Yum—all these recipes sound fabulous! I have to say, using an instant pot can speed up the cooking process—a lot!
What do you think is the key to a successful soup? My soups always turn out bland.
Seasoning (obviously), but also, I have found pureeing part of any type of vegetable or bean soup with an immersion blender really gives soup a lot of body and disperses the flavor into the broth well, and helps avoid having flavorful chunks in bland, thin broth. HTH!
1 Like
I think a good stock/broth can help. I have added some “Better than Bouillon” at times for a deeper, richer flavor.
2 Likes
Good stock. Good seasonings. Onion &garlic. Salt n peppa. I often throw in a little Zatarains or Old Bay or some of Trader Joe’s seasoning mixes. A smidge of sugar can help if you feel like it’s lacking depth of flavor. Caramelizing the onions can help with depth too.
2 Likes
I think a good stock is key. I make my own. It takes a surprising amount of salt. (Though nothing like as salty as Campbell’s Chicken Noodle which I now find inedible). If you are trying to cut back on salt a squeeze of lemon or lime can help enhance the spices. Browning the onions, another clove of garlic, a bit more of any herbs. We all have our own taste-buds, you may just need to kick things up a notch from standard recipes. And all good cooks taste as they go and adjust the seasonings.
3 Likes
Agree with the good stock (if you want a store variety, Kettle and Fire is a good one if you can find it), seasonings (soup needs some salt!), sometimes a good long simmer to meld flavors.
I’ll add that fresh herbs can brighten soup flavor AND especially for chicken stock based soups, a squeeze of fresh lemon at the end just before serving!
Is that the soup person who is at the Cambria farmers market?
I made this tortilla soup yesterday. Easy and very good. So good that I made a 2nd batch today and froze it for my pregnant daughter.
2 Likes
Yes, one and the same.
I made this cauliflower soup last night - like it a lot! I think roasting the cauliflower really adds to depth of flavor - roasting vegetables first would be a good idea for many soups! I halved the recipe because I only had so much cauliflower. I think it would be good with additional vegetables to the cauliflower - like broccoli or carrot.
1 Like
This is our planned soup for the weekend:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/traditional-italian-wedding-soup/
Last time, we used the rotisserie skin/bones to make the chicken stock starting the morning of, and added a parmesan rind to the soup itself because we didn’t salt the stock very much. If you’re a spinach fan there’s definitely room to add more than the recipe calls for. No idea if this freezes well or not because none of it made it to the freezer.
3 Likes
My H is the chicken stock maker in our house and he says the secret to great stock is to use chicken feet. They’re often not readily available in our local supermarket, but H can usually get them from H Mart (a chain of Korean/American supermarkets) or a butcher shop.
We think the secret to great chicken stock is using kosher chicken. Don’t ask me why that makes a difference…but the taste is notably better.
I made soup for the first time this fall last night since it was rainy and chilly, perfect soup weather. But, nothing fancy. Used the Hurst hambeens 15 bean soup starter, and followed the directions on the bag of beans! Added the garlic, diced tomatoes, chili powder, and some country ham pieces, etc. Made a salad and lemon poppy seed muffins to go with it. It was delicious and plenty of leftovers for tonight.
3 Likes
I’m making instant pot french onion soup tomorrow and I’ll serve it with a salad and some cheese, and a nice baguette.
The cheese and bread out of the bowl or in the bowl?!!!
Have not tried Kosher, but I do find that organic chicken legs from Costco make much better stock than the “inorganic” legs sold at same Costco. Ditto organic chicken breasts for kabobs- meat never turns rubbery.
1 Like
Another secret to great stocks is to throw in a Parmesan cheese rind. Great umami.
2 Likes
Well…for French onion soup, there will be bread on the top and cheese. But there will be different cheese on the side and a baguette with sweet creamy butter.
1 Like