Thursday, October 20, 2016

soup for the soul (any kind will do)

I sense a disturbance in the force. A tremendous category eight shakedown, actually. Have yourself a bowl of soup.

Feel free to leave your impressions of the final presidential debate in comments.

But first, a personal anecdote.

My dad was never any kind of cook at all. Never. For all his astounding abilities, he couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag. That doesn't mean that left on his own that he'd have died of starvation, no, it just means that he hadn't a clue what he was doing nor where to start.

He tried. And he tried largely too. He tried several times to make soup and failed miserably each time. He would see bags of root vegetables marked "for soup" and imagine that's all there is to it. He boiled the vegetables to softness and imagined that was all there was to it. He made the worst and most watery soup ever. Gallons of it at each time. It languished in the freezer for months. There was no way to fix it except by starting over.

Finally, at length, after leaving home and suffering his parsnip-water soup throughout my entire childhood I told him, "You start out with stock, either make it or buy it." And he asked me, "What is stock?"

What follows are photos of soup from one of my other sites. I queried "soup" and "broth" and "stew" and "miso." These are the results. The files were run through a photo duplicate cleaner application so there should be no duplications. There's a little over a hundred ideas for soup.

















































































































13 comments:

The Dude said...

When I was young we used to take our fancy meals in the dining room. My mother insisted on serving us from an antique soup tureen. We, of course, called it a soup latrine.

My last girl friend is an awesome cook - she used to make soup and stew and miso and all kinds of drinkable food.

I hate soup.

ricpic said...

Home is where they have to take you in when you have to go there;
Soup is what they serve you to encourage you to go elsewhere.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I make stock all the time in the slow cooker. If I get a Costco chicken, I de-bone it and throw the remaining carcass and juice into the slow cooker, cover with water, no salt and let it simmer on low for about a day and a half. Toward the end I throw aromatics in like celery, celeraic, fennel bulb, onions, shallots, star anaise, carrots, parsnips...what ever is around and what I am in the mood for. I don't cook the fresh veggies in from the start since I find the flavors get lost a bit (unlike the bone stock which gets better over time). I sometimes throw in an anchovy filet too, but that is purely optional.

Strain out the bones and veggies, the stock can be used right way, kept in the fridge for a week, or even frozen.

Obviously you can do the same with pork bones. And of course the other red meat (I would rather not discuss that).

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I use stock to boil potatoes, veggies, and cook pasta. I like soup when it is cold out. A bowl is great with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I liked scrolling through your soup porn pictures.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I love this time of year because making soups and stews just fills the house with wonderful aromas and warmth. Soup is a great thing to make because it is filling, inexpensive, stretches the leftovers, lasts.

I have a couple of zip lock baggies in my freezer to put in bones, left over bits of meat, chicken that aren't enough to do anything with. Keeping the different kinds of meat sortof separated. Another baggie for wilted celery, half of an onion and other bits of veggetables that are too sad to really cook with. I'll put a bunch of the frozen stuff in a big stew pot, not bothering to cut up anything or even remove bones from the chicken. Add spices, salt, peppercorns, maybe some flakes of red chilies. Whatever and let it simmer. Cool and then pour through a mesh strainer and put into quart bottles (left over juice bottles or something) and then freeze until I'm ready to make soup.

We just made cream of broccoli, chicken, cheesy soup a few days ago. So inexpensive and good. Dinner one night with biscuits. Lunch another day. And probably lunch again.


I wish I was able to take such luscious photos as Chip does!!!!

Trooper York said...

I make broccoli soup all the time. And of course Italian wedding cake soup which is my absolute favorite.

My Mom would make that every week when I was a kid all during the wedding. Everbody loves it.

Great soup porn buddy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It takes too long for the pictures to load on the phone but I bet the ramen 🍜 soup I suggest ed chip do is in there.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"a soup latrine."

This - is why I come here. hahahaha.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I buy soup on a box. It's not bad.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Soup is thrifty. Italian Wedding Soup: Make Soup Great Again.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Andy Warhol liked mock turtle soup from Campbells, which was made out of calve heads.

Monsters!

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

calves' heads