The Basics of Making Great Winter Warmer Soups
The Basics of Making Great Winter Warmer Soups
Nothing warms the body and soul in winter like a good, hearty, steaming bowl of soup. The secret to great soup is layering of flavours when you make your soup. Tasting it ever so often and adding seasoning as needed and building on the flavour profiles as your soup is slowly bubbling away.
Following these easy steps when making soup can bring out the best in your ingredients and let each shine individually, but also bring out the best characteristics of each.
Here are the Basics:
A Good Base
Making your own broth might sound daunting, but can be a very satisfying experience and give you the best basis to start your soup out from.
You can make double or triple for what you need for your soup and the freeze the rest for later use.
If you are using ready made broth, go for the best broth you can afford. Remember, the liquid is the bulk of what your soup consists of. If you are using wine as a base, make sure it is wine you will enjoy drinking too. Boil the wine for a few minutes, to smooth down the alcohol taste.
Sweeten the Aromatics
Before you add your stock to the pot, you’ll need to sweat off your aromatics in the pot. Make sure to cut your onions, carrots or celery the same size as to ensure even cooking.
Once your onions and base vegetables are cooked, you can add your spices. Fry it off for a couple of minutes being carefull not to burn your spices. This will release the oils and intensity of flavour in the spices.
Browning the Meat
If you are adding meat to your soup, brown the meat first on all sides to seal the meat and to add extra caramelised flavour.
First take out the aromatics and then brown the meat. Add the aromatics again and cook together for a few minutes.
Using a smoked meat, like Eisbein, can also add a lot of flavour to your soup.
If you are not using meat, you can add your chopped vegetables to the aromatics, so that the vegetables absorbs the flavours of the aromatics.
You can now add the stock to your soup and let it slowly simmer till all the veggies and meat are cooked and tender.
Texture
Sometimes soup are best left with most of the ingredients whole like a chicken and vegetable soup with clear broth where the steamed chicken breasts are sliced thickly and the vegetables are crunchy.
If you want a more hearty soup, you might want to blend half of the ingredients and leave the rest whole or maybe add noodles to give it an almost stew like consistency.
Smooth soups, enriched with cream or cheese will have a ultra smooth texture. It will all be blended together and sometimes even passed through a fine sieve to give it a velvety, glossy, smooth texture.
Contrast
You can give your soup a whole new dimension by adding contrasting texture, flavour or even temperature ingredients right at the end when you serve up your soup.
Adding a hand full of chopped parsley to a vegetable soup can just add that hint of freshness to enhance the rest of the elements.
A dollop of crème fraîche or sour cream on top of tomato or beet soup, is not only visually appealing, but also cuts the sweetness and adds some creamy decadence.
You can further enhance your soup with the toppings you add. Try experimenting with combining crunchy with smooth, smooth on chunky, bitter on sweet and salty on sweet.
Try out these soups for something a little bit different:
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 tbsp cilantro, rough chop
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 4 whole boneless and skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 5 cups chicken stock, unsalted
- 5 corn tortillas, thinly sliced
- 1 avocado, core removed, cubed
- ½ lime, juiced
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Serrano chilli, thinly sliced (Or any other type of mild chilli)
- ½ cup of canola oil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot to a medium heat. Add in the olive oil, letting it come to temperature, and add the onion, shallot, cumin, oregano, garlic, and half of the cilantro. Cook this for about 5 minutes, stirring along the way.
- Next, add in the crushed tomatoes, and half of the stock. Stir, then add this mixture to a blender.
- Be careful before you blend, and make sure you place a towel over the lid of the blender, applying a bit of pressure. When you add hot mixtures to a blender, pressure builds up and if you do not apply pressure and protect your hand from the heat, well, the top could pop and you would have a tomato mixture all over your kitchen.
- Blend until smooth. Heat up the pot medium heat, and pour the blended mixture into the pot. Add the remaining stock, and give a good stir. Toss in the sliced chicken, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer, cooking another 25 minutes.
- During this time, heat a skillet to medium heat and add in the canola oil. Once the oil is hot, but not smoking, add in a handful of the sliced corn tortilla, and cook until crisp, about 3 minutes or so. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper lined plate to allow any access oil to drain. Season with salt. Repeat with the remaining chips.
- Once the soup is done and the chicken cooked through, get ready for some fun. With a big ladle, add the soup to your bowl. Top with some shredded cheese, tortilla strips, avocado, fresh cilantro, and some of the serrano chiles. Squeeze a bit of lime juice over the top, and dig in.
Authentic Thai Tom Yam Soup
Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Total time: 30 mins | Serves: 10
Ingredients
- 4-10 crushed hot red chillies
- 1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms
- 1/2 Cup Sliced Galangal (Or Fresh Ginger)
- 1/2 cup sliced onion
- 1/2 cup sliced galangal
- 1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
- 6 kaffir lime leaves (Optional)
- 4 tsp. lime juice
- 4 tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. shrimp paste
- 1 litre of water
- 10 shrimps/prawns (take heads off and keep)
- 2 tbsp. of chopped spring onion
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 stems of fresh coriander
- 4 stems of fresh parsley
Instructions
- Put water in pot, heat until boiling
- Add lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste, shrimp heads and onion. Cook until fragrant.
- Add tomatoes, shrimp meat and mushrooms until cooked.
- Add fish sauce, salt, and sugar. Stir thoroughly.
- Add lime juice, spring onion, parsley, coriander and lime leaves.
- Stir through and serve immediately.
Recipe from: http://www.grouprecipes.com/49389/authentic-thai-tom-yam-soup.html