Welcome to Episode One of Soup: The Trilogy. Although there are no Hobbits, Dwarfs, Ents, and the like, there is and shall be a ton of good recipes and knowledge for future soup use. I would like it to be known, however, that if this Trilogy ever gets made into a movie, I want Liv Tyler in it somewhere. I mean, what the Hell, she got naked in Empire Records, right?
Also, this is a long one. You may want to read a bit and get back to it after while. Even better, read long enough to get one of the recipes, go try it, eat, then come back and read some more. Oh, and Vegetarians go scroll straight to the bottom as there is one Hell of a good recipe waiting there for you.
If Spring is the time that turns a young mans fancy to love then Fall is, without a doubt, the time when an older mans thoughts turn to soup. The cool weather, the falling leaves, the fact that its getting to cold to go outside and work and that you would rather sit inside and drink beer and hot toddies, get lazy, and end up not having the ambition to actually cook something.
I imagine the history of soup was someone either being short on food and having some left over stuff or just being lazy and chucking said stuff in a clay pot with some water, boil it up for a bit a there you have it. After a bit, I would guess that they learned about some herbs, tree barks, blood, whatever. To be honest, I do have a good idea of what early man ate (its kind of a hobby of mine) although I really don't know much about Soup Anthropology. However, could it be much more complicated than that? I mean, what is more simple than throwing a few things in a pot and letting them simmer for a bit......
Um....Yeah. Ask the Mrs., I don't do anything simple.
I began writing this section and got a good ways into it and then I realized: Unless I'm willing to sit here for a day just outlining the every different base, and I really am not, then I better make it simple. There are stocks and broths, both meat and vegetable, there are flour bases such as roux and bechemel, there are vegetable juice bases such a tomato for gazpacho, and so on. Each has its uses and qualities and, when they are sometimes combined, can result is some mind blowing flavors. For this episode, stocks and broths will do fine and what could be a better primer than a good, old fashioned Chicken Soup.
Chicken Soup
In an 18 qt stock pot, place the following:
1 really good farm raised organic chicken (the taste explains why)
2 white onions cut into large pieces
7-8 cloves of garlic
1 medium Bouquet Garni (traditional includes parsley, thyme, rosemary, and a bay leaf. I add a little dill.)
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
This next ingredient is optional but you will notice the difference when you use them:
6 chicken feet, cleaned with the claws removed (see below for the explanation).
2-4 Tbsp kosher or good quality sea salt
Pepper to taste
2 stalks woth of finely chopped celery
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
Noodles, Matzo Balls, Rice, whatever....
Wrap the Bouquet Garni in cheese cloth (which I prefer) or bind with string so that you're not chasing pieces of plants around later. Throw everything in the pot and cover with water by about an inch. Cover with a heavy lid and bring to a boil then reduce to a slow simmer. Let this go until the chicken of falling off the bone and is easily shredded. Remove the meat and return the bones for another hour or so. Uncover and boil down to a consistency/flavor that you like. You may now remove the Chicken Feet.
Important!!! After about 30 minutes or so, start skimming the Brown Clouds from the top. This is the excess blood and can add flavors but more important, if left in, it makes the broth cloudy. To me, there isn't much thats more appealing than a clear, golden chicken broth.
At this point, chop or shred the meat finely making sure to get all of the little bones and fragments out, add the celery and carrots and simmer for 20 minutes. Now you can add noodles, Matzo Balls (Marietta Diner in Marietta, GA makes the best Matzo Ball Soup and I mean EVER!), rice or what ever you like.
Ok, about the Chicken Feet. It is all over TV and in the food magazines about eating the leftovers of an animal as the ancients did and many rural cultures still do. Brains, Balls, Blood, and Bile are all the rage with Foodies now. The fact of the matter is a good, Jewish chicken soup has contained chicken feet for centuries, if not millenia. The feet contain alot of Calogen and Gelatin which makes for a much richer flavor and feeling when you eat it. If you make alot of Chicken Soup from scratch, you have to at least try this, and when you do, you will be happy.
This basic stock recipe is easily converted to beef, pork, lamb, whatever. In the case of Bovine, Ovine, and Porcine stocks, cut meat into cubes and brown so that you have more browned surface area, add some bones, replace the white wine with red, and go. Now the question is: How much work do you want to do?
Back Porch Harvest Soup
4 cups Beef Broth
2 cups Lamb Broth
1-2 pounds Chuck Roast, large diced
1/2 pound Leg of Lamb, small diced
1 large White Onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1-2 cups White Cap Mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
1/2 cup Dry Barley
3/4 cup cut green beans (fresh, of course)
3/4 cup Carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup diced Celery
3-4 Potatoes cut into large chunks
1 Tbsp tomato paste (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Get the broth up to a simmer and immediately add the mushrooms and let them simmer. Salt and pepper the meats and brown them over medium-high heat in olive oil. When brown, add the onions and garlic and suate all ofthem together for just a few minutes being careful not to burn the garlic. With all ingredients in the pan, deglaze with the Cabernet Sauvignon and let it reduce by half. Pour everything into the broth.
Add the barley and cook until about half finished. Add vegetables and potatoes. By the time the potatoes and veggies are done the barley will be as well. When I was growing up, The Old Man usually had tomatoes of some form in vegetable soup. Some don't care for it but if you do, this is the time to add the tomoto paste and stir it in well.
For those that don't do the whole meat thing, thats cool. You can get al kinds of happy with this vegetable stock:
Olive or Vegetable oil
2 large onions
10 cloves of garlic
4 stalks celery
4 carrots
1 Bouquet Garni
Salt and Pepper to taste
About 3-4 quarts of water
Chop vegetables to a medium small dice. In a large stock pot, add oil and cook vegetables over high heat for about ten minutes. Add Bouquet Grani (loose and unwrapped for this recipe) salt and pepper and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a slow simmer. After about an hour turn off heat and let in cool over 30 minutes or so. Strain and throw the veggies out. Bada Bing-Bada Boom...Vegetable Stock.
Now...What to do with it...?
Morrocan Pumpkin Soup
1 cups Chickpeas, cooked
3 tablespoons Olive or Vegetable oil
2 Leeks (white and light green part only), chopped
4 cups Vegetable Stock
4 cups Pumpkin Puree
1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Allspice
2 teaspoons Salt
Dash of Hot Sauce
ground pepper to taste
Saute leeks in oil until translucent, add to stock. Add pumpkin, spices, hot sauce and puree with immersion blender to a very smooth consistency. Add chick peas, salt, and pepper let the chick peas come to temperature and enjoy. For an added bit of taste, add a dollop of heavy plain yogurt.
Without a doubt, some of my favorite winter soups are variations of squash or pumpkin soups. Even more so since they are very simple and quick to prepare.
Whew! Well, there it is. One heck of a long post and the first installment of Soup: The Trilogy. Next week I will be writing about my favoite soups that come from a Roux base. They are mainly chowders but you will be very happy with what you read.
I will give you an advance on Episode Three: Gumbo. There are so many versions of everyones favorite gumbo recipe that no one is the definative. However, I will take you back to the beginnings of my Gumbo Journey that, I am glad to say, has no end. If I knew I had tried every version of Gumbo the World would be a much sadder place to be.
Enjoy!
Rob
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