In anticipation of the weather turning cooler, it's time to talk soup!
Really, I just made this thread to harvest ideas for the coming months, but hey, why not make this just a general soup thread?
To start, what is your favorite soup? Do you have a recipe for it?
I'm super into pho, and now that I work from home most of the week, I'm excited to just have a pot simmering all day! No particular recipe I follow for it, but I can find a few good ones that serve as a general guide for me when I do it.
how about a nice autumnal butternut squash soup with creme freche and fresh mint. We can also have wheat crackers with melted gorgonzola and jam. For dessert we can have toasted frosted s'more flavored poptarts with a frosty glass of milk.
I make a vegan variation with this adding in sweet potatoes, rosemary and coconut milk. Delicious and easy!
Tom Kha. I am burger so it's a colossal pain in the ass to actually get ahold of all the broth ingredients, so I just use premixed spice paste.
Also anything in the ballpark of chili con carne, use ground/diced meat/lentils/beans/no beans/in a bowl/on spaghetti idgaf just give me chili. I don't have a recipe, I just put stuff in until it smells like chili
my gf is like "I don't like soup" but then insists that "bisque isn't a soup" :fidel-wut:
Tell her that that is revisionist and reactionary :che-laugh:
Im heavily biased because I don't like creamy soups, but because of how thick it is all the particulate matter in bisque feels grainy by contrast. I am in the minority on this, but I believe that creamy foods should be relegated to the realm of desserts. Sauces are a free for all though.
I absolutely adore pho too but my broth is never quite as good as restaurants and it's like the most important part. I have nailed shoyu ramen broth tho and miso broth is fairly easy. I actually tried out the French method of roasting the bones in the oven first and it was solid for ramen but I think I prefer the boil only method.
My friend has it down. Buy a rotisserie chicken pull the meat and put the bones in a crockpot with star anise, cinnamon, and cardamom. Reuse the meat for the soup.
I essentially follow this recipe which was the best one I've tried. https://www.seriouseats.com/rich-and-creamy-tonkotsu-ramen-broth-from-scratch-recipe
Definitely need to wash the bones good. I also boil them for about 3-5 mins to really clean them and discard all the water and then start the full process.
Definitely use (dried) shitaki mushrooms, I actually noticed the difference compared using fresh supermarket stuff. Too much water in those.
Absolutely be diligent removing the scum that floats to the top every 30ish minutes. Usually takes a few hours or more for it to finally stop appearing. And at the very end do one last sweep. Don't stir the broth an hour before this so everything is separated properly.
Chicken feet work amazingly well, probably the best thing to use in terms of chicken bone. I remove the toe nails tho cause idk I just don't like the idea even if it is probably meaningless lol.
And for the tare I usually start the soak 2 days in advance, I actually like the stronger flavor. Some people boil all the stuff on the side if you didn't plan ahead, and I think that's fine but it's so easy to do if you plan ahead.
And serious eats has other types of ramen recipes. I actually love that site, and also follow Kenji on YouTube who has amazing POV cooking vids. He has never failed me. His lo mein recipe elevated my chow/lo mein cooks to another level.
If you have any questions of the process I can probably be more helpful. It's a lot work tbh for the entire process so I make a big batch of the stock and freeze in bags! Glass can break easily and it must always been chilled jn thr fridge for a day cause hot broth in a Mason jar in the freezer right away will probably explode! Lol learned the hard way on that one.
This broccoli cheese soup with whole milk instead of cream and veg broth is :ok:
Unfortunately, no :deeper-sadness:
I think it requires a lot of cook time and might not have a good veggie-friendly alternative
Got a crock pot? (I bet an insta pot would work, haven't got one to play around with.)
Sweet potato or Pumpkin soup is pretty dope. If you want to make it more filling, add beans + tomato paste (pre made pasta sauce works, use about two to three times the tomato past of a chili recipe and you should be good) and chili seasoning and you've got a tasty chili without needing a can or quart of tomatoes.
Cabbage is a wonder ingredient for broth-making.
I discovered this on accident sauteing it in salt water to make "quick kraut" for a sandwich a few months ago.
White bean soup with kale (and sweet potatoes). The secret ingredient is 2 T each smoked paprika and S&B curry powder sautéed with onion and garlic
French onion. The name brand is actually quite good, I always saute a half an onion and 5 or 6 sliced fresh mushrooms in olive oil. I never bother with the cheese or bread though.
I usually go with either french onion, white bean and kale, or split pea soup. But, when i was in tokyo, i went to a restaurant run by an old sumo wrestler and tried some chankonabe, and i've been chasing that recipe for years.
