Soup For You! Or, a Thrad about Soup

[Vivisectus]

Contribute your Chowders. Belabor your Bisque, Borscht and Bouillabaisse. Share your Stock and state your Snert. Get your Gazpachio on and also gabble about Gumbos. Mention Miso, Minestrone and Mulligatawny. Cock your Leekie and Cullen your Skink.

Ill start off with a household favorite in the Sectus Household. I think I invented it myself, so maybe you can help me name it.

this makes what I technically call a Bunch of Soup, IE as much as fits in my medium stock pot.

Soup Whot Has Chickpeas In It And Is Spicey

1 onion chopped fine
3 stalks of celery, chopped fine
3 carrots, diced small
4 cans of chickpeas - adding some butterbeans or black eyed beans can be nice too
Chicken stock to cover - about a liter, maybe a bit more
1 tablespoon (or more if you like da spicey) sambal olek. If you do not have any, mince a few chillies with some salt and a clove of garlic.
2 tablespoons of Kecap Manis or a nice sweet soy sauce
2-3 tablerspoons of Cumin (taste to see if it is cuminey enough for you)

First soften your veg with a drop of olive oil and the Sambal or minced chillies. Then add everything else except the Cumin and the Kecap / soy sauce. Simmer until it is all soft, then blend it with a hand-blender until you get a nice thick soup. Add more spicies, Kecap and Cumin to taste.

Serve with a sprinkling of fresh unless you are weird, and some nice crusty rough bread. Really simple yet tasty.

[livius drusus]

I've very glad to see your cumin quantity start with 2 tblsp. Whenever I see a soup like this call for teaspons of cumin, I scoff heartily.

Here's one of my favorites for soup season:

Barley and Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped red onions
2 cups chopped peeled carrots
5 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
11 cups chicken broth
1 cup pearl barley
8 Roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or a 14 oz can chopped tomatoes plus juice
1 cup dried lentils
a bunch coarsely chopped Swiss chard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano and thyme

Heat oil in heavy large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots; sauté until onions are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir until fragrant (30 second-1 minute). Mix in cumin; stir 30 seconds. Add 10 cups broth and barley; bring to boil. Reduce heat; partially cover and simmer 25 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with juice and lentils; cover and simmer until barley and lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add chard to soup; cover and simmer until chard is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and dried herbs. Season soup with salt and pepper. Thin with more broth, if desired.

[mickthinks]

Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?
Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!

Lewis Carroll

[Zehava]

We're not weird. That vile weed tastes like dish soap. If you like dish soap in your food then more power to you.

Here is my go to (favorite) fall/winter soup (

Green Bean and Potatoes with Ham hocks

4 Smoked Ham Hocks (they must be the smoked variety)
1 - 1 1/2 lb Small Waxy Potatoes (like Red Bliss)
1 - 1 1/2 lb Fresh Green Beans, trimmed and snapped into bite size pieces
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the ham hocks on top a wire rack in a baking sheet and place in a high oven (~425f) until crusty and most of the fat is rendered. You could cook them in a pot of water as well but you would have to skim off a lot of scum as they cook and I think roasting them enhances the smokey flavor.

Once the ham hocks are done place in a large deep sided pot and cover with water (1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon). Bring to a boil then reduce to a good simmer and cover. Cook for an hour.

Cut the potatoes into large pieces - 2 to 3 bites sized (small ones you can leave whole). Place in the pot with the ham hocks and add salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and continue to simmer and cook until potatoes are nearly fork tender. Add the green beans and cook just a few minutes more until the potatoes are tender and the green beans are done but not mushy.

Serve immediately.

[Zehava]

I also really like Leek and Potatoes

ala Leek and Potato Soup

[One for Sorrow]

I made this vegan version of clam chowder (yeah, I know ) yesterday. It's the third time I've made it because it is so damn good.

New England Glam Chowder

Also, I'd like to put in a request if any of the furriners here have a good recipe for Dutch mustard soup. I tried it in Amsterdam about three years ago but don't know how to replicate it.

[Watser?]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

Contribute your Chowders. Belabor your Bisque, Borscht and Bouillabaisse. Share your Stock and state your Snert. Get your Gazpachio on and also gabble about Gumbos. Mention Miso, Minestrone and Mulligatawny. Cock your Leekie and Cullen your Skink.

Ill start off with a household favorite in the Sectus Household. I think I invented it myself, so maybe you can help me name it.

this makes what I technically call a Bunch of Soup, IE as much as fits in my medium stock pot.

Soup Whot Has Chickpeas In It And Is Spicey

1 onion chopped fine
3 stalks of celery, chopped fine
3 carrots, diced small
4 cans of chickpeas - adding some butterbeans or black eyed beans can be nice too
Chicken stock to cover - about a liter, maybe a bit more
1 tablespoon (or more if you like da spicey) sambal olek. If you do not have any, mince a few chillies with some salt and a clove of garlic.
2 tablespoons of Kecap Manis or a nice sweet soy sauce
2-3 tablerspoons of Cumin (taste to see if it is cuminey enough for you)

First soften your veg with a drop of olive oil and the Sambal or minced chillies. Then add everything else except the Cumin and the Kecap / soy sauce. Simmer until it is all soft, then blend it with a hand-blender until you get a nice thick soup. Add more spicies, Kecap and Cumin to taste.

Serve with a sprinkling of fresh unless you are weird, and some nice crusty rough bread. Really simple yet tasty.

Post-colonial snert.

I make post-colonial boerenkool with potatoes, kale, nasi/bami-spices and nasi meat (they sell that here so the Dutch can make the Dutch version of nasi goreng in a jiffy.

[lisarea]

I'm probably going to make cabbage and meatball soup today or tomorrow.

Garlic
Carrots
Cabbage
Ground beef, turkey, or a mix of both
Rice
Eggs
Provence herbs
Bay leaf
Chicken or vegetable stock
Canned crushed tomatoes

So you sweat the crushed garlic and sliced carrots in oil, then add the herb blend, salt, and pepper to make a sludge, and cook on low until it smells nice, then add the bay leaf and about equal quantities of canned tomatoes and stock and get it simmering for a while.

Then, you mix up the ground meat, the eggs, some more Provence herbs, salt and pepper, until they're uniform. Then, you eyeball in the correct amount of rice and roll it up into small meatballs. Brown them either on the stovetop or in the oven, and then get the soup base up to a low boil and throw them in.

Let that cook for a pretty long time, adjusting the seasonings as you go along.

After a pretty long time, chop up a whole bunch of cabbage and add it to the soup, and then cook it until it's just getting soft.

The end.

[BrotherMan]

By serendipity, Chef John of Food Wishes dot com posted a Tuscan Bean Soup that looks good.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I made this during winter, and it was SO GOOD and perfect for a yucky day. (Cook the potatoes before putting them in the crock, and blend the soup after it finishes. Also, pre-cook the bacon and put half of it in the crock). Loaded Baked Potato Soup For Crockpot Recipe - Food.com


I don't much care for cauliflower, but Pioneer Woman's cauliflower soup is delicious.

Tomato Dill Soup Recipe from Silver Spoon I'm so sad this restaurant closed. This was my mother's regular order.

Calhouns White Chili Recipe - Food.com the restaurant also serves it with salsa and tortilla strips.

[Janet]

Cream of Artichoke soup is my favorite to make when I can get a good deal on the artichokes. Only I always use eight instead of six to make it extra artichokey. And I can't be arsed to add the hazelnuts, even though I love them.

[thedoc]

Several years ago we would deliberately go in a particular direction on Fri. eve. so that we could stop in at a local restaurant for their Seafood bisque. Then there was the oil spill in the gulf and they couldn't get the shrimp for the soup. Not long ago the restaurant was closed, the property sold and someone built an auto parts store. I was getting hungry for the soup so I made up my own recipe. My seafood bisque.

Classic Mushroom soup - 18 oz can,
Traditional New England Clam Chowder - 18 oz can,
Cream of Shrimp soup - 10 oz can,
Cream of Celery soup - 10 oz can,
Crab meat - 6 oz can,
Minced clam - 6 oz can,
Tiny Shrimp - 8 oz (2 - 4 oz cans),

Use up to 1 cup of chicken broth to clean out the cans,
Add one squirt of liquid Amino.
Jalapeno peppers to suit. I got some to use and my wife said I would probably only use about 1/2 of one, Except for a bad section that I threw away I used most of 2 of them, and could still only get a little bite. I had trimmed out the core and seeds.
Mix all the soups together and cook, add minced Jalapeno pepper to suit, add potato flakes to thicken if needed.

[Vivisectus]

I salute you sir! Where lesser men would have mucked around with fresh ingredients and basic cooking techniques, you scorn all that as a challenge unworthy of the true cooking adept. Someone with advanced soupsmithing skills does not need to stoop to the rude mechanical labor of chopping, dicing or god forbid sautéing, but is so exquisitely skilled that he can craft a soup entirely out of other soups!

A meta-soup, if you will. A soup of soups. A symphony of soups. Soup Squared.

The art, no doubt, lies in selecting the exact right brands of canned, processed soup that will lead to the precise result you are looking for – a carefully balanced admixture, which will magically turn one soup into another. You have not shared those, which is understandable, as these are probably part of the deep mysteries of true soup alchemy. We lesser soupmakers must gaze at what might be, and imagine the delight, knowing that we will never attain those lofty heights.

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

I salute you sir! Where lesser men would have mucked around with fresh ingredients and basic cooking techniques, you scorn all that as a challenge unworthy of the true cooking adept. Someone with advanced soupsmithing skills does not need to stoop to the rude mechanical labor of chopping, dicing or god forbid sautéing, but is so exquisitely skilled that he can craft a soup entirely out of other soups!

A meta-soup, if you will. A soup of soups. A symphony of soups. Soup Squared.

The art, no doubt, lies in selecting the exact right brands of canned, processed soup that will lead to the precise result you are looking for – a carefully balanced admixture, which will magically turn one soup into another. You have not shared those, which is understandable, as these are probably part of the deep mysteries of true soup alchemy. We lesser soupmakers must gaze at what might be, and imagine the delight, knowing that we will never attain those lofty heights.

Not all brands are available in all areas, so I hesitated to specify which brands I used. If you insist on trying to use the same brands that I did, here they are.
Progresso - Classic Mushroom, NE clam chowder.
Campbell's - Cream of Shrimp, Cream of Celery.
Bumble Bee - Pink Crabmeat.
Crown Prince - Minced Clams.
Chicken of the Sea - Tiny Shrimp.
Pacific - Chicken Broth.
Bragg - Liquid Aminos.
Jalapeno peppers were fresh produce, whatever the store had. Each one was a little bigger than my thumb.

If you didn't guess by now, the recipe makes a lot of soup. You can serve it to a large group, or put some in the freezer for later. There are a lot of things in it that I am not supposed to eat, but I do anyhow.

[thedoc]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

I salute you sir! Where lesser men would have mucked around with fresh ingredients and basic cooking techniques, you scorn all that as a challenge unworthy of the true cooking adept.

The soup I was buying was in a restaurant, most of the cooked food you get in a restaurant comes from a can, or is frozen. If a restaurant calls their food fresh, you can bet that they've added just enough fresh food to legally call it fresh.

[lisarea]

Yeah, OK, you guys, but seafood bisque sounds really good, and we should reverse engineer it and make a version we can eat more of.

IF WE CAN BELIEVE WE CAN ACHIEVE! SELF ESTEEM! JUST DO IT! [CROTCH FRAME]

Shia LaBeouf "Just Do It" Motivational Speech...

It should have a white sauce base--preferably more milk than cream--with shallots, a little celery (including leaves, the best part) and a fines herbes blend probably and a healthy dose of black or white pepper, plus vegetable stock to round out the broth, and then an assortment of probably cooked seafood, added toward the end.

I don't make seafood very often, so I don't know: Can you cook seafood OK in a soup broth? It seems like it'd be nice to have it in there to permeate the broth, but I don't know if that would ruin it too much.

[Vivisectus]

Maybe a cheaty Bisque could go like this:

1: Melt some butter until it fizzes. Then gently fry some garlic just for a minute or two. Then throw in some sherry and a cup of water and put it on full blast until it is rapidly boiling. Bang in your seafood, shells on, and steam for a few minutes with the lid on it until just done or even just underdone - it can finish cooking in the broth later.
2: Once done, remove the meat but save the liquor that comes off it.
3: Saute a tiny dice of onion or shallots and celery, then add some flour to make a roux. Or, if you are a Jamie Oliver fan, simply bite the vegetables in half and throw them forcefully in your ugliest stockpot. Add a small dash of brandy or cognac if you have any, or just need a good excuse to buy a whole lotta brandy.
4: stir in milk, and add the liquor you saved. Not the brandy, the cooking juices. If you needed that explained, then you drank too much of the rest of the brandy. Fill it out with vegetable stock or fish stock, depending on how strong your fishstock is. Probably veggie stock I imagine as fish stock tends to be pretty forceful stuff. Also a bayleaf, finely chopped parsley leaves, and some thyme, in little cloth baggy.
5: add a few tablespoons of tomato paste and pepper to taste. Simmer until everything tastes of everything else, and then blend until smooth.
6: chuck in the seafood meat and finish it off with a dollop of cream.

I have absolutely no idea if this makes good soup, but it is how I would try it the first time around. I flash-boil clams and mussels with white wine, leeks, butter and garlic sometimes and the resulting liquor is powerful enough to mix with some cream, season with herbs and then serve over some pasta, with the clams served on top, so I am assuming this will get enough flavor out of the seafood.

Alternately you can keep the seafood shells, roast them and use them to make stock, which is what you are supposed to do with bisque, but it sounds time consuming as hell.

[Vivisectus]

Oh and lets not forget Cheaty Chowder

Carrots, onion, and celery, softened in butter
Little cubes of potato. PARBOIL THEM BEFOREHAND because they always take for-fecking-ever to cook
Fish stock and cream, or milk if the enormous amounts of fat put you off
corn, a few handfuls
Bayleaf, parsley, thyme for herbage

And for those in the UK: fish pie mix, which is cheap as hell at your local Tesco's. For everyone else: some smoked haddock, some fresh haddock or cod and some salmon. In about equal portions, but get some extra smoked fish just in case you don't get enough in there as it is vital.

Basically make your basic chowder and then gently cook the fish in the broth. The smoked fish flavors everything quite quickly and makes it a rich-tasting creamy fish chowder thingy soup which is yummy.

[BrotherMan]

Originally Posted by lisarea

IF WE CAN BELIEVE WE CAN ACHIEVE! SELF ESTEEM! JUST DO IT! [CROTCH FRAME]

R. Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly - YouTube

[vremya]

I love this thrad!

[lisarea]

Well, poop. I am making cabbage and meatball soup tonight, so I came to tell you how, BUT I ALREADY DID FOR SOME REASON.

So I will tell you about this one instead:

Andouille & Black eyed pea soup

Black eyed peas, soaked
Andouille sausage, casings removed
Curly mustard greens
Chicken stock
Garlic
Provence herbs (I make the kind with lavendar), a bay leaf, and S&P

So you brown the sausage in the pot, then you add the garlic and some of the herb blend. Then you add the black eyed peas and simmer it until the beans are getting cooked. Adjust seasonings as you go along.

Once the BEP are cooked, wash, destem, and chop the mustard greens, add them in, and cook until they're done.

SOUP!

[Vivisectus]

And also you can use your herbs afterwards to keep your closet free of moths and pleasantly smelling like your grandmas washing!

I think lavender may be my cilantro

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

I love living where I do, because I can get a takeaway or delivery pho for dead cheap. I live on it in colder months.

I also really like laksa, but I only get it from one place.


If I'm sick, I'll send The Boy out for a hot & sour soup. Cures a head cold, I'll tell you that.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

And also you can use your herbs afterwards to keep your closet free of moths and pleasantly smelling like your grandmas washing!

I think lavender may be my cilantro

The weird thing is that I really don't like lavender* scented things at all. I only like it for cooking.

* And I cannot spell it. I know how it's supposedly supposed to be spelled but it always still looks wrong. Stupid lavender.

[livius drusus]

I made a nail balm out of lavender once. My fingertips smelled like mom's linen closet.