NationStates Jolt Archive

The Mock Turtle's Song

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

I'll make no bones about it, I love soup.

I make a soup about once every two weeks in a large pot so I can refrigerate and my gf and I can take to work, heat up of an evening or else.

The last one I made was a lentil soup, in these cold winter months it was a winner.

Today, I'm reaching for spinach and ginger*, which I'll shortly start to prepare - after my coffee - but the burning questions remains...

What is the best soup you've ever had?

It doesn't just have to be an ingredient, it could a story of soup, a moment when the right soup came along at the right time.

For me, for my sins, I used to go on shoots in the UK when younger and, after an afternoon out in the fields, there was nothing nicer than sitting on the tailgate of a beat up old landrover, a rug around the shoulders, sipping on spicy oxtail with a dash of whiskey to warm the old cockles.

*I have a nagging suspicion that this soup won't freeze well, or that it's not a good idea - if the Michelin chefs among us can enlighten me on this I'd be grateful.

Any recipes also appreciated, my best soup, according to a quick poll, is carrot and cumin, which I might share later.

I adore soups, as does my mother; though when I think of memorable soups, it's actually a chowder that comes to mind. My dad was the cook in our household, because my mom burns absolutely everything - except for this crab and corn chowder, which was her specialty. (Plus, the only edible dish she managed to serve on a regular basis.)

It's a soup that I always remember as taking a long time to make... it was always an afternoon project, and I'd sit in the kitchen and smell it as it simmered and thickened. We always ate it with a freshly baked baguette and butter. Really, I don't know what's so special about this soup, except that it will forever remind me of my mother.

I'm also a huge fan of sweet potato and leek soup... I like the cream-based soups, generally. Though, my dad makes this killer turkey noodle soup from scratch... turkey meat, egg noodles, carrots, various other vegetables, some sort of stock base. Nothing like a bowl of *that* on a winter's night! He always makes it after Christmas, when we have lots of turkey to get through, as well as these turkey meat pies.

Oh! I forgot another soup that my mom always made; broccoli and cheese! The chowder was really her specialty, but broccoli and cheese was good, too.

It's a soup that I always remember as taking a long time to make... it was always an afternoon project, and I'd sit in the kitchen and smell it as it simmered and thickened. We always ate it with a freshly baked baguette and butter. Really, I don't know what's so special about this soup, except that it will forever remind me of my mother.

This is what I enjoy, it's a Sunday afternoon project - more than other dishes, soup is a nice long simmering project - baguette and butter absolutely.

I'm also a huge fan of sweet potato and leek soup... I like the cream-based soups, generally. Though, my dad makes this killer turkey noodle soup from scratch... turkey meat, egg noodles, carrots, various other vegetables, some sort of stock base. Nothing like a bowl of *that* on a winter's night! He always makes it after Christmas, when we have lots of turkey to get through, as well as these turkey meat pies.

Oh! I forgot another soup that my mom always made; broccoli and cheese! The chowder was really her specialty, but broccoli and cheese was good, too.

Broccoli and cheese is pretty much next on my list, I was going to do a pea soup but my gf isn't a great fan of peas. I've previously not used cheese in my soups so it'll be a first.

Chowder's an odd one for me, my first experience of it was in the canned form and, to be honest, I reminded me of puke - apologies for that - but of all soups, chowder really needs to be made fresh or it loses something - it's a fine line between gorgeous and bland.

I've noted you as a soup aficionado - it's a little known fact that a common trait of Hitler, Mussolini, Mao and Stalin is that they all hated soup - coincidence, I think not.

Something about a love of soup makes people humane and reasonable people.

Is chili a soup?

If not, probably New England Clam Chowder. *nod*

Is chili a soup?

I'm not sure - I count Tom Yang Kung as a soup for example, and a damn fine one at that.

EDIT: I've got this now, is a bowl of chili a soup? Amm...it's on the edges of a technicality I guess and it can definitely be enjoyed as though it's a soup. If you're placing it in a taco, topping it off with a little salad and some cheese though, then no, LG, it's not.

If not, probably New England Clam Chowder. *nod*

As noted above, it's really got to be right for me to enjoy this one but when done right it's one of the best.

I quite like a simple tomato soup where I add vodka and worcester sauce, essentially I'm making a hot Bloody Mary - that's the other thing with soup, so very versatile.

Common across all cultures as well.

My grandmother's beef stew with dumplings. She made it for me when I was 12, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Being my grandmother (a curiously obstinate lady who will not do something simply because you want her to), she didn't make it for me again until this Christmas. It wasn't the same (my grandmother is now 78 and has lost sight in one eye, so her cooking skills are on the decline) but it reminded me of that first wonderful dish.

I quite like a simple tomato soup where I add vodka and worcester sauce, essentially I'm making a hot Bloody Mary - that's the other thing with soup, so very versatile.

You know, once when I was 19 and drunk off my ass my friend and I were trying to come up with all of the things in my kitchen (not a long list) to which we could add vodka. Who knew my soup idea was so solid??

I love most kinds of soup.

I made potato-leek soup for dinner last Wednesday. Very simple and very good (especially served with sourdough bread and butter). I also make a version of lentil soup, chicken soup, crockpot beef soup, turkey soup, clam chowder (New England style), and kitchen sink soup (kind of a leftover soup using whatever is in the fridge). The only real problem I have with chicken soup is that my daughter wants me to muck it up with dumplings, which makes it thick and more like stew and I'm not real fond of chicken stew.

Right, it's mostly done and I'm bringing it to a simmer - one problem is that I might need a blender, which I don't have, either I'm going to have to knock on the neighbours door or it's going to be a trying 20 minutes with a masher and my arm.

You know, once when I was 19 and drunk off my ass my friend and I were trying to come up with all of the things in my kitchen (not a long list) to which we could add vodka. Who knew my soup idea was so solid??

At around the same age, a friend and I tried to create what I remember being called a Lamumba, something I'd had in Granada and, again off memory, was hot chocolate and whiskey. We used Nesquik and cooking whiskey, it was god awful but since we were poor and we'd spent the money, we attempted to gag it all down. Horrible memory.

I love most kinds of soup.

I made potato-leek soup for dinner last Wednesday. Very simple and very good (especially served with sourdough bread and butter). I also make a version of lentil soup, chicken soup, crockpot beef soup, turkey soup, clam chowder (New England style), and kitchen sink soup (kind of a leftover soup using whatever is in the fridge). The only real problem I have with chicken soup is that my daughter wants me to muck it up with dumplings, which makes it thick and more like stew and I'm not real fond of chicken stew.

Ah, ASD, I've noted your cooking contributions before and hoped this might catch your eye. A recipe might be in order from you, I'll swap if I have to.

I normally have tomato, mushroom or chicken.

There is no doubt that the best time to have soup is when you're outside on a freezing cold day/night, pouring it out of a thermos. So warming and filling, all at once. :)

I can't find the recipe, but a month ago I made this awesome soup that you had the fry bacon in a soup pot, then put the bacon aside and cook celery, onions (I think) and possibly carrots in the grease. When they start to get tender you add milk (or broth..) and nuts.

I think it called for chestnuts, who the hell knows.

Well.. anyway.. let it simmer for a while, then you puree it and put the bacon on as a garnish.

I strained it because I totally fucked up the puree part.

So tasty.

I have soups once or twice weekly, and usually homemade. My dad (the cook of the family) makes chicken stock most weeks from the sunday roast, and his best soup is chicken noodle soup to die for. Perfect if you're feeling ill, cold, or just miserable.

I can't find the recipe, but a month ago I made this awesome soup that you had the fry bacon in a soup pot, then put the bacon aside and cook celery, onions (I think) and possibly carrots in the grease. When they start to get tender you add milk (or broth..) and nuts.

I think it called for chestnuts, who the hell knows.

Well.. anyway.. let it simmer for a while, then you puree it and put the bacon on as a garnish.

I strained it because I totally fucked up the puree part.

So tasty.

I can see this - my mother used to make a pie with bacon, cabbage and chestnuts all baked in a sour cream sort of sauce. It would definitely work as a soup.

I've finished my soup now - it was a little bland to the taste actually so I've poured in a dollop of Chinese rice wine, it's now got the edge it needed.

Mulligan stew, chili con carne, pho, kimchi jjigae, beef stew, Irish stew... yep soup's are good.

I tend towards the mulligan stew when I cook.

Most outstanding ones I ever had were a cream cheese, black olive, and mushroom soup at Butera's Deli in Houston, and a wild mushroom and smoked wild goose nabe at a nameless place in Niigata.

I normally have tomato, mushroom or chicken.

There is no doubt that the best time to have soup is when you're outside on a freezing cold day/night, pouring it out of a thermos. So warming and filling, all at once. :)

Haven't seen you around for a while, welcome back :)


My mum does a chicken broth that I believe has a Jewish origin (not that she's Jewish, just picked it up from somewhere). Takes about a day to prepare/cook, but tastes great, especially with some good bread.

About the only soup I really like is asparagus soup, but otherwise it's mostly the accessories like croutons and bread that make it a decent meal. So meh to soup. I should probably experiment a bit more with soups though, because I really like the idea of soup, as evidenced by my mouth watering when reading this thread.

Cauliflower and curry cream soup...
most yummiest thing ever.

It's really just cauliflower and one or two potatoes cooked in tock, then made smooth in the food processor (not too smooth, though), and with about a tablespoon of mild curry poweder and a good dash of cream.

That's it, and it's yummy. Did I say it was yummy? It is yummy. Very. Yummy. mhm.

:)

I loooooove soup. I could eat soup every day.

The problem is just that I can't make it, not for the life of me. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's super easy and absolute idiot-proof, you just throw stuff in a pot and cook it and voilà. Except when I do that, it never turns out like it should. :(

The only way I'd get it to be tasty is by adding half a liter of heavy cream, which, you know...

Anyway, any recipes would be greatly appreciated, especially ones that cater to the beginner and have such pesky, ridiculous things like actual amounts of ingredients and length of cooking....
But yeah, nobody ever has those recipes, everybody always just says "Oh, don't bother about exact amounts and measurements, just throw stuff in a pot and cook it and voilà." :rolleyes::p

My mom makes a lovely "cream of zucchini" soup which is actually creamless.

It involves cutting up and boiling 2-3 zucchini's in chicken broth with salt, a bit of carrot and onion, and pepper and sauteed garlic to taste.

When the pieces have gone soft, you fish them out, run them through the blender with the broth until smooth, and serve with croutons on top -- and leave the container of sour cream on the table so whomever wishes it to be creamier can but a tablespoon in.

Delicious in the extreme.

I like soup, once when i was hungover i had some soup reheated (something like potato, leek, lentils and some other veg) and it was the best food i have ever had ever ever ever ever...ever.


ever

i like soup but i get kind of sick of it cuz it's all i get at work when the head chef is in. i'm good friends with her sous chef and assistant sous chef though so when she's away i get something more substantial. yesterday's soup of the day was potato and leak which was yummy.

Soup is like the blood of the gods...

Soup is like the blood of the gods...

you don't know if it exists?

Right, it's mostly done and I'm bringing it to a simmer - one problem is that I might need a blender, which I don't have, either I'm going to have to knock on the neighbours door or it's going to be a trying 20 minutes with a masher and my arm.



At around the same age, a friend and I tried to create what I remember being called a Lamumba, something I'd had in Granada and, again off memory, was hot chocolate and whiskey. We used Nesquik and cooking whiskey, it was god awful but since we were poor and we'd spent the money, we attempted to gag it all down. Horrible memory.



Ah, ASD, I've noted your cooking contributions before and hoped this might catch your eye. A recipe might be in order from you, I'll swap if I have to.

Potato-Leek Soup

2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed (large bite size)
2-3 leeks, including some of the green, sliced and washed thoroughly
1/2 small onion, diced fine (optional)
3-4 strips of bacon, cut in one inch pieces
chicken or vegetable stock (I prefer chicken)
heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes in a small kettle and cover with chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are tender (add chicken stock as needed, but it should only just cover the potatoes).

While the potatoes are simmering, fry the bacon pieces, in a large frying pan, until crisp. Remove the bacon from the frying pan and drain it. Add the leeks and onion to the bacon drippings and cook until soft, but not brown.

When the potatoes are tender, add the leeks and bacon, stir. Add cream slowly, stirring all the while. Add more chicken stock if needed. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer another 10-20 minutes.

Serve with sourdough bread, saltines or other bread of your choice. A side salad would also be nice.

You can, of course, puree this, but I prefer it chunky.

If you substitute clam or fish stock for the chicken stock, eliminate the leeks and increase the onion to taste, add clams (canned clams and their juice will do if you have nothing else, but nothing beats fresh clams) and dill, it makes a creditable New England clam chowder.

This makes enough to serve two hearty eaters with leftovers for lunch the next day. Very nice on a snowy evening.

And, yes please, give me the recipe for the soup you were talking about. Sounds very nice, with ginger and rice wine.

(I don't know why people bother with canned soups, when it's so easy to make them fresh)

Is chili a soup?

If not, probably New England Clam Chowder. *nod*

You need to try the home made New England Clam Chowder recipe my wife found a long time a cookbook we got from Yankee Magazine. If you can't find the recipe, let me know and I'll post it. The only thing we change is sometimes we add a pound of shrimp so it's clam and shrimp chowder.

We also like a Cajun bean soup. Oh, so good. We buy the bean soup mix with the spice pack included at the grocery store. Don't wait until the end to add the spice pack though (the recipe says to) add the spice pack at the start. Yummy.

Had some home made split pea soup last week and I let it cook a little long so it came out a bit thick but very delicious. It was great with some southern style biscuits hot from the oven.

Mrs. C makes the absolute best chicen 'n dumplings. Here secret for the dumplings is Bisquick and buttermilk. Oh, divine but I'm not sure if that is classified as a soup or not.

I often eat canned soup for lunch in the winter. Progresso soup is the best canned soup and I really like the Italian Wedding soup and the Minestrone soup.

New England Clam Chowder is by far my favorite, followed by lobster bisque

I am making soup as we speak. I am making split pea soup with turky sausage.

The Mock Turtle's Song

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

I'll make no bones about it, I love soup.

I make a soup about once every two weeks in a large pot so I can refrigerate and my gf and I can take to work, heat up of an evening or else.

The last one I made was a lentil soup, in these cold winter months it was a winner.

Today, I'm reaching for spinach and ginger*, which I'll shortly start to prepare - after my coffee - but the burning questions remains...

What is the best soup you've ever had?

It doesn't just have to be an ingredient, it could a story of soup, a moment when the right soup came along at the right time.

For me, for my sins, I used to go on shoots in the UK when younger and, after an afternoon out in the fields, there was nothing nicer than sitting on the tailgate of a beat up old landrover, a rug around the shoulders, sipping on spicy oxtail with a dash of whiskey to warm the old cockles.

*I have a nagging suspicion that this soup won't freeze well, or that it's not a good idea - if the Michelin chefs among us can enlighten me on this I'd be grateful.

Any recipes also appreciated, my best soup, according to a quick poll, is carrot and cumin, which I might share later.

Squee!! I love the Mockturtle song!! It´s one of my favorite moments in ¨Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland¨. And when Gene Wilder played it in the Hallmark version of the story, I died. It was awesome!!
http://www.elisanet.fi/mlang/kuvat/aliced.jpg

As for the topic in question, I love soup. Specially is it´s rich, thick and full of spices. Caldo Gallego being one of my favorites, but nothing beats ¨Fabes y Morcille¨, an Asturian specialty. (if anyone wants the recipe, let me know):D

*snip*

Thank you. I also use potato in most of my soups as a thickener and, as you say, soups are so easy it's hard to justify buying canned.

Chop 1 large (two small) onion, 2 cloves of garlic and mash about a tablespoon of fresh ginger (I use a knife to finely shave then chop) - line a large pot with oil and low heat til soft - about 3-5 minutes.

Add about 250-300g of spinach leaves until wilted - I tend to go with more spinach, mostly for colour.

Add 1 litre of stock with 2 chopped potatos, season with salt and peppar. Also add, if you want, a stalk of lemongrass.

Low simmer until all is soft and then blend. I used a masher but Ruffy's post gave me the better idea of sieving and then mashing through the bits with a spoon.

Add about a third of a tumbler glass of Chinese rice wine, you could use sherry I think for a slightly different edge. Up until you add this, the soup tastes a little bland so wait until after til you add any more salt or peppar for seasoning.

The final touch is a teaspoon of sesame oil and you can add some of the leftover spinach leaves for garnish as well.

Enjoy :)

mostly Oxtail,Mulligatawny, good Old Pea and Ham

Mulligan stew, chili con carne, pho, kimchi jjigae, beef stew, Irish stew... yep soup's are good.

I tend towards the mulligan stew when I cook.

Most outstanding ones I ever had were a cream cheese, black olive, and mushroom soup at Butera's Deli in Houston, and a wild mushroom and smoked wild goose nabe at a nameless place in Niigata.

I haven't heard of Mulligan stew before but don't worry, I'll look it up.

I love Pho and have great memories of biking around Hanoi at 6am with a friend, after an evening out, hunting for Pho on the street.

Kimchi jjigae - is this Kimchi hotpot? I have a Korean hotpot restaurant down the road and they make this amazing soup, I like a spice to my soup and this is possibly one of the best soups I've had.

Cream cheese, black olive and mushroom - interesting concoction and probably needs a fine balance of flavour - interesting.

My mom makes a lovely "cream of zucchini" soup which is actually creamless.

It involves cutting up and boiling 2-3 zucchini's in chicken broth with salt, a bit of carrot and onion, and pepper and sauteed garlic to taste.

When the pieces have gone soft, you fish them out, run them through the blender with the broth until smooth, and serve with croutons on top -- and leave the container of sour cream on the table so whomever wishes it to be creamier can but a tablespoon in.

Delicious in the extreme.

This doesn't sound to hard so I'll give it a go sooner or later - I picked zucchini's in Australia and it was the most back-breaking work I've ever done.

Cauliflower and curry cream soup...
most yummiest thing ever.

It's really just cauliflower and one or two potatoes cooked in tock, then made smooth in the food processor (not too smooth, though), and with about a tablespoon of mild curry poweder and a good dash of cream.

That's it, and it's yummy. Did I say it was yummy? It is yummy. Very. Yummy. mhm.

:)

Next on the list is broccoli and cheese for me but adding curry powder is just the thing to top it off. Thanks.

Next on the list is broccoli and cheese for me but adding curry powder is just the thing to top it off. Thanks.

Careful, though... most cheeses aren't too happy to be paired up with curry...

I love French onion soup, with some baguette topped with melted gruyere in it.

Or Mexican black bean soup, with chili, coriander & cumin.

Delicious.

soup is my 'daily bread'!

don't know nothin bout no singin mock turtles though.

=^^=
.../\...

Also, I really love Pho. I go to one of the nearby Vietnamese restaurants every few weeks to have a bowl of it.

...but nothing beats ¨Fabes y Morcille¨, an Asturian specialty. (if anyone wants the recipe, let me know):D

Fabada - yes, I love it - if you have a good recipe then please post, I wonder if I can get the right ingredients here though.

I love French onion soup, with some baguette topped with melted gruyere in it.

Or Mexican black bean soup, with chili, coriander & cumin.

Delicious.

French onion is another that is amazing when done right but from a can it's just poor in many ways - in fact, any onion soup in a can sucks.

don't know nothin bout no singin mock turtles though.

Here you go Cameroi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTIGWcCzTuo

I haven't heard of Mulligan stew before but don't worry, I'll look it up.

Mulligan stew is basically the US term for kitchen sink stew. It's a hobo word, IIRC. I generally use whatever meat's on sale at the supermarket and toss in a bunch of root veggies.

I love Pho and have great memories of biking around Hanoi at 6am with a friend, after an evening out, hunting for Pho on the street.

Indeed.

Kimchi jjigae - is this Kimchi hotpot? I have a Korean hotpot restaurant down the road and they make this amazing soup, I like a spice to my soup and this is possibly one of the best soups I've had.

If it has kimchee in it, that's probably what it is. :)

Cream cheese, black olive and mushroom - interesting concoction and probably needs a fine balance of flavour - interesting.

Cheese, black olives, and mushrooms are three of my favorite foods....

ต้มข่าไก่ or tom kha gai (a Thai, coconut milk based, chicken soup) is one of my favorites.

I also make really good chowder. And butternut squash soup. And beef stew.

Mmmm... now I'm hungry.

I'm not a real big soup person. Every once in a while I'll have some tomato soup, but thats about it.

The last one I made was a lentil soup, in these cold winter months it was a winner.
spooky. Last week I bought some lentils and did exactly the same. Hadn't eaten lentils for yonks too. Must be the weather.
Damn hard trying to get lentils in this city, too. The locals don't like 'em for some reason (I bought them at 360. where'd you get yours?)

As for other soup, I make a particularly fine curried-carrot-and-cashewnut soup, if I do say so myself (it's also a particularly fine aliteration).
My Grandma made an awesome tomato soup, using various herbs (one of which I recall was bayleaves). She gave me the recipe but sadly I lost it during some move somewhere down the line.
I particularly like a good hearty vegetable soup, full of barley and split peas. You can get packets of these in NZ (and I just found, Taiwan (http://www.shopnewzealand.co.nz/tw/cp/2444).mmmm...). As a poor student, I survived off these + homemade bread for days/weeks at a time.

spooky. Last week I bought some lentils and did exactly the same. Hadn't eaten lentils for yonks too. Must be the weather.
Damn hard trying to get lentils in this city, too. The locals don't like 'em for some reason (I bought them at 360. where'd you get yours?)

As for other soup, I make a particularly fine curried-carrot-and-cashewnut soup, if I do say so myself (it's also a particularly fine aliteration).
My Grandma made an awesome tomato soup, using various herbs (one of which I recall was bayleaves). She gave me the recipe but sadly I lost it during some move somewhere down the line.
I particularly like a good hearty vegetable soup, full of barley and split peas. You can get packets of these in NZ (and I just found, Taiwan (http://www.shopnewzealand.co.nz/tw/cp/2444).mmmm...). As a poor student, I survived off these + homemade bread for days/weeks at a time.

You're right, they were difficult to find - I actually found them at the local Wellcome but they were completely not where I expected them to be and no one could help me - they actually have a different name and are not known as the literal translation for lentils - I even had my gf write down the TC after we looked it up in the dictionary and no one knew.

They're known as something like white beans, I can't remember off the top of my head.

It's funny, we're aghast that the temperature is down to, OMG, 13 degrees!

You're right, they were difficult to find - I actually found them at the local Wellcome but they were completely not where I expected them to be and no one could help me - they actually have a different name and are not known as the literal translation for lentils - I even had my gf write down the TC after we looked it up in the dictionary and no one knew.

They're known as something like white beans, I can't remember off the top of my head.

It's funny, we're aghast that the temperature is down to, OMG, 13 degrees!
Definitely try 360. It's the organic supermarket in the Landmark building, above the mezzanine floor. Has an great selection of all sorts of stuff. Unlike Oliver's and CitySuper, 360 regularly has specials - some of them awesome (I once bought some coffee at $2 /pack - marked down from $82!)

As for the shivering - while 13 sounds warm, the humidity makes it feel colder. And the total absence of insulation in any building here makes it feel a lot colder! I was in Germany over Xmas and it felt warmer there than here, even though the 'warmest' it got was 4.

Split Pea,Lentels......is theat even a soup?Either way......GROSS!!!!!!
Mommas good old Chicken Noodle,Stew......dont get no better than that!

For the soup lovers here, voilá!, an Asturian delicacy:

Fabada asturiana
Asturian Bean and Sausage Pot

Fabada, the worlds' most famous bean pot comes from the wild mountains of Asturias. The beans are flavoured with all the local specialities like lacón, which is the cured front leg of a pig and oak-smoked fresh sausages.


Salt pork or cured beef make good substitutes. Cured sausages also go in, and give an incredible richness to the flat, white, fava beans that constitute the base of the Fabada.

Serves 6
Difficulty: intermediate
Preparation time: 3 hours
Ingredients
1 lb 10 oz dried butter beans (or faves)
1 1/2 lb salt pork belly (or salt brisket or silverside)
1 1/2 lb smoked gammon knuckle or hock, skin slashed
6 black peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 pinch of powdered saffron
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb chorizos or smoked sausages
6 oz morcilla or black pudding
Preparation
Choose a stockpot that holds at least 10 pint (6 liter). Cover the beans, in a bowl, with plenty of boiling water. Put the salt meat (pork belly, brisket or silverside and gammon bone) into the pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then drain the meat and return to the stockpot.


Drain the beans then add to the pot with the pepper-corns, paprika and saffron and bay leaf. Add 4 pints (2.3 liter) water. Bring slowly to the boil, then simmer very gently on minimum heat for 2 hours. A big pot on a small burner is best, and better still with a heat diffuser (such as the ones used to prepare paella). Check occasionally that the beans are still covered, but do not stir (or they will break up).

Remove the ham bone and salt pork, to cool a little. Strip off the skin and fat, and take about 2 tablespoons of chopped fat for frying (instead, we recommend using olive oli). Sweat this in a frying pan. Fry the garlic lightly, then spoon it into the beans.

Fry the sliced sausages and morcilla or black pudding (discarding artificial casings). Stir into the pot with the pan fat.

Remove all the meat from the gammon bone. Chop it, and the salt pork or beef, and return to the casserole; simmer for a few minutes. Check the seasonings (there should be enough salt from the meat). This dish is distinctly spicy, so fresh green cabbage goes well.

http://www.foodandwine.com/images/sys/fw200405_072fabada.jpg

I made a huge batch of Butternutsquash and chili. I'd advise anybody to try making it; it's easy as fuck, and so, so nice.

Soup is definitely a staple.

Last night - Crockpot Beef Soup

1 lb. lean beef cut in bite size chunks
2-3 potatoes cut in bite size chunks
1 small onion, coarsely diced
2-3 cloves of garlic (or to taste) grated
1 large tomato coarsely diced
oregano
basil
rosemary
marjoram
bay leaf
salt
pepper
16 oz. good beef stock
2-3 cups of water

Toss all of this in the crockpot. Stir. Cover. Set crockpot for six hours. Serve with sourdough bread, saltines, biscuits - just about anything.