Should I delay adding barley when making vegetable barley soup?

Question

When adding barley to a soup (usually with some combination of vegetables), should I add the barley later than the rest of the ingredients?

Asked by clueless

Answer

It depends on how long the soup cooks for and whether you soak the barley or not. If the soup is going to cook for a couple of hours, you can just add unsoaked barley with everything else. Or you can soak the barley and add it towards the end of cooking.

If the soup is going to be cooked relatively quickly, you should soak the barley and add it with everything else. Soaked barley (soaked for a couple of hours) needs to be cooked for about 30 minutes.

It also depends on how soft you like the barley to be. Some people like it to near-disintegrate, some prefer it a little al dente.

Answered by ElendilTheTall

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Do leeks need to be softened?

Question

I'm making a potato leek soup and I'd like to just throw all the ingredients into a slow cooker and go about my business, pureeing the whole batch and adding cream later.

Does this sound reasonable or do I need to first "sweat" the leeks in butter as I would onions?

Asked by Rich Armstrong

Answer

When cooking in a slow cooker, you do not have to precook the leeks. I made a potato leek soup not too long ago that called for throwing everything in the pot and it came out great. The only thing I cooked before hand was the bacon, rendering out much of the fat and giving the nice golden brown and crispy bits to sprinkle on top.

You CAN precook anything to help reduce the cook time and I always sear meat, but unless you are going to caramelize the leeks, you will not notice any difference in flavor or texture.

As for the pureeing part, you want to be careful pureeing potatoes as they can turn into a nasty gluey mess. Just keep it to a minimum or use a food mill and you should be fine. I typically just use a potato masher and leave my soup a little on the chunky side.

Answered by FoodTasted

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Split Pea Soup, but peas aren't dissolving

Question

I'm making split pea soup (vegetarian, using the Moosewood Cookbook recipe). I've made this several times before, and I remember that at some point the peas dissolve, making a thick broth. I made sure to soak the peas overnight before cooking them. But the soup has been simmering for over an hour now (very low flame, partially covered, other veggies in the soup for the later 40 minutes) and they don't seem close to dissolving.

Did I do something wrong? How can I fix the soup? And how can I avoid this in the future?

Asked by Ziv

Answer

I make split pea soup (with a hambone) pretty regularly. I don't soak the peas. It takes more like 3 or 4 hours for the peas to dissolve. It's not a gradual process either - for ages and ages there are little peas floating in broth, and you can eat one and it's soft, but they don't lose their shape, and then the next time you stop by the stove, it's a uniform puree without having done anything. Just keep simmering, is my advice.

Answered by Kate Gregory

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Is kimchi a suitable addition to a noodle soup?

Question

I have just returned from having purchased a can of kimchi. I have no idea what the contents are, since they are written in Korean, but thought that mixing it into the broth at the last minute might increase the soup's flavour.

Is there a flaw in my reasoning?

Asked by Doug

Answer

Kimchi are not preferred to be added directly to soup. Usually you would fry the Kimchi (ideally in Sesame oil) to slightly transparent or having minor brown on the edges, before adding into the soup, and boil for . That is not only applicable to KimChi JiGae- but also other varieties of KimChi broth (e.g. hotpot, Kimchi ramen/noodles (BuDae JiGae) etc.)

Adding Kimchi directly to soup/broth and boil is more a Northern Chinese way of cooking (where Kimchi is not called kimchi but literally called "Spicy Pickled Cabbage").

Frying beforehand and adding directly to soup/water can taste very, very different.

Answered by KMC

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Fluffy matzo balls

Question

It's that time of year. The seasons are changing and I've got myself a cold, for which there is no better culinary cure than matzo ball soup.

I can make a pretty mean chicken stock, but my matzo balls leave something to be desired. The Manischewitz directions yield something to eat with a knife and fork. I've tried seltzer water, but it hardly seems to help, and I miss out on the goodness from the stock. How do I get my matzo balls to be light and fluffy?

Asked by Ray

Answer

Everyone gave thoughtful and helpful answers, but when I went to get to cooking this weekend, I discovered that the problem I've been experiencing was actually another issue altogether. My problem was undercooking, plain and simple. I did incorporate Dani and ChernoffDad's techniques, and I can't say that they didn't help. However, the samples I tasted partway through cooking were not unlike my typical results. It was after extended cooking that these guys really softened up to my liking.

Answered by Ray

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Never ending soup; is it actually safe?

Question

In the poor student or youth worker days it was popular to have never ending soup; a large pot on the stove that was topped up with new and leftover ingredients when available

Normally the pot was stored in the fridge overnight

Food items added were sometimes plate leftovers from fellow flat (share house) mates, whom would in turn be eating the soup too

Most days other ingredients would be fresh(ish) vegetables, beans, grains, and fresh meat products sourced from the local butcher as money allowed

Brussels sprouts where banned, and so were strong spices (you added those to your bowl before serving)

Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot

Fresh bread was sometimes baked in the oven while cracked bones were browning, but the oven was often an electrical and environmental death trap

The pot kept going till the summer holidays, and no one got food poisoning in my time, or from any student stories I have ever heard

This sort of activity is recorded in history as being a popular resource saving idea

Are there any real food safety implications with this method of cooking? And have any actual studies of this technique ever been published?

I still recommend this money saving idea to current students, not keen on bad practices being continued though

Asked by TFD

Answer

It takes quite a while for a pot of hot soup to cool down to 40°F in the fridge. Several hours, sometimes, depending on the shape of the pot and the volume of soup. If you're heating and re-chilling the same soup daily, it's going to spend a lot of time in the danger zone. From a safety perspective, you'd be much better off making a pot of soup every few days and then reheating just the portion that you're actually going to eat.

I still recommend this money saving idea to current students

Soup is a great food for stretching a dollar, but I don't see how it's any more expensive to make a fresh pot twice a week and it shouldn't take much time either. I understand that you were adding scraps each night, but you could as easily save those scraps for a day or two until you make the next pot of soup.

Answered by Caleb

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How much fresh lovage in soup?

Question

My friend just gave me two lovage leaves and I am planning on making chicken soup (from bouillon crystals) with it. My question is how much lovage should I put in? Also should I leave them whole, chop them or crush them....

Update: I was thinking about throwing it in the soup like I understand you would a bay leaf. How long should it be in the soup. What ratio lovage to broth amount. Should the leaves be whole, chopped, crushed..

Asked by Kyra

Answer

I would shred one or both leaves (depending on size) and garnish the soup right before eating it.

Answered by n/a

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What's the difference between gazpacho and normal soups?

Question

Gazpacho is (afaik) a tomato-based soup, eaten very cold. I was wondering if there is a difference between gazpacho and other soups, apart from the temperature eaten at.

Could you heat gazpacho and eat it like a normal soup? Could you chill a normal tomato-based soup and call it gazpacho? Are there ingredients that are mandatory when making gazpacho? Or things you certainly cannot add?

Asked by Mien

Answer

Gazpacho is possibly Spain's most famous chilled soup. The main difference aside form the temperature is that it's raw, meaning that the soup is not actually cooked it's just blended and chopped vegetables and occasionally bread. There is nothing inherently wrong with heating up gazpacho but it would lose its fresh texture and flavour which is why it's chilled and according to Wikipedia was popular with labourers who used it to:

"cool off during the summer and to use available ingredients such as fresh vegetables and stale bread"

The main reason you couldn't just chill a normal soup and call it gazpacho is because gazpacho is made up of by no means just tomato. It contains tomatoes, a bit of garlic, cucumber, occasionally bread, some vinegar for tang and a drizzle of olive oil at the end.

If you wanted to make it your own (after all you're the chef!) you could add some Tabasco, bell peppers, spring onions or croutons at the end, basically anything you might find in a salsa dip. Use your common sense for what not to add but even in Spain they have variations that are not at all like what I would think of as gazpacho: in La Mancha they use it like a stew and add game (usually rabbit) and even wild mushrooms!

Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration, if you want a recipe a quick search on Google gives a multitude of results.

Answered by Sebiddychef

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Replace the mouthfeel of consommé in vegetarian soup?

Question

In soups that traditionally include a consommé as the base, such as French Onion Soup, what are some ways to replace the mouthfeel of the gelatin-rich stock when converting the recipe to be vegetarian?

Background - I am quite happy with my vegetarian French Onion Soup recipe, using Vegemite to add umami, and homemade vegetable stock for a solid base, but the one aspect left somewhat unsatisfying is the "richness" or unique mouthfeel of the consommé. I know there won't be any perfect replacement, but I need some inspiration. Most discussions on gelatin substitution seem to focus on more obvious gelatin applications (jello-style desserts). I'm hoping that for soup mouthfeel there might be some other options I haven't considered.

Asked by Sam Ley

Answer

Agar...derived from seaweed. Used in McDonald's milk shakes because it's vegetarian and cheap, lab petri dishes and vegetarian cooking. Doesn't have a flavour. You can find it in health food stores but I think many grocery stores are carrying it these days. Heat it up in water like gelatin and when it cools you have jelly.

You could use Arrowroot to give a slight thickening for texture or even cornstarch but I'm thinking those won't give you quite what you're looking for though Arrowroot will be closer.

I think there is a Chia seed gelatin too but don't have any first hand experience with it. Chia seeds when soaked in water give off this thick gelatenous substance, very weird to see it happen. Ask about it at the Health food store too.

Here's a website for a few more substitution ideas.

http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/vegan-substitutions/

Good luck!

Answered by Chef Flambe

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Can I freeze soup in a pot?

Question

Can I freeze soup in a pot (I believe it's made of stainless steel)? Are there any health risks? Is there any risk of damage to the pot?

Asked by clueless

Answer

The possible risks I can think of are (1) the large thermal mass may mean that the soup cools off too slowly, leading to spoilage in the middle, and (2) freezer burn on the top of the soup, because there's no truly effective way to seal out air from a pot. In practice, (1) is unlikely unless you're talking about a 25-gallon pot or something, in which case it wouldn't fit in an ordinary freezer anyway. (2) on the other hand will be a problem, unless you're only freezing the soup for a short period.

The only risk to the pot is that it may not quite fit in the freezer comfortably, so as people take things out and put things in, they may shove the pot about and maybe break a handle or something.

Answered by Marti

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Why put a stone in the soup?

Question

I was surprised by the added stone in the soup of this question:

"Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot"

What would be the reason for this? For the minerals in the stone? As far as I know, minerals do not infuse water directly out of a stone.

Asked by BaffledCook

Answer

There's an old children's story about making Stone Soup. In it, a penniless begger offers to teach people how to make his favorite recipe: soup, made from a stone! He boils some water and drops a stone in, and while it's "cooking", keeps mentioning offhand things like "It'd go great with some carrots" or "Celery would be lovely in this". The townspeople rush off and get celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, and the like to add to the soup, until eventually, they've made proper soup in his pot along with the stone. So basically, the whole "stone soup" thing was a clever con game by which the begger can eat for free.

The stone adds nothing to the soup.

Answered by Yamikuronue

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Why heat soup in a blender?

Question

Several times lately I have seen people recommend a particular brand of (very expensive) high powered blender.

Each time one of the main selling points for them is that the blender is so powerful that you can heat pureed soup in it.

Why would a person want to do this? It seems less efficient, more expensive, and more difficult to clean than using the stove or microwave.

Answer

I think you're misunderstanding the claim slightly. You do not heat an already pureed soup, you puree and heat in one step. You can indeed make a hot soup from cold ingredients using certain high end blenders. The only one I've verified this with is the vita-mix. To do this, you put your ingredients in to the blender, turn it on, and let it run about 5 minutes. The friction from the blades heats the soup while chopping the ingredients. The soup will get piping hot.

Why would you do it? It's easy. It takes about 2 mins to get the soup really smooth, so it's 3 more minutes to get it hot. That's faster than you would be able to do with a stove, although maybe slower than a microwave. Is it more efficient? I don't know, but I doubt the difference in electrical efficiency is really sufficient to drive a choice one way or the other.

In terms of cleaning, you already need to clean the blender because you pureed the soup. There's no additional cleaning to do if you cook it there too, versus additional cleaning for stove or microwave. And the blender is easy to clean as it's one piece; you just add soap and water and turn it on for 30 seconds, then rinse.

Personally, I do not think this is "one of the main selling points". It's a neat trick, and it's useful. However, I think that it's more interesting as an indication of the blenders power. You can use these blenders to make exceptionally smooth soup, make peanut butter, properly crush ice for frozen drinks, etc. They do this much better than a 'normal' home blender, but just saying 'better' probably wouldn't sell a lot of these things at 4x the price, so they focus on something that the standard home blender most certainly cannot do.

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Fresh vs Frozen Broccoli for soup?

Question

Is there a substantial difference in using fresh vs frozen broccoli when making Broccoli Cheese Soup? And if I do make the substitution, should I thaw it first or put it in frozen?

Answer

If you use frozen you will not have the option of having a thick cheese soup with more crisp broccoli; i.e. if you were considering adding the broccoli toward the end after blanching it for a more toothsome floret, this would only be fruitful with fresh.

I am unsure about the blogspot link in Sebiddy's post, but my experience with frozen broccoli is that it gets the job done but not very well. As a point of logistics, using frozen without first thawing will net you a hearty release of water from the broccoli if you don't thaw first and may cause your mornay some heart-ache if timed poorly.

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Difference between soup and stew

Question

What are the technical differences between a soup and a stew.

Specifically, I've always had some confusion on the differentation of stew and soup. For the most part, you can tell the difference by visual cues but sometimes some soup or stew looks ambigously in between and i can't tell the difference. For example, wikipedia shows a picture of this as soup:

Yet it looks more like a stew to me. And then it shows this as a stew:

Yet that looks like a soup to me. So my main question is: What are the technical differences that determine whether it is a soup or a stew.

Answer

There really is no practical difference; the dictionary definition of a soup is:

a liquid food made by boiling or simmering meat, fish, or vegetables with various added ingredients.

Which also applies to any stew you can conceive of.

The technical, highly-nuanced difference is that of emphasis and intent. Stewing is a method of cooking the solids (specifically, a slow, moist-heat method). When you make a beef stew, you are stewing the beef, which says nothing about what you're stewing it in. On the other hand, when you make a chicken soup (or a chicken stock or broth which is the base of a chicken soup) then your objective is essentially to make chicken-flavoured liquid - to extract the flavour of the solids into the liquid. If some flavourful solids remain, then that is incidental as opposed to intentional.

In practice, some flavour extraction is going to happen with a stew as well, it just so happens that the principal aim is to cook the meat/veggies. A soup is more likely to contain raw or barely-cooked ingredients, and a stew is more likely to preserve the original flavour of the solids and/or liquids, but that's a very broad generalization and what it boils down to (ha ha) in practice seems to be largely dependent on the culture and the dish itself.

A stew is not simply a thick or chunky soup, despite the fact that a lot of people think of it that way. As above, that seems to be more common with stews, but it's not part of the definition, and the French have half a dozen categories for thickened soups that could easily be described as having the overall consistency of a "stew".

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Soup is too salty!

Question

I made a mistake with my lastest batch of chicken soup, and it's too salty to eat. Is there any way to save it?

Answer

Peter Martin at Chef Talk suggests adding sugar or cider vinegar. He also mentions the old potato trick but says it's not effective for him unless it's only slightly too salty.

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Can I use flour to make a carrot soup more thick?

Question

I made a carrot soup without the use of a blender as described in previous question link. Which was to chop the carrots and onions really small. The problem is that the result is quite watery.

In the recipe for goulash, I use flour to thicken the soup, in the frying stage. Can I do something similar here? Or will it ruin the taste. I was imagining throughing in some flour with the carrots and onions as they fry.

Answer

How much flavor the flour adds will depend largely on how long it fries with the veggies.

The longer it fries the nuttier it will taste- until it starts to burn of course. If it doesn't cook for long enough (it doesn't take long) it will taste raw which is not pleasant.

You should cook your veggies until they are done and then add your flour and cook just until it starts to smell nutty. I assume this is similar to what you do with your goulash.

Overall- I think that the flavor of even a fairly dark roux would work well with an onion and carrot soup. You could even use this to salvage your already watery soup by making a roux separately and wisking it in.

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Made a ginger carrot soup with coconut milk but accidentally made it too salty, how do i fix it?

Question

I made a ginger carrot soup with coconut milk but accidentally made it too salty, how do i fix it?

From some google searches - one said to put raw potatoes to absorb the salt. I am not sure if that will work for the soup as it is a thick carrot soup. Adding water would make it watery. Does anyone have any other methods that would work for me? I would like to keep the soup thick.

Thank You

Edit - the butternut squash worked for me!

Answer

Steam a head of cauliflower, puree it. Add it to the soup. You might also consider some squash or sweet potato puree.

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Carrot soup and avoiding the use of a blender?

Question

Most recipes for carrot soup I encounter require a final stage of blending/whizzing to get the creamy texture. Eg:

recipe1

recipe2

recipe3

Can the blender/whizzer be avoided? How must the recipes be modified in that case?

Answer

One way to modify the recipes (but you won't get the smooth texture of the original recipes) is to cut the onion and carrot a lot smaller than the original recipe ask for. You want to almost dice it. When you are frying the onion and carrot in the pan, do it for like 1-2 min rather than the whole 5 minutes. And finally you will need to cook it in the stock for much longer than the recipe asks. You want to bring the stock to a boil then let it simmer covered to allow the carrot to become really soft. Then use something with a big flat surface(a large wooden spoon or something similar) to help you mash the rest against the side of the stock pot. The results will come out a lot lumpier than the orginal recipes but some texture and "unblended" bits of carrot is actually pretty good in carrot soup.

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What can I do to add more flavor into my beef barley soup?

Question

This time around my beef barley soup is tasting a bit on the plain side. It has the right amount of saltiness but is lacking in the flavorful department. The ingredients used thus far have been:

Beef Stock, Water, Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Seasoned Pepper, Rosemary, Onions, Carrots, Barley, and Cubed Beef.

What can I do to help boost its flavor?

Answer

• If you use self-made beef stock, try boiling a bit longer, so that the flavour of the beef is a bit more concentrated.
• Boil your soup a bit longer.
• Use more beef stock and/or cubed beef.
• I don't know how much herbs you put in. Maybe a bit more pepper or rosemary can make a difference.

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What is the Purpose of Using Onions in (Almost) Every Soup Recipe?

Question

Almost every soup recipe seems to call for sauteed onions. For instance, I'm looking up recipes for squash soup, and every single one calls for onions -- but every soup recipe I can think of uses onions, so it's not just this type.

So what's the purpose of adding onion?

Answer

Sauteed onions can provide both caramel flavors (from the sugars in the onions) and Maillard reaction compounds, depending on how they are sauteed. Thus onions can supply a range of "umami" flavors for soup which otherwise you need to get through roasting animal bones and other tissue (e.g. brown veal stock). Of course, even beef stocks often add onion as well for extra flavor.

As an extreme example of this, I often prepare a vegetarian French Onion soup using a meat-free broth made entirely from onions, onion skins, and cheese rind. Blind tasters often fail to distinguish it from a store-bought beef stock.

You can get a lot of the same flavors from combinations of other browned vegetables, but onions neatly supply a perfect package of flavor compounds in one inexpensive, long-keeping root vegetable. Why use anything else?

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