How to Make a Soup Without a Recipe
Find a pot large enough for the soup., Determine what ingredients you have on hand to decide what kind of soup you will make., Decide if you will use dry beans or grains., Make Your Stock., Finish your Stock., Start your soup: Add dry beans (soaked)...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Find a pot large enough for the soup.
A two quart (1.89 liter) pot is minimum, but 4-8 quarts (3.7 liters
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7.6 liters) would be best. -
Step 2: Determine what ingredients you have on hand to decide what kind of soup you will make.
Basic ingredients include meat, vegetables, grains, legumes, or fruit.
Other potential ingredients include spices, herbs, acid (like vinegar or lemon juice), and fat (like butter or cream).
Some basic soup styles include savory, sweet, or sour; hot or cold; heavy or light; cream or clear (consommé).
Divide your ingredients into those for the stock, and those for the finished soup. , Dry beans require pre-cooking, either by an over-night soak, or a 2 hour soak in water that is first brought to a boil, then turned off and covered.
You can speed things up by using canned beans.
Grains such as buckwheat or brown rice need up to an hour to cook (see the package for cooking time). , For the stock, start with water, and flavor it with vegetables, cooked or raw meat, fresh fish parts, canned stock or dry cubes, or even just plain onions.
After your stock is made, you'll have to add new ingredients to make the finished soup, so make sure you don't use everything in the stock. , After your stock has simmered for a while (half hour to an hour for vegetables only, 1+ hours for stock with meat); remove all of the stock ingredients and discard them.
Filter the stock through a cheesecloth or strainer, if necessary.
If you've used meat, and you have the time, cool the stock to separate any extra fat
- put the stock in the refrigerator and wait for the fat to rise to the top and solidify, then scoop off with a spoon. ,, For pure vegetable soups, add the vegetables at the beginning of boiling.
For meat soups, add the vegetables at least half an hour after beginning to boil the meats.
Wash, peel (if desired), and cut vegetables into uniform bite-sized pieces before adding them to the soup , Remove all meat bones.
You may cool the soup now and finish cooking later, or even on the next day.
If you do, skim off any hardened meat fat before re-heating it. , Soft foods such as pasta and risoni don't need a lot of cooking and will disintegrate if they're overcooked.
Leave them for the last few minutes of cooking. , (Warning:
Hot liquids are very unpredictable in blenders.
Be sure to start slowly or else the liquid may explode out the top and burn you!) Take small batches of the solid foods and whirl them with a bit of the stock.
Return it to the pot or a separate bowl temporarily.
Then return all the pureed soup to the pot and keep it warm. , Add up to a cup of milk, cream or half-and-half to the soup, and let it become hot.
Do not boil it. , -
Step 3: Decide if you will use dry beans or grains.
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Step 4: Make Your Stock.
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Step 5: Finish your Stock.
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Step 6: Start your soup: Add dry beans (soaked) and hard grains with the meats
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Step 7: or at the beginning of making a vegetable soup.
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Step 8: Add vegetables in the order of their hardness.
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Step 9: Cook at a simmer until the meat is very tender or until hard vegetables and grains are tender.
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Step 10: Add soft foods at the end.
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Step 11: If you want a pureed soup (namely
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Step 12: a soup without any lumps)
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Step 13: remove any meat bones and use a blender
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Step 14: hand puree tool
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Step 15: or food processor.
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Step 16: Add cream if you want a creamed soup.
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Step 17: Serve with any garnishes you want.
Detailed Guide
A two quart (1.89 liter) pot is minimum, but 4-8 quarts (3.7 liters
-
7.6 liters) would be best.
Basic ingredients include meat, vegetables, grains, legumes, or fruit.
Other potential ingredients include spices, herbs, acid (like vinegar or lemon juice), and fat (like butter or cream).
Some basic soup styles include savory, sweet, or sour; hot or cold; heavy or light; cream or clear (consommé).
Divide your ingredients into those for the stock, and those for the finished soup. , Dry beans require pre-cooking, either by an over-night soak, or a 2 hour soak in water that is first brought to a boil, then turned off and covered.
You can speed things up by using canned beans.
Grains such as buckwheat or brown rice need up to an hour to cook (see the package for cooking time). , For the stock, start with water, and flavor it with vegetables, cooked or raw meat, fresh fish parts, canned stock or dry cubes, or even just plain onions.
After your stock is made, you'll have to add new ingredients to make the finished soup, so make sure you don't use everything in the stock. , After your stock has simmered for a while (half hour to an hour for vegetables only, 1+ hours for stock with meat); remove all of the stock ingredients and discard them.
Filter the stock through a cheesecloth or strainer, if necessary.
If you've used meat, and you have the time, cool the stock to separate any extra fat
- put the stock in the refrigerator and wait for the fat to rise to the top and solidify, then scoop off with a spoon. ,, For pure vegetable soups, add the vegetables at the beginning of boiling.
For meat soups, add the vegetables at least half an hour after beginning to boil the meats.
Wash, peel (if desired), and cut vegetables into uniform bite-sized pieces before adding them to the soup , Remove all meat bones.
You may cool the soup now and finish cooking later, or even on the next day.
If you do, skim off any hardened meat fat before re-heating it. , Soft foods such as pasta and risoni don't need a lot of cooking and will disintegrate if they're overcooked.
Leave them for the last few minutes of cooking. , (Warning:
Hot liquids are very unpredictable in blenders.
Be sure to start slowly or else the liquid may explode out the top and burn you!) Take small batches of the solid foods and whirl them with a bit of the stock.
Return it to the pot or a separate bowl temporarily.
Then return all the pureed soup to the pot and keep it warm. , Add up to a cup of milk, cream or half-and-half to the soup, and let it become hot.
Do not boil it. ,
About the Author
Maria Gutierrez
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in crafts and beyond.
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