Good Taste / December 2006
Soup's On
There is a soup for every season, every taste, every craving. Soup has been made from every vegetable and every meat, seasoned with every herb or spice, and served in every possible container. For centuries it has warmed the hearts and bellies of travelers, comforted the sick, nourished the poor, and sustained the hungry children and working, class of every nation. Soup is a time saver and a budget stretcher, nutritious food and good therapy. Appreciated and served by peasants and royalty alike, soup is a soul satisfying mainstay of life. As a first course, a main course or a last resort, from consommé to chowder, from gazpacho to gumbo, soup has honored the richest tables, delighted the most demanding palettes and provided life saving sustenance in the meanest of circumstances.
Before there was soup, there was broth, which people used to pour over a piece of bread in a bowl. That bread was known as sop, and from sop came the word soup. There is documentation that as early as 600 B.C., the Greeks sold soup as a fast food on the street, using peas, beans and lentils as main ingredients. Soup has been properly served in gourds, hollowed loaves of bread, tin cups, mugs, double and single handled cups and delicate china bowls.
There are multitudes of variations on the basic theme of soup, cold, hot, sweet, spicy, simple and complex: Traditionally, soups are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. The difference between stock, broth and consomme is minimal. Basically, they’re all made the same way, but broth is a pure essence that is considered a soup in its own right. Stock is a foundation for other dishes (including other soups), and consommé is the richest and thickest of the three. Stock and broth cooked down is considered consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and grain.
Soups are often transformed from ordinary to elegant with garnish. Soup garnishes serve a variety of purposes. They can add color, texture, and contrast. They can add piquancy or identify the soup, as with a scattering of julienned carrot or broccoli florets.
Garnishes can also create a design that is visually exquisite. Japanese broths are artfully enhanced by lines of chives and a single, paper thin mushroom silhouette to appreciate the powers of display. Splashes of avocado cream in a tomato soup or long chives tied in delicate bundles make an artful presentation.
Heavy and thick soups can take heavy garnishes, like slices of cucumber or tomato, thin onion rings sprinkled with herbs, toasted bread slices with melting cheese or vegetable cut outs.
Creamed and pureed soups require lighter garnishes, like sprinkles of fresh herbs, either chopped or floated gently as whole leaves. A gourmet treatment is to dip herb sprigs in cold water, then dip them lightly in powdered spices like paprika or tumeric. Refrigerated for a bit to dry, they look great floated in a soup or topping a dollop of sour cream.
Cream soups also look inviting topped with pureed vegetables of contrasting colors that are splashed or swirled in patterns, croutons that are plain, flavored or even cut out in shapes.
For clear broths and consommés, long strips of chives or finely shredded herbs placed or delicate peels or gratings of colorful vegetables are extremely appealing. Fried tortilla strips or Chinese noodles also add a interest.
However, generations of homemakers and cooks have found soup to be the most adaptable and forgiving of offerings. Whether the ingredients are elegant imports or whatever is on hand, few things in the human experience are a satisfying, as comforting or as welcome as a steaming serving of soup.
Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Soup
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 small cauliflower
4 cups chicken broth
4 ounces Blue cheese, crumbled
Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook until just soft. Break off cauliflower florets into small pieces, discarding stems. Add cauliflower and broth to the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is very soft. Allow to cool slightly. Pour small batches of mixture into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return to the pan. Whisk in the cheese over low flame until blended. Serve immediately. Serves 4
Italian Cabbage Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 quarts water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1/2 head cabbage, cored and coarsely chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, drained and diced
In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic; cook until onion is transparent, about 5 minutes.
Stir in water, bouillon, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then stir in cabbage. Simmer until cabbage wilts, about 10 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes. Return to a boil, then simmer 15 to 30 minutes, stirring often. Serves 8.
Savory Butternut Squash soup
6 tablespoons chopped onion
4 tablespoons margarine
6 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash
3 cups water
4 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through, but do not allow to boil. Serves 6. (Substitute 3-4 cups chicken broth for water and bouillon cubes if desired. Cream cheese may be reduced by half for reduced calories.)
Creamy Vegetable Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium butternut squash-peeled,
seeded, cubed
1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock
1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Melt butter in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
Beautiful Beet Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 medium beets, peeled and chopped
2 cups beef stock
1 pinch salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
Warm olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onions and garlic; cook until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in beets, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in stock, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; cover, and simmer until the beets are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly. In batches, add soup to a food processor, and pulse until liquefied. Return soup to saucepan, and gently heat through. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with a swirl of cream. Serves four.
Soup Bits
In 1897, the chemist nephew that Joseph Campbell had reluctantly hired invented condensed soup and introduced Campbell’s Tomato Soup to the world. Cream of Mushroom and Chicken Noodle were introduced in 1934. Combined, Americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year. The idea to use condensed soup in recipes originated in a cookbook published in 1916, but after WWII, Campbell’s home economists cooked up recipes like “Green Bean Casserole” that became classic American dishes.
A colonial printer in Williamsburg, Virginia, published the first cookbook in America in 1742, based based on the fifth edition of E. Smith’s The Compleat Housewife and included recipes for Soop Sante, Pease Soop, Craw Fish Soop, Brooth, Soop with Teel and Green Peas Soop.
The Cook’s Own Book, first published in 1832, included eighty-seven recipes for soups, consommes, and broths based on asparagus, beef, mutton, beet root, calf’s head, carrots, celery, crawfish, cress, cucumber, eel, giblets, gourds, game, hare, herbs, lobster, macaroni, ox-head, ox-heel, ox-tail, peas, pigeons, spinach, venison, vermicelli, and barley.
To correct for oversalting soup, add a peeled, thinly sliced raw potato to the broth and simmer for 10-15 minutes. It will soak up the salt. (Discard the potato before serving the soup.) Or, stir in 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar for each quart of liquid.
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