It’s split pea or ham and potato for me.

In my mind, soup is just a technique that’s really about the stock. This is just me suggesting that you all should adopt traditional French cooking technique.

For me, it’s saving old chicken scraps and certain veggies and then cooking them until they are mush in water. Grocery store rotisserie chicken skin, bones, and juice; carrots, onions, celery, garlic. Anything getting past it’s prime. No brassicas though. I’ll throw a t bone in there, but while really good beef broth is amazing, good beef bones cost as much as real beef.

Clam juice or shrimp/crab/lobster shells sauteed in butter with water (or the aforementioned stock…) Is also awesome.

Once you’ve got that, just put anything in it. That’s good soup.

Make sure that you put the correct amount of salt in it. If there’s no salt, stock tastes terrible.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago
    "Slavic soup" - a potato cream with bits of sausage and/or meat

    Usage of soy sauce and the name hint me that this is a local (Paraná) adaptation of some Polish soup brought with the immigrants. Lovage and chives are my own take on it. 2 servings.

    Sour cream can be made at home by mixing a cup of 20% fat milk cream with 1 Tbsp of yoghurt, and leaving it to ferment for ~12h at room temp. You can also use unsoured cream “as is”, if you want - it’s up to you.

    • 500g potatoes, peeled, diced - preferably creamier varieties
    • 1 cup of beef broth
    • [OPTIONAL] A small piece of lovage leaf
    • some veg oil
    • 100g of some random meat. Softer beef cuts, bacon, Krakow sausages, salami, or… really, whatever you like. Cut it into thin strips.
    • half onion, diced
    • 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
    • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
    • 2 Tbsp ketchup; don’t sub it with tomato paste
    • Salt and black pepper to taste
    • 100g sour cream or 20% fat milk cream.
    • [OPTIONAL] chives, for garnish
    1. Cook the potatoes and [OPTIONAL] the lovage in the beef broth until the potatoes are really soft.
    2. In another pot, while the potatoes are cooking, use the veg oil to cook the meat of your choice. The actual step depends on the meat; for example if using salami you don’t need to do much, but if using beef you’ll likely want to brown it a bit.
    3. Add the diced half onion and the smoked paprika to the pot with the meat. Let it cook until the onion is soft. It takes a bit of time, use low fire and stir occasionally.
    4. At this rate the potatoes should be soft already. Discard the lovage, and blend the potatoes alongside the beef broth. Then add the blend over the meat and onion mix.
    5. Add the soy sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper. Let them dissolve, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, let it boil a bit.
    6. Turn off the fire and add the cream. Mix it well and, if using chives, sprinkle them over it.
    cock-a-leek - chicken with leeks, rice, and carrots

    I got this Scottish recipe from a site, tweaked it to my tastes, and here it is.

    If you don’t have a pressure cooker, just simmer the chicken and leek leaves for 1h20min instead on step 1.

    • 300g chicken, including bones (important) - thighs and legs work well for this
    • 2 leeks, including the green part, washed; cut the white part into 1cm thick slices
    • Salt and pepper to taste
    • 1 carrot, peeled, grated
    • 1/2 cup of long-grain rice, washed
    • parsley to taste
    1. Put the chicken and green part of the leeks in a pressure cooker, with enough water to cover them (half litre should be enough). Cook them together for 30min or so, or until enough to have the meat falling off the bones.
    2. Discard the green leaves and the bones, both did their job already. Shred the meat with a fork, and send it back to the pot.
    3. Add to the pot salt and pepper. Taste it, and use your judgment to know if you should reduce it or leave it as is. Add a bit more salt than you think that it needs, since you’re adding rice and vegs to it later.
    4. Add rice. Simmer the thing for 10min or so.
    5. Add grated carrot and the white part of the leeks. Keep simmering until the rice is soft.
    6. Garnish with parsley.

    Other soups that I’ll share as requested:

    • borscht/barszcz - mostly following Polish recipes
    • lazy lamen using fish, cabbage, and carrots
    • kabocha cream with chickpeas
    • agnolini or cappelletti in brodo (note: I use store-bought dough for this, but I can share the broth itself)