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Soups: Part 1

© Andrew A. Orr

NOTHING begins a meal better than a cup of steaming-hot soup. Soup teases and yet soothes the appetite. The tempting aroma of broth and herbs makes the diner look forward with relish to a pleasant experience.

Soup may also be a main course, or it maybe a pick-me-up between meals. In todays health-oriented society the coffee break has become a soup break for many people, and soup is a popular late-night snack. Soup-and-sandwich is a typical midday meal. Some people even like hot soup for breakfast.

What is soup? It is so familiar it is almost hard to define. Let us say that soup is a flavored, seasoned liquid, usually cooked, that is served as a dish in itself.

There are many, many different kinds of soup. To classify them according to flavor would be like measuring wealth in pennies ... we would spend a great deal of time counting. But if we look at soup textures, and if we examine the methods of achieving different textures, we find that most soups group themselves naturally into three categories: unthickened, naturally thickened, and starch-thickened soups.

We are going to look at the different categories of soup and the ways they are made, and you will see how to make many different soups from a few basic formulas. We will also consider some well-known specialty soups, as well as some soups that are served cold. Soup cookery will introduce you to many different cooking techniques. Once you learn to cook all kinds of soup you will have mastered the basics of many other dishes.

After reading these articles you should be able to understand and explain the structure of clear soups, naturally thickened soups, and cream soups. Prepare each class of soup to meet specified quality standards. Use purees, roux, beurre manie, and liaisons successfully to produce specific soup textures. Identify well-known specialty soups. Prepare cold soups. Choose appropriate soup ingredients. Hold and store soups to maintain quality and avoid bacterial growth.

CLEAR SOUPS

Most unthickened soups are translucent; that is, they allow light to pass through. Because of this quality, they are known as clear soups.

To make the simplest possible clear soup, you take a good stock and season it. This is the cup of bouillon for the coffee break. Bouillon is also at home on the hospital tray, where its simplicity and good taste help to spark the listless appetite.

The kinds of clear soups you find on the typical menu add a great variety of ingredients to good stocks to make a great variety of good clear soups. Let us look at several of the most popular ones.