The Joy of Soup

Cucumber and Pork Soup

Ah, early autumn. One day its hot, the next day its chilly. One cannot predict, can one? On the chilly days, the same thought hits you no matter where you are in the country - "This would be a good day for soup." By the time you select a recipe and gather the ingredients, the chill is gone and you are left alone with an assortment of meats and vegetables next to an empty pot.

Here is a recipe made to order for those vexing weather flucuations. It's from Marion Tracy's The Art of Making Great Soup (1967), listed in the "Great Beginnings" section. The soup is light but has a wide taste, if you know what I mean. The cucumbers surrender themselves quickly to the broth and create a sideways taste sensation. You know how take-out Hot and Sour Soup fills up the back of your mouth and Campbel's Chicken Noodle fills up the front? This soup goes sideways and spreads out to your cheeks. That is the best way I can explain it. If you don't know what I am talking about, make this soup and see for yourself.

CUCUMBER AND PORK SOUP
2 cucumbers
2 medium pork chops
4 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon msg

Peel the cucumbers in halves lengthwise. Remove the seeds and cut in thin slices, crosswise. Cut the bones and fat from the pork chops and slice the meat and slice the meat into strips about 1 inch by ¼ inch by ¼ inch. Heat the salt and the stock. Bring to a boil. Add the pork strips and cook for 8 minutes. Add the cucumbers and bring to a boil again. Add the msg the pork slices are thoroughly cooked after boiling in the broth for 8 minutes; the cucumbers about as soon as they are transparent which is just a minute or two. Serves 4.

One of the reasons I like this book is that an suggested menu accompanies each recipe. The menu for this on is:

Cucumber and Pork Soup
Polenta and Chicken Livers
Tossed Salad
Brown Betty

I guess that's how they did it in 1967. Care for more chicken livers?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UPDATE: Oh, for the good old days when you could make an uneducated statement and let it rest at that. No, nowadays one must do interent research and then retract, correct and explain. The sideways taste of this soup is properly referred to as umami. who knew? In my day, they taught us that there were four types of taste buds on your tongue. Now there appear to be five. When did this happen? Probably around the same time they stopped diagramming sentences and practicing the Palmer Method of handwriting. To hell in a handbasket, my friends, to hell in a handbasket.

3 Bad Soups

The Soup Lady had occasion to attend a luncheon at a Main Line (Philadelphia) restaurant yesterday, Basil Bistro & Bar. I'm pretty sure they have their own goat tied up in the back alley because every other menu item featured fresh goat cheese. I'm all for fresh goat cheese, but there is a limit. By page 3, you should give it a rest already.

Three people in our party ordered soup to start, and none of it went over too well. The first soup was a Manhattan Clam Chowder. It took only one spoonfull for the recipeint to exclaim "Salty!" That always makes me nervous - what are they trying to cover up in that stock pot? Strike 1.

The Soup Lady had the Lobster and Crab Bisque. The creamy base was properly pinkish and did have some flavor, but it arrived in its bowl at just above room temperature. It was not described as a cold soup so I have to conclude that it sat too long after being ladeled out. To add insult to the whole thing, there were a few bits of lobster and crab meat in the center of the bowl. Obviously, they were placed there before the soup itself was dished out because they made no pretense to being part of a blend. They were sized just right for a soup spoon to deliver without a struggle, but were way too big to be passed off as garnish. Strike 2.

The real clunker in the bunch had a featured place on the menu and it was called White Bean, Chicken and Escarole -Better Than Onion!- Soup. An individual crock was delivered to the table that looked for all the world like French Onion Soup - all cheesy melt over a lump of bread. What a bizarre combination of ideas it was - a thin chicken base, chunks of obviously left-over grilled chicken breast floating next to some carrot rounds and celery slices. A grand total of 7 beans were found beneath the abundant escarole but only after a concentrated search was conducted. More than half the soup was left in the bowl. Strike 3.

And so Basil's Bistro & Bar has been called OUT! as a reasonable place to order soup. The goat cheese wasn't bad, though.

Tuna Chowder

The Soup Lady has a can of Italian-style tuna fish packed in olive oil buring a hole into her pantry shelf and cannot rest until it is put to good use. Once again, we turn to The Art of Making Real Soups (Marion Tracy, 1967) for a good idea. The introduction to this recipe simply says "An easily assembled chowder for two."

Tuna Chowder
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 onion, peeled an diced
1 branch celery, diced
2 cups stock {or 1 cup water plus 1 cup milk}
1 can tuna, drained
1/4 cup hot heavy cream

Simmmer the vegetables in the stock or water and milk until half cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the tuna and simmer until the vegetables are cooked but still firm. Serve with 2 tablespoons of the hot cream in each bowl.
Serves 2

This soup looks bland but has a bossy attitude - I just hate to see it looking so anemic. The Soup Lady adds one small carrot, peeled and diced to the list of ingredients, not so much for the flavor as for the color. That is the same reason to garnish with some fresh chopped parsley. A pinch of red pepper flakes near the end of cooking adds a nice zip. Sometimes I think it's a good idea to use the olive oil that is drained from the canned fish to saute the vegetables before adding them to the broth; other times, I leave well enough alone.

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Don't let the ease of preparation fool you - this soup is hearty and filling. Things were different in 1967, I guess, because almost every soup recipe in this cookbook comes with a suggestion for accompanying dishes to make a complete meal. The menu for this one is:
Tuna Chowder
Pizza
Fresh Fruit

Whatever. We got away easy this time. The suggestions come without recipes of their own and often leave one wondering, especially about the fixation on clams - other soups are paired with clam pie, clam pancakes and salty clam sticks.

1967. Go figure.

Grandma Sophie's Potato Cheese Soup

Announcement: It turns out that "Sophie" is the most popular Grandma name for reader submissions at The Soup. If your Grandma was named Sophie, then please raid her recipe box and send in her soup recipes so you can be part of the trend. Reader Don K. writes in to share his Grandma Sophie's recipe:

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Dear Soup Lady,

I'm enjoying your soup site. Here's a soup recipe that's been in our family since the 1960's and always keeps popping up. It's a couple generations down the line now and everyone still seems to really love it and it couldn't be simpler to make. It goes really well at brunches, etc. or just anytime. It's also a "pretty" soup to serve. My kids think of it as an old family recipe, yet I can remember Grandma Sophie (I have one too!) being excited over this recipe when she found it, probably in some newspaper or magazine. Anyway, enjoy! NOTE: There is no milk in this dish. Don K.

GRANDMA SOPHIE'S POTATO CHEESE SOUP
5 thinly sliced potatoes
3 shredded carrots
1 lg minced onion
½ box frozen peas
½ lb Velveeta, chunked
salt, pepper, & garlic powder (to taste)

Place potatoes, carrots & onion into a pot, cover generously with water and boil until carrots are done. Add peas, and continue to boil until peas are cooked. Reduce heat to simmer, add cheese. (Do not boil after cheese is added.) Add salt, pepper to taste. Add just a hint of garlic powder. Serve hot.

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If you are wondering if there is milk in Velveeta cheese, then you must read this article from Chemical & Engineering News where Steve Ritter studies Title 21 Part 133 of the FDA's U.S. Code of Federal Regulations and clarifies it for us:
"For the record, Velveeta is pasteurized process cheese spread and Velveeta Light is pasteurized process cheese product. Cheez Whiz is labeled as pasteurized process cheese sauce, although that type isn't noted in the Code of Federal Regulations. "

Now you know.

Toffies from The Brown Palace Hotel

As you might know by now, the Soup Lady does not care for chocolate but in the best interest of my readers, I will suffer it to tell you about this little brown box that came into my possesion recently. The Soup Lady has just lately returned from a magnificent holiday at Denver's Brown Palace Hotel. Among the many luxuries offered there was this nighttime turndown: a box of the famous Brown Palace toffies. Ever the mannerly guest, the Soup Lady politely played along with the building excitement when this treat was announced, but knew that chocolate was involved and that did dampen her enthusiasm just a bit. Since the only soup consumed on this particular trip was a pasty concoction that was somebody's idea misguided idea of French Onion Soup made with a red beer base (Quick Review: Yuck!), I will evaluate the toffies.

Repugnant chocolate coating notwithstanding, I think it only fair that I share the taste test with you here. There were seven toffies cradled in the neat little package. Obviously hand-made, they had some variations in appearance but were nearly uniform in shape and heft. They did not travel well crammed into my suitcase, unless that damage was inflicted by the TSA agents as they hamhanded their way throught it in an effort to identify my 3 cansisters of suspected terrorist hairspray.

The toffies were firm to the touch and covered with crushed almonds top, sides and bottom. Bravely, the bite was taken and although the candy did put up some resistance, it was not a tooth-shattering experience. The toffee yeilded to just a slight bit of presure and broke off without crumbs or bits flying about.

I was expecting one of those heavy, take-your-breath-away kind of overly sweet candy experiences but while this candy was rich and buttery, it was also light. There was a smoothness to the center as it broke away in horizontal sheets that reminded one of sheets of mica spliting apart. Once it was seperated and in the mouth, it melted away with amost no chewing required. All in all, I'd give this 4 out of 5 possible soupstars. If there was no chocolate involved, it would have been an improvement, but maybe that's just me.

The Ears of Charlie Twofish

The Soup Lady just adores the taste of Linguine with White Clam Sauce but there are so many tribulations that go along with it, aren’t there? The first set of problems comes with the making of the sauce – trying to hang on to those sneaky little bivalves to chop them up can be so tiresome. The next challenge is in the eating – the Soup Lady finds it so disadvantageous if one has to pursue the elements of a meal around the plate. All that unraveling and of course, the spectacle of the unchopped clams right there in front of you … well, it’s not for the more delicate among us, is it now?

You will be glad to know that the Soup Lady has solved these messy problems –now you can have the taste experience without the mess and bother! Here is my humble little offering – a dish equally influenced by sunny Italy and rainy Sopranoland. I could just call it Pasta with White Clam Sauce That Has Tuna Fish Mashed Up Into It, but it really deserves a more lyrical name so here it is: The Ears of Charlie Twofish .

The Pasta: I box of orecchiette. One of the problems with the traditional Linguine with White Clam Sauce is that you start twirling up the linguine and you suddenly realize "Wait, this is mostly just linguine because the sauce keeps slipping off. What the heck?" To combat that , the Soup Lady prefers the little cup shaped orecchiette. (This is supposed to translate as little ears and I guess they do look like that if the ears you have in mind belong to Topo Gigio.) You could easily use small shells, but this bowl-shaped pasta really can carry a big load of solid bits from the sauce and that’s really what you want, isn’t it?

The fish: I can of Progresso White Clam Sauce, 1 can Italian-style tuna fish packed in olive oil. Now you can go around waiting for the clam boat to come in and start picking out just the ones you want, and then go with the scrubbing, the steaming and the chopping , or you could put your faith in a can of Progresso White Clam Sauce. Don’t be a snob – this is good, its safe and its dependable. The real taste sensation comes when you open a can of tuna packed in olive oil, mash it up with a fork and add the clam sauce to it. The tuna adds texture and flavor and is overall much richer than clams sauce alone. Don’t let your experience with the anemic Solid White Tuna in Spring water influence you against trying this – I’m telling you it’s a different thing altogether. Don’t be afraid.

The Sauce: onions, garlic, butter, salt , pepper, dried oregano, fresh parsley , red pepper flakes. Chop a small white onion into a fine dice and gently sauté it in 2 tablespoons of butter. Along with 1 clove of minced garlic. Add a tablespoon of dried oregano, ¼ cup of chopped fresh parsley and a dash of salt and stir over low heat until heated through. Add the fish mixture to this and then some fresh black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Taste to adjust seasonings – you may need more salt at this point. Add the cooked pasta and mix.

The Garnish: top with more chopped parsley. You can mix in some fresh chopped tomatoes if you like, but I’d try it my way first. Add the tomatoes the second time around.

The Compliments and the Credit: At this point, you must be prepared to receive all manner of complements. Your guests will be amazed at the familiar and yet enhanced flavors in this dish and they will thank you because they are not compelled to make awkward maneuvers to keep slippery linguine on their forks. You must tell them that this culinary marvel was created by the Soup Lady, or possibly her Italian-American neighbors and the Soup lady just copied it.

But I did invent the name

Serve an uncomplicated salad of bitter greens with this, say something with a lot of chicory and arugula. End the meal with some fresh fruit. Please don't mess this up by trying to add grated cheese - you don't need it and it will nullify the kick of the red pepper flakes.

Hello, Souplings!

Greetings, Souplings! It's the Soup Lady here, just getting used to the place before I move all of my stuff in. Republished below is the first post that was entered on the original site at Blog-Spot on 9/23/01:

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What is this?

Welcome to the plog (short for souplog.)

I'm planning on documenting all of the soup that I make at home or consume elsewhere.

Here is where I will post the recipes for the soups that I make, or tell the tale of soup that I had that was prepared by someone else.

Doesn't sound too exciting? I didn't want to break all the news at once - hang onto your hats: I will also be taking camshots of the soup I prepare as it is served in my collection of vintage American dinnerware!

As soon as I get a camera.

This blog design will compliment my dishes perfectly. As a matter of fact, I may even throw in some facinating details about the pattern of the dishes that are showcased. And maybe a shot of the dishes when they are not in use.

This could be good. This could be very, very good.

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The astute reader will notice that the term "plog" was coined here long before Amazon.com put their mitts on it. And before the guys at PlogWorld, too. That should give you all some idea of what a trend setter I am.

Banana Farfel

The Soup Lady doesn't know from making a Seder, but she knows a good thing when she sees it. Debra Galant calls this dish the culinary highpoint of her Passover dinner and that's good enough for me. She writes:

Dear Soup Lady,
My husband’s Aunt Frieda offers a very traditional Seder, using the Maxwell House Hagaddah, and the Seder is run by her very charming husband, Uncle Irv. (Of course. Most Jewish families have at least one Uncle Irv.) Frieda usually makes one chicken dish, one beef or veal, plus the farfel, plus potato puffs, plus matzo ball soup of course, plus hard-boiled eggs, plus gefilte fish, plus asparagus and sometimes a yummy black radish dish made with schmalz(chicken fat). In addition to all the ceremonial foods and the desserts, she makes the most amazing Banana Farfel - the high point, culinarily, for Passover for me. That and matzo brie, which is just French toast made with matzo. (I've read that Steven Spielberg has matzo brei every day.) Aunt Frieda said it was ok to let loose on the internet with this, and she made me rummage through my tin box of recipes for it:

MATZO FARFEL PUDDING 2 cups matzo farfel 2 well-beaten eggs 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1/3 cup of sugar 3 tablespoons of chicken fat or oil 1 apple, peeled and diced

1 banana, cut lengthwise
1 apple, peeled and cut lengthwise

To prevent discoloration of the fruit, place the slices into a bowl of cool water to which a small amount of lemon juice has been added. Cover the farfel with cold water and drain immediately - do not let it get soggy. Add the beaten eggs and mix. Stir in the salt, sugar, fat or oil, and the diced apple. Place in a well-greased 9X9 baking dish. Place the sliced apples and bananas on top of the mixture, alternately. Bake at 350 for 35 - 40 minutes. Watch for it to brown. It is best to use a glass baking dish so you can watch it.

I have been going to this Seder and eating this farfel dish for 19 years, since I was just my husband's girlfriend. She calls it Farfel Pudding, but I would say it's much more a consistency of a kugel. Farfel is just broken up pieces of matzo, I think. The taste? Out of this world.
Debra Galant

Potato Pancakes

It's Week 5 of the Lenten season and meat-free meals are all around. Fish, fish sticks, baked fish, tuna fish, fried fish, fish balls and Hey, how about some fish?Luckily, in this neck of the woods, the fish are outnumbered by the pierogis. Clam chower suddenly has a big presence around here now, but when I was growing up, we didn't have clams and could barely afford fish. But honey, we had plenty of potatoes. A hot lunch of tomato soup and potato pancakes every Friday for 12 years makes me something of an expert when it comes to assessing a potato pancake.

This is not a good potato pancake:
Note the leaden appearance - can't you just feel the grease right through the computer screen? This is a result of two things: first, the frying oil was not hot enough and second, fine grating turned the potato into unappealing pulp. A good one has a lot of unprocessed potato surface and it's quickly fried in very hot oil until it all exposed surfaces are crisp.

Now this is a good pancake. From none other than Martha Stewart herself (What will we do without you, Martha?) comes instructions for a perfect pancake. The secret is that the potato is grated on the long side to produce lovely strips of potato that bunch together loosely. Then the oil can get in the spaces between the potato strips to do it work. the other thing that makes this a superior experience is that there is no flour used as a binder. The flavor is pure spud -not greasy flour paste- because the binder is the thick starchy water drained from the potatoes.

MARTHA STEWART'S POTATO PANCAKES 2 all-purpose or Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled 2 large eggs, room temperature 1 medium white onion, finely grated 8 scallion greens, finely slivered Salt and freshly ground black pepper Vegetable oil, for frying 1. Over a large bowl of cold water, grate potatoes into long strips, using the largest holes of a box grater. Transfer grated potatoes from water into another bowl. Pour off water from first bowl, reserving sediment. Add sediment to potatoes. 2. Add eggs, onion, and scallion greens. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well by hand. 3. Fill a large heavy-bottomed frying pan with 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of oil until very hot, about 385°. 4. Drop 1 heaping tablespoonful of potato mixture into the pan. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes; the pan should hold five or six pancakes per batch. Turn pancakes over, and cook on the other side until golden brown, about another 3 minutes. 5. Can be transferred to a baking sheet and kept warm in a 200° oven for up to a half hour before serving. recipe from marthastewart.com

Sometimes I give myself a laugh by adding sweet potatos to the mixture instead of using all white, but of course, that is not the classic P.P. experience. The Soup Lady is a card-carrying member of the Sour Cream Club when it comes to potato pancakes. Try these with a bowl of plain tomato soup for the perfect meat-free meal. Unless you happen to like fish.

Fresh Green Pea Soup

Finally! After a winter that seemed like it would never let go, spring is in the air here in the Northeast. And what better way to celebrate its return than with the very vegetable symbol of the season: the spring pea. While the Soup Lady often relies on the hearty died split peas soup - heavy with dried thyme and flavored with bits of ham or bacon - to get through the winter months, the spring pea soup experience is something entirely different.

Use fresh peas for this recipe. Sit yourself down with a big bowlful of peapods and begin pea'n. Shelling peas is something that comes naturally to everyone; it is a soothing ritual that inspires daydreams and puts you in the right frame of mind so that all of the creative ideas percolating under the surface of your conciousness can emerge and seem really possible. Use any fresh herb yuo like, but I especially like the combination of marjoram and oregano in this. Chop the herbs at the last minute to get the full benefit of their frangrance and flavor. In a light soup like this, the herbs take center stage.

FRESH PEA SOUP 1 small onion, peeled and diced 1 small clove garlic, chopped 2 T. butter 4 cups fresh peas, shelled chicken stock or vegetable stock or water 1 tsp. of fresh oregano, chopped 1 tsp. of fresh marjoram, chopped

Saute the onion in butter in the bottom of a 5-quart soup pot. Add a bit of salt and cover the pot to ensure that the onions slowly become translucent and do not scorch. Add the chopped garlic and continue sauteing for an additional 3 minutes. Add the liquid and the peas. Stir in the chooped herbs with a little salt and cover. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer unitl the peas are tender.

Use a hand-held immersion blender to puree the soup into a smooth consistancy. ( If you preffer to use a blender, let the soup cool down and blend small batches - one cup at a time.) Stir in 1/2 cup of cream and serve.

Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of chopped herbs and some fresh whole peas that have been blanched in salted water.