Soups: Part 6

There is a common and persistent belief that soup should be cooked for long periods of time to extract flavor from the ingredients. Although prolonged cooking does extract flavor, what is added to the soup is lost to the individual vegetables. Some vegetables change flavor as well as color when they are overcooked. And many flavors can be lost through evaporation.

A more logical approach than prolonged cooking is to simmer the soup just to doneness. Whether you hold it for service hot or cold, flavors will continue to blend and be released by the vegetables within. In the perfect vegetable soup you should be able to taste the individual flavors and at the same time the blended flavor of the soup as a whole.

Meat, rice, pasta, barley, and many other products can be added to vegetable soup. Many such ingredients are cooked separately and added to the soup at the end of the cooking process. One reason for doing this is to maintain the soup's clarity. Starchy foods such as cereals and pastas will cloud the liquid in which they are cooked without contributing flavor in the process.

7-3 MINESTRONE

Yield: 1 gallon = 16 8-oz portions

Major Flavor and Body = [3 lbs. vegetables {onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes}, diced; 4 oz cabbage/spinach, shredded; ½ LB white beans, cooked tender and drained; 4 oz spaghetti, cooked, drained]

Body = [¾ gal light stock]

Sachet-flavor builders = [1/4 bay leaf; ½ clove; 1 ½ garlic cloves, peeled; pinch rosemary; pinch thyme; 3-4 peppercorns]

Per Portion = [1/2 tsp. chopped parsley/cilantro; 1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese]

Basic ratio: 4 LB flavor ingredients / 3/4 gal stock

1. In stockpot, sweat first five vegetables with sachet in 1/8" olive oil until onion is translucent. Do not brown.

2. Add stock and cabbage. (If using spinach, add in Step 3.) Simmer until vegetables are al dente.

3. Add beans, spaghetti, and tomatoes. Heat to a simmer, then remove from fire.

4. Season *to taste.

5. Add parsley and cheese to each portion when served.

The minestrone soup in recipe 7-3 is a case in point: the spaghetti and beans are precooked and added at the end. This well-known Italian specialty is hearty soup thick with ingredients, yet it is still clear soup. The liquid has not been thickened and it is still translucent.

Consomme

Many clear soups use an enriched stock called consomme (con-sum-may) as the body liquid in preference to a simple stock. Consomme is also a clear soup in itself and a very important one. It has a rich color and a hearty flavor that give it top rank among clear soups.

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