ALL the instructions demand either "home made" stock (we never roast chickens, meat with bones in it, etc., we just don't...) or require you to "ask your butcher" for their stock, which the Co-op meat department doesn't do.

If someone ever comes up with a way to make great soup using Costco's Organic Chicken Stock (which we have on hand for OTHER cooking purposes that don't require the high level of Perfection In Flavoring and Purity In Ingredients that soup apparently demands) point me to it.

Caveat/admission/whatever: I do actually occasionally make a totally debased, incorrect, inferior product I *call* soup, using the boxed Costco stock, leftover boneless chicken breast, veggies, and some kind of noodles or rice thrown in just before serving. I'd never call it "soup" though.

Because, yanno... boxed inferior pseudo-stock.

wearily,
Bright

[elleng]

3. I don't use 'stock,' Bright,

I use left-over roasted chix! I make good use of (pardon me, please) grocery's rotisserie chix, first I eat thighs and wings, often w baked potato, next 2-3 days, leftover breast meat w curry sauce, and then, finally, the leftover meat and bones for soup. GOTTA have soup, and handling chix this way is, imo, satisfying and frugal!

[TygrBright]

4. That's nice! We don't do the rotisserie chicken thing, though.

Occasionally I get some SB thighs or breast for a recipe, but my esposo doesn't like rotisserie chicken, and there's no way I can manage a whole one on my own.

The whole "cut it up and freeze and use in bits" thing exhausts me to think about.

sadly,
Bright

[Glassunion]

19. Homemade stock is quite easy

Anything that you have left over from your proteins will work just fine.

I have a fridge full of raw chicken thigh bones, cooked and eaten pork ribs, and really cheap (.89 cents a pound) raw beef bones.

Pork and chicken play well together and make a good stock.

Even just some simple veggies will make for a good stock.

As others have noted, pre roasting the ingredients makes for a more robust stock.

Maybe a should do an OP of just stock...

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

5. Oh, Bright...

Find some chicken, beef, and vegetable base. Proceed with your recipe and proudly call it soup! People can get a little carried away with making broth. Yes, it's good but I have cooked professionally and if you use a good base and good ingredients it's very hard to tell the difference. Enjoy

[TygrBright]

6. I have now and then used the "Better Than" line of paste bases.

Do they count?

I'm not sure where else to look for something that might qualify as a "base"?

curiously,
Bright

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

7. Yes they do.

I had access to really good quality stuff when I was working but I have found the "better than" line to be very good and it's what I use now. If you're okay with alcohol, wine and beer can be a great addition also. Mostly, just have fun with it. It's YOUR soup after all

[NJCher]

8. are you kidding?

those "Better Than" are the best! One of our posters here tipped me off to them. It made all the difference in the world when I didn't have time to make my own stock.

A few years ago, I really got into soup, buying all these soup cookbooks and making all kinds of soup. This was in the fall, and since then, every year I switch my cooking routine from predominately salads in the summer to soups in the fall and winter. It's the best way to get in all those vegetables they want you to have in a day. Plus it's one of those dishes that's better then next day. All those flavors melding together!

I know I once felt like you did about the boxed broth, but then I read this passage in Love Soup by Anna Thomas. It is in the beginning of her book, and she says to try for your own homemade stock, but if you can't do it, use the boxed. She says a person should never forego soup because of no homemade stock.

Anna is one of best known soup cookbook authors, so if she says so, you can be sure there's something to it. I think using the boxed broths with "Better than..." is, just as elleng says upthread, so close to homemade stock as to be barely imperceptible.

Also, soup doesn't have to be time consuming to make. Google "martha stewart quick soup recipes" and you'll find a slideshow of 59 different soups. Use when you're "low energy" or in a time pinch!


Cher

[TygrBright]

10. Thank you, that's very encouraging! I'll probably try it.

I do love soup, but just the Costco stock alone does leave something to be desired.

appreciatively,
Bright

[Lars39]

11. Found their site...forgot they had such a variety!

http://www.betterthanbouillon.com/products/

[Staph]

9. I first heard about the Better Than brand

on America's Test Kitchen (on PBS). They highly recommended the basic chicken version, so I tried it. Now I use it all the time for any broth/stock recipes.

It's wonderful for those situations when you need a cup of broth/stock, and there isn't any in the house or you don't want to buy a carton and waste the rest.

[Yonnie3]

12. I use whatever I have.

Canned cheap generic stock has made some excellent hearty soups around here. I suspect the Costco box is a step up from Food Lion generic. What you call "soup" IS soup!

I particularly like this in the article:

To paraphrase the food writer M.F.K. Fisher, there is a slippery slope from water to soup. If you have water around, you can have soup. Use water when you’re after clean, light flavors rather than rich ones, or when you don’t have any stock on hand.

To sum it up after all that they wrote,
"Use water ... when you don’t have any stock on hand."

Gotta be better than stone soup, eh?

[NJCher]

13. you might laugh at this

but the RG, when making soup, uses spring water from Italy. Or even distilled water!

I was reading the article at the Times and I can see why Tygr was getting tired just reading it. Sheesh. Talk about getting carried away.


Cher

[Yonnie3]

14. Yes, I might,

but more likely a head shake and smile. The same reaction I had to the article summing up by saying just use water if that's all you've got. I suppose I should use emoticons more.

Yes, the article was more than a bit over the top, but I got some ideas I will try and keep or discard after I try them.

[Retrograde]

18. " If you have water around, you can have soup"

Soup is your basic peasant food: it uses what's on hand to stretch out often meager ingredients. Sure, you can get fancy and simmer 20 lbs of veal bones for the better part of a day, clarify the resulting liquid, and use it for the basis of a refined consomme. Or you can boil some onion skins, celery tops and other vegetable parings for a simple vegetable base, then stain and augment that with maybe some chopped vegetables, a grain, and small pieces of meat if you have some and are so inclined. I've made soups starting with everything from water to generic supermarket stocks to simmered-all-day stocks, and they've all turned out decently.

Dinner today was red lentil soup from the NYTimes recipe site, with a spoon of Costco pesto swirled into the serving bowls

[dem in texas]

15. Making soup should be easy.

I make soup almost every week. favorites are vegetable beef, minestrone,, White bean and tomato, Navy Bean, Split Pea, and baked potato chowder. I don't make much chicken soup as my husband doesn't like. I love posole but the old boy doesn't like that either.

I use water or purchased stock or Caldo de pollo cubes for the broth. If I am going to use dry beans, I cook them in my crockpot overnight on low heat along with some ham shank or chopped bacon. So Much better than beans from a can I cook a one pound bag, serve the cooked beans for one meal and about half the beans are left over and that is my base for making soup, the broth from the home cooked beans makes the soup have a rich taste. I try to make enough soup so we can eat on it for two days and I have some left to share with my neighbors, or put in the freezer.

Here are some things that are secrets to making good soup. Don't use raw potatoes. Day or two old boiled potatoes are good, left over baked potatoes are best. If you are adding noodles, rice or pasta, cook them separate from the soup and add right at the end. Great ways to use up left over potatoes, rice and pasta.

When making a white bean and tomato soup, add a cup of white wine at the end.

Here's the family favorite. Happened to have this recipe written down as my grandson in New York just asked me for it just a few days ago.
_____________________________________
Baked Potato and Corn Chowder

4 to 6 pieces of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled into small bits - can skip this and use 2 or 3 tablespoons oil.
3 or 4 medium size left-over baked potatoes, at least one day old. Remove the brown outer skin. Chop in small cubes
2 stalks celery chopped small
1 medium onion, chopped small
1 cup corn – Fresh , cut off the ear (takes one ear) is best, frozen second best, then canned corn
1 qt chicken stock – I use the Kitchen Basics brand -If out of stock, use 1 or 2 Caldo de Pollo cubes with 4 cups water
3 cups milk
3 tablespoons flour
salt, pepper to taste
1 or 2 tablespoons Tabasco Sauce

Fry bacon crisp and drain on paper towels.
Pour off all the bacon grease except about 2 or 3 tablespoons.
Add the onions and celery to the bacon grease and saute until onions are limp. Add the corn and saute until corn cooks ( a few minutes more). If the corn seems tough, add about ½ cup water and stir until liquid cooks away (won't hurt the celery and onions).

If you need a larger pot, transfer the sauteed mixture to the soup pot, now. Add the flour and cook on low stirring, cook a minute or two to cook the flour. Add the baked potatoes, bacon, chicken stock and milk, Add salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste. Simmer chowder on medium low for 15 to 20 minutes, giving it a stir every so often. Watch that it does not boil as this will cause the milk to curdle, If it is cooking down too much, add a little water or milk. It should be just a little thick, not much. Chowder should never be thick like gravy. Turn off heat and let it stand a minute or two and serve. You can stir in a little sour cream or best of all some Mexican crema for a richer taste.

This chowder tastes even better the second day. It makes about 2 quarts of chowder. Freezes well.

Soup making hint. Left-over baked potatoes have a much better flavor and texture than just cooked potatoes. They are also better tasting than raw potatoes when added to any soup. When I bake potatoes, I always add a few extra to be used for soup or breakfast hash-browns.