NationStates Jolt Archive

I think soup is the most nearly perfect food created (homemade, not that godawful oversalted canned/dried crap that haunts grocery store shelves and leaves a tinny, cardboardish aftertaste). Think about it. You take water and, essentially, add stuff to it until it miraculously changes into something greater than the sum of it's parts. It's versatile, flavorful, easy to make and nourishing. Give me your soup recipes (not including the ones that start "open a can of Campbell's..."). I'll start off with the soup I made for my dinner tonight.

ASD's Beef Soup for One

1/4 to 1/3 pound of beef - steak, stewing beef, what have you.
1/2 onion coursely chopped.
1-2 small potatoes.
1 medium zucchini (or any other summer squash).
1 cup beef stock.
1 cup water.
1 can diced tomatoes.
1/4 cup rice.
salt, pepper, Italian herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram), garlic all to taste.
@ 1 tbsp butter or oil.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Cube the beef and add it to the saucepan, stirring occasionally as it browns. Add the onion and sweat it a bit (if you're using fresh garlic, add it here). Add the stock. Cube the potatoes and zucchini and add them to the mixture. Bring to a simmer and add the tomatoes, water and seasonings (if you're using garlic powder or salt, add it here)(go light on the seasonings - it's easier to add them later than to take them out). When the mixture comes to a boil, add the rice. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. Gives you two moderate servings for dinner plus some to reheat the next day. Serve with buttered French or Italian bread.

NOoooo.

Soup is the most vile and unwholesome repast ever contrived thou paunchy toad-spotted giglet!

Give good SOLID food - you know the type that requires teeth to eat.

Is there a question here? Or are we really going Martha Stewart in a Political Science forum?

Is there a question here?

Yes - Why would anyone ever create a thread in praise of soup?

Is there a question here? Or are we really going Martha Stewart in a Political Science forum?

This isn't a "political science" forum. This is General, everything and anything.


And soup is awesome on a cold day. I like Clam Chowder, Broccolli Cheese, and (something I rarely have) lobster bisque. Love lobster bisque.

My homemade chicken tortilla soup is insanely yummy, especially when it's cold out.

I'm not going to hunt down my exact recipe at the moment, but an approximation would go something like this:

Put whole chicken in a pot of water. Cook for a couple of hours.

Remove now probably mostly disintegrated chicken from heat. Attempt to pull out bones without scalding yourself. Return chicken to heat.

Throw in a bunch of tomatoes, corn, black beans, peppers, onion, cilantro, garlic, and assorted herbs 'n' spices.

Cover and simmer until dinnertime (ideally, several hours).

Top with homemade tortilla strips, guacamole or diced avocado, big heaping handfuls of cheese, or whatever other goodies appeal to you.

OMNOMNOM. :)

My homemade chicken tortilla soup is insanely yummy, especially when it's cold out.

I'm not going to hunt down my exact recipe at the moment, but an approximation would go something like this:

Put whole chicken in a pot of water. Cook for a couple of hours.

Remove now probably mostly disintegrated chicken from heat. Attempt to pull out bones without scalding yourself. Return chicken to heat.

Throw in a bunch of tomatoes, corn, black beans, peppers, onion, cilantro, garlic, and assorted herbs 'n' spices.

Cover and simmer until dinnertime (ideally, several hours).

Top with homemade tortilla strips, guacamole or diced avocado, big heaping handfuls of cheese, or whatever other goodies appeal to you.

OMNOMNOM. :)

*drools*:hail:

Is there a question here? Or are we really going Martha Stewart in a Political Science forum?

Dear God, anything but politics or "Israel y/n?" threads...

That being said, I haven't really tried too many soups beside cabbage soup (I usually add beef mince and rice in there). It's tasty, cheap and for sure healthier than those microwave foods...

I love making soups! I don't really have specific recipes for most of them though, I make them up as I go along and they often involve veggies that I think are very close to going off.

(unnamed lentil and barley based soup)

Dried red lentils
Dried pearl barley (I think it's pearl barley, it's small and white)
olive oil
one avocado
one small onion
3-5 cloves of garlic (depending how much you like garlic)
half a bell pepper (any colour)
half a can tomato paste
cumin (to taste)
2-3 bay leaves
cayenne (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Wash lentils and barley (rinse them in water until the water is clear), put on the stove, allow to rehydrate (turn up the heat and let them boil). Skim foam off the beans as they rehydrate and cook (it will keep you from being gassy later). When much of the foam is gone (i.e. stops coming back) add some olive oil and salt to the water (allows water to get hotter, cooks and rehydrates beans faster).
Mince the garlic. Add to pot with the bay leaves.
Chop the onions and green peppers.
Prepare a frying pan (heat it up until water sizzles on it when splashed). Add some olive oil to frying pan. Add onions to frying pan.
When onions are almost clear, add green peppers to frying pan.
When onions are clear and green peppers are soft-ish, stop cooking them and set them aside.
Continue to cook beans until most of the water has been absorbed and beans are soft (adding more water may be necessary, take a lentil or piece of barley out and eat it to see if it's soft... it should only take ~15mins). Once this point has been reached, add tomato paste and avocado (avocado can be chopped, but it doesn't really have to be, it'll be soft enough to be mushed if you're using a ripe avocado). Stir.
Add onions and green peppers.
Add remaining seasonings.
Remove bay leaves.

Voila. You should have a relatively thick paste of deliciousness.


Many of my soups follow the same sort of formula, a couple types of beans, onions, garlic, spices and whatever veggies I have (this one's just particularly good because it involves avocados). Sometimes I'll throw in some pasta and tomato juice too (the latter usually if I want a thinner soup) and occasionally I'll make soup using veggie broth as a base.

Oh, and then there are the times I make miso soup, but that's a little more prescribed.

My homemade chicken tortilla soup is insanely yummy, especially when it's cold out.

I'm not going to hunt down my exact recipe at the moment, but an approximation would go something like this:

Put whole chicken in a pot of water. Cook for a couple of hours.

Remove now probably mostly disintegrated chicken from heat. Attempt to pull out bones without scalding yourself. Return chicken to heat.

Throw in a bunch of tomatoes, corn, black beans, peppers, onion, cilantro, garlic, and assorted herbs 'n' spices.

Cover and simmer until dinnertime (ideally, several hours).

Top with homemade tortilla strips, guacamole or diced avocado, big heaping handfuls of cheese, or whatever other goodies appeal to you.

OMNOMNOM. :)

I may have to bastardize a vegetarian version of that... which will probably just involve using vegetable broth and adding more veggies. It sounds yummy.

Tomato soup with Tobasco sauce and grilled cheese sandwiches for dunking. This is the pinnacle of culinary triumph.

A friend* of my dad's, who currently has a stoma, a bag, and a lust for solid food (just was allowed to eat it), said that she could live on fruit smoothies alone if she never could eat solid food again. And I agreed.

I was wrong. I must also add clam chowder and beef stew to this mix. :D

I don't really like soup because consuming hot liquids makes me feel like shit, but I do love NE clam chowdah and French onion soup.

Vegetarian Potato-kale soup

Dice a bunch of potatoes (quantity depends on the variety that's available). Boil the potatoes. Wash, chop, and steam 1 bunch of kale. While potatoes are coming to a boil and kale is steaming, get a bunch of veggies you want to add. Canned corn, beans, carrots, etc. or whatever's in the freezer. It's best of you have garden fresh stuff, of course.

When potatoes boil, add veggies & kale. Simmer, season to taste, and serve. Simmer it down to ma stew consistency, or serve as soup.

Sorry, I don't have measured quantities for the ingredients. I cook by instinct. Or was it "in stink"? Never mind.

variations: If you're using canned veggies, open the cans first, strain, set the veggies aside and use the water from the cans to boil the taters. Might help keep some of the nutrients in the soup.

Add Lord Tothe's Secret Ingredient: diced ham. Not the best idea if you have vegan, jewish, or moslem friends, though.

I think soup is the most nearly perfect food created (homemade, not that godawful oversalted canned/dried crap that haunts grocery store shelves and leaves a tinny, cardboardish aftertaste). Think about it. You take water and, essentially, add stuff to it until it miraculously changes into something greater than the sum of it's parts. It's versatile, flavorful, easy to make and nourishing. Give me your soup recipes (not including the ones that start "open a can of Campbell's..."). I'll start off with the soup I made for my dinner tonight.

ASD's Beef Soup for One

1/4 to 1/3 pound of beef - steak, stewing beef, what have you.
1/2 onion coursely chopped.
1-2 small potatoes.
1 medium zucchini (or any other summer squash).
1 cup beef stock.
1 cup water.
1 can diced tomatoes.
1/4 cup rice.
salt, pepper, Italian herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram), garlic all to taste.
@ 1 tbsp butter or oil.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Cube the beef and add it to the saucepan, stirring occasionally as it browns. Add the onion and sweat it a bit (if you're using fresh garlic, add it here). Add the stock. Cube the potatoes and zucchini and add them to the mixture. Bring to a simmer and add the tomatoes, water and seasonings (if you're using garlic powder or salt, add it here)(go light on the seasonings - it's easier to add them later than to take them out). When the mixture comes to a boil, add the rice. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. Gives you two moderate servings for dinner plus some to reheat the next day. Serve with buttered French or Italian bread.

Of course it's the perfect food. For thousands of years, since people first invented pots, soup is what food was. It's only been the last couple of generations in which people regularly fried or roasted their food. Those are methods of cooking that are very wasteful. Frying or roasting causes most of the nutrition to either burn off or stick to the pan and get washed away later.

If you cook a lump of meat in a soup the nutrition goes into the soup and you still eat it.

I've previously written about the economy of soup here. Start off with ingredients that would cook enough food for maybe two meals in the frying pan, and it will last a week if you use them to make soup.

I once had a recipie for a fruit salad soup (Weird I know...),

But unfortunatly it is no longer with me.

When my fridge gets to this state (read: no food, oh no!), I tend to make egg-and-onion soup, which I hate just enough to encourage me to go grocery shopping after dinner.

Otherwise, I love making potato soup, but it takes upwards of three hours. Bacon-and-tomato soup is good and quick .... you'd be surprised how many soups you can make in under half an hour that actually don't taste that bad.

I like onion soup despite its bad reputation. Melt some butter in a saucepan. Slice as finely as possible a couple of large spanish onions and add them to the pan. Stir them around a bit then put the lid on the pan and leave them on a low heat - we are not trying to fry the onions but sweat them in their own juices. go and listen to a cd. Come back and see if the onions are brown - you want a sticky slightly caramalised mush. Add a little flour and let it cook through then pour in a small glass of red wine and scrape all the tasty burnt bits free from the bottom of the pan. Add a load of good beef stock and simmer until it has thickened up a little.

I lived in Boston for four years without ever tasting a clam chowder that I liked, so I naturally concluded that I dislike chowder.

Then, a couple weeks back, I had a lobster chowder that rocked my freaking socks. I tasted some of it (a companion had ordered it), and promptly ordered my own bowl.

Holy crap yum.

I also am extremely partial to wild rice soup.

Oh, and the King of Soup is clearly Beer-Cheese Soup.

And one more thing, from Penny Arcade (which, if you don't read it, you should):

Long story short, I'm getting my chicken soup on, it's Sunday afternoon, and Gabe's reading some Preacher in the Den, which is also the living room, the bathroom, and the foyer. I am interacting with pasta dough in what I think is a stern way, when I hear him say that he might like the soup better if it were, in fact, carrot cake. It hits us, hits us both, simultaneously, like a semi made out of lightning which is also a professional boxer. Carrot Cake Soup. You cube the carrot cake, some pieces have frosting and some don't, and you put a handful of these chunks into a bowl full of milk. So let's go do it. We'll do it later this week, he says. But I know that's the same as not doing it. Why not now, I say? I know a store where we can get all the stuff. You can just buy it, the way you can buy stuff in the household cleaners section and make a bomb big enough to kill God. The stuff is just lying around there and nobody's doing anything with it. It's not a crime to buy them separately, and what we do at home isn't any of their fucking business.

I think someone might have been following us as we pulled into the parking lot, we walked toward the grocery store and tried to keep the conversation natural. We certainly didn't discuss carrot cake or the soup one might make by cutting it into cubes and swimming islands of it in cold milk, pleasure islands, like you'd see in a magazine. At the bakery counter, a woman asks if she can help me, and I'm so nervous that as I'm pointing to the carrot cake behind the glass, my finger starts to tap in Morse Code that reads:

I AM ABOUT TO COMMIT A CRIME AGAINST GOD AND MAN STOP

And where is Gabe with that Goddamn milk? There he is, in the self-checkout. Idiot. There's cameras all over that thing, it's like a Goddamn surveillance tree. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. A red light flashes on, and off in my mind. At another checkstand, I pay with untraceable cash, assuring the woman that I will eat the cake by myself, without assistance from cows. I smirk. This woman has no idea that she's just sold me the trigger to a flavor gun. Carrot Cake Soup is like the taste of watching girls make out. It has an extraordinary power that oscillates between gentle and overwhelming, between light and dark, between pleasure and more pleasure. When it was over, I realized that I was panting. I was in possession of carnal knowledge. And I knew that, somehow, every taste beyond this point was in the service of the one that still lingered, waited, to remind me that nature has laws, and those that break them are criminals, and though they roam free enough the knowing will hold them, and keep them, until the last.

(CW)TB out.

I am not sure but I think he might be a genius. Don’t tell him I said that, I don’t need him going all Megatokyo on me and kicking my ass out. This comic is my gravy train and as long as he thinks I’m the star I can ride it from hell to breakfast.

NOoooo.

Soup is the most vile and unwholesome repast ever contrived thou paunchy toad-spotted giglet!

Give good SOLID food - you know the type that requires teeth to eat.

My papa's fish chowder is semi-solid. It's basically chopped haddock, chopped onion, chopped potato, and evaporated milk(don't forget the butter!), all cooked in a big pot. I like it with lots of crackers on top, so my papa calls my plate "cracker soup". I kinda forgot the order it's put in, though.

Oh, and the King of Soup is clearly Beer-Cheese Soup.

That sounds like it is going to taste really bad. I am assuming it really does contain both beer and cheese - what else is in it? Where does it come from?

That sounds like it is going to taste really bad. I am assuming it really does contain both beer and cheese - what else is in it? Where does it come from?
Usually it's made with cheddar, beer, a bit of flour (for thickening), chicken stock, a bit of milk and/or butter, and spices (I usually use dry mustard, paprika, and cayenne).

You put popcorn on top and it is joy in a bowl.

Haven't the least idea where it's from, but I grew up in Minnesota and we could find it at the grocery store, at restaurants, and at the State Fair.

You put popcorn on top and it is joy in a bowl.


...I think I will give that particular joy a wide berth.

Yes - Why would anyone ever create a thread in praise of soup?

Because without knowing how to make a good soup you cannot know how to make a good broth, and without a good broth you can't:

1.cook risotto alla milanese
2.cook agnolotti properly (agnolotti are a kind of tortellini)
3.stew beef

Also nothing is better than a bowl of hot soup when you come back home after a cold damp day out.

My homemade chicken tortilla soup is insanely yummy, especially when it's cold out.

I'm not going to hunt down my exact recipe at the moment, but an approximation would go something like this:

Put whole chicken in a pot of water. Cook for a couple of hours.

Remove now probably mostly disintegrated chicken from heat. Attempt to pull out bones without scalding yourself. Return chicken to heat.

Throw in a bunch of tomatoes, corn, black beans, peppers, onion, cilantro, garlic, and assorted herbs 'n' spices.

Cover and simmer until dinnertime (ideally, several hours).

Top with homemade tortilla strips, guacamole or diced avocado, big heaping handfuls of cheese, or whatever other goodies appeal to you.

OMNOMNOM. :)

I'll have to change a couple things--for instance, I can't exactly use a whole chicken--but I'm definitely going to try this recipe.

soup is my staff of life. at its base noodles and bullion. other grain products (other then pasta in some form) are mearly fillers (such as breads and cerials) and substitue foods.

the essence of life itself is contained and transmitted in and by a good broth.

to such a liquid ambrosia is added such varital supliments as to never dull a sophisticated palatte.

and of the latter, almost any form will do. flesh in it's diversity of forms, and even for those who shun and abhore the flesh of once living creatures, there reamain a myriad of diverse options.

even several varities of fungi in their mature forms.

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

NOoooo.

Soup is the most vile and unwholesome repast ever contrived thou paunchy toad-spotted giglet!

Give good SOLID food - you know the type that requires teeth to eat.

Yes finally someone who i can agree with !

What you people naively call soup, I call soup d'etat! That's right, this revolutionary meal choice has a habit of overthrowing governments with its watery, soft, insidiously comforting when you're sick food textures. Ever notice how every single society on Earth has its own form of soup, and also at some point violent political change? That's no coincidence. Stay away from this kind of food, gringo. You are not wanted here.

What you people naively call soup, I call soup d'etat! That's right, this revolutionary meal choice has a habit of overthrowing governments with its watery, soft, insidiously comforting when you're sick food textures. Ever notice how every single society on Earth has its own form of soup, and also at some point violent political change? That's no coincidence. Stay away from this kind of food, gringo. You are not wanted here.

No soup for you!

Just had one of these real recently, neh?

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=550374

NOoooo.

Soup is the most vile and unwholesome repast ever contrived thou paunchy toad-spotted giglet!

Give good SOLID food - you know the type that requires teeth to eat.

don't the chewey bits count? i suspect this prejudice stems from an unfamiliarity with other then the overcooked, often precooked variety, who'se flavorings and texturing resault more from economic decisions then artistic ones.

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

I love soup.

the perfect food for all occasions.

Not feeling well? soup is easy to swallow, easy to digest, can calm the upset stomach...

cold day? soup can warm you up as well, if not better than, a cup of hot cocoa.

tired yet hungry? soup is easy to prepare (even if you refuse to used the canned stuff.)

for all my favorite soups, I still love the simplicity and flavor of Miso Soup (http://japanesefood.about.com/od/misosoup/r/misosouptofu.htm).

And soup is awesome on a cold day. I like Clam Chowder, Broccolli Cheese, and (something I rarely have) lobster bisque. Love lobster bisque.

PTSD time! i was in one of my fav restaurants last year and ordered the lobster bisque only to have it come with FAKE LOBSTER.

turns out the place had been sold and the new owner thought he'd cut a few corners.

i wont go back.

Asturian Bean and Sausage Pot (I ADORE THIS SOUP!!)

Ingredients:
1 lb 10 oz dried butter beans (or fabes)
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.

I disagree and go with bread being the best

I disagree and go with bread being the best

The food of the nomads! Yum!

Because without knowing how to make a good soup you cannot know how to make a good broth, and without a good broth you can't:

1.cook risotto alla milanese
2.cook agnolotti properly (agnolotti are a kind of tortellini)
3.stew beef

Also nothing is better than a bowl of hot soup when you come back home after a cold damp day out.

Oh no - you can make an excellent stock without getting anywhere near to producing a plate of obnoxious liquid with unidentifiable floating mushy objects.

I have no problem with stock as it is a partial product that is then used to produce interesting and healthy food.

don't the chewey bits count? i suspect this prejudice stems from an unfamiliarity with other then the overcooked, often precooked variety, who'se flavorings and texturing resault more from economic decisions then artistic ones.

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

Hardly - I have suffered all my life with people trying to persuade me to like their 'wonderful homemade broth' or 'marvelous cream of XXXX' that they have just finished making - and these are people that are more than just competent in the kitchen. So much so that I keep on thinking - well I'll give it a try - after all X or Y can cook.
It just never works for me - soup is, in all of its forms, for me, the invention of the devil.

Oh no - you can make an excellent stock without getting anywhere near to producing a plate of obnoxious liquid with unidentifiable floating mushy objects.

I use to filter broth.

Chinese tomato soup, that stuff is just awesome. Wouldn't mind eating a bowl of that stuff right here, right now! I guess I should order it next time I go to a Chinese restaurant, eh?

Think about it. You take water and, essentially, add stuff to it until it miraculously changes into something greater than the sum of it's parts.

That seems to be the truth about all food. Except when I cook it. I openly admit to being one of the worst cooks in the universe... like... Vogon Poetry bad.

My wife can take mere 'ingredients', and turn it into food of deliciousness.

I take ingredients, and make... hot ingredients.

I disagree and go with bread being the best

Taters. No contest, taters is best. And you can make soup out of them, if you really want to.