Does anybody remember the story of the "stone soup?" Travelers were passing through a village with empty soup pots. As they arrived the villagers refused to give them anything to make soup with. Then they said, "screw this"...not literally. So they went down to the stream, filled up their biggest pot with water and dropped a large stone in it to cook. As they were cooking their soup one of the villagers came by with curiosity and asked what they were making. They said they were making stone soup and it tastes wonderful. But if they had a few other vegetables it would make it taste much better. So the one villager didn't mind parting with a few carrots he had. So a long story short, the other villagers heard about this "stone soup" and contributed with little vegetables they had and of course at the end of it all they all created this wonderful soup just from some random vegetables and...love.
I'm sure there's some type of meaning behind this story but this is my blog and I blog about food.
Soup to many people is kind of like Fried Rice to Asians. When you look in your refrigerator you see a little bit of this, half of that, leftovers from the other day and a week old container of something. So what do Asian people do with all of this? Make fried rice! Because we always have rice in our refrigerator. Same goes with soup. Soup is that one dish that really teaches you how understand food. How do I develop more flavor? Do I use water or broth? Did I use too much liquid? How do I make it thick? How do I make it thin? Should I season more? So there's so many factors in making soup "taste good."
As anal as I am about cooking, I will say this. There is NO WRONG WAY to make soup. BUT, there are better ways of making it. Instead of corn starch, use a roux. Instead of dumping food into boiling water, dump it into cold water and then turn it on. Instead of using water, use broth. Instead of using broth, use stock! Haha!
Honestly though, making soup really is a lost art. With all these packages of chicken base where all you add is water and you get chicken broth...it's all garbage. These little packages are filled with all kind of stuff like MSG (monosodium glutamate), which has been banned from a few states, sodium and of course more stuff that you can't even pronounce. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a Cup of Noodle once in awhile because I grew up on the stuff. But if you have any type of respect for yourself and the people you're serving then you can make me happy by staying within these few guidelines.
-Flavorful liquid.
Whether its chicken broth, veal stock, vegetable broth or even water. Please make sure there's as much flavor in it as possible. If you don't know how to do that then you can read back on my entry about stocks, read back on my risotto entry or just ask! The liquid is going make up about 70% of the soup. So keep that in mind.
-Make sure everything is the same size.
When you cut your vegetables or meat for your soup make sure they are consistent. By doing this everything will cook evenly and your diner will be able to fit a little bit of everything on their spoon. Nobody wants to eat a BIG piece of potato and a small piece of chicken at the same time...nobody.
-Don't use so much oil.
If you think what you put in the pot isn't enough, then it's probably enough. A little bit of oil goes a long way. Remember, if you're cooking meat too, then there's a good chance that meat will give off some type of fat. There's nothing worse then oil floating at the top of your soup. If you notice that there's too much oil/fat in the pot before you add your liquid, there's a neat trick to get rid of it and give your soup some texture. Add a little bit of flour to the mix. The flour will soak up all fat and dry out your pot (which is good). And this of course creates a what? A ROUX! So if anything, it'll actually thicken your soup just a little bit.
-Cook your food before adding your liquid.
As I said before, there is no wrong way to make soup. Of course you can take your broth and dump and bunch of vegetables and meat in it and put it on the fire. I'm sure it'll taste fine. But if you saute your food before you add your broth, it'll be ten times better. I promise (I never promise). By cooking your vegetables and protein just a little before adding the liquid will break down cell walls in the food releasing natural oils and sugars that will go right into the soup. What do you like better? Caramelized onions or raw onions? I thought so.
-Do not boil your soup.
After you've added your liquid, bring it to a boil and immediately turn it down to a simmer. Don't let it boil for too long. You don't want your vegetables to turn into mush and you don't want to overcook your proteins. That's right, you can most definitely overcook meat in soup. Even though it's in a liquid, it can still get tough and rubbery. Seriously, don't let it boil.
-Let it cook.
You can't rush perfection. After it's come to a boil and you've turned it down to a simmer, let it cook for awhile. 10 minutes, 15 minutes...whatever you want. Just know the longer you cook it, the more flavor that will come out of the food and into the soup. Think of marinara sauce. Though it's not a soup, it's the same concept. Allowing it to cook for awhile marries all the flavors together. But unlike marinara, I do not recommend cooking your soup for more than 25 minutes after you've turned it down to a simmer. Anything after that, we're venturing off into stewing..and that's for a different entry.
-Don't use corn starch to thicken.
If you go back to my "Don't be so roux-ed"entry, that'll show you how to thicken properly. Corn starch makes things gummy. To me it doesn't thicken properly. Ever have chinese food and there's some type of thick sauce that looks a little runny? Almost %99.999 percent of the time they used a buttload of corn starch to thicken it. That's not how you want your soup to look like. Trust me.
It seems like a lot to remember. But if you follow at least one step every time you make soup you'll notice a difference. I promise.
Once you've got the hang of understanding soups and flavor development, etc...then you can pretty much apply that to anything that has liquid. Poaching, stewing, braising...you'll be a pro in no time. But remember, you won't get it the first time. Expect to fail to succeed.
bien manger
-cwis
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Thursday, January 13, 2011
All Stocked Up!
Today we venture into the area of food that is often overlooked: Stocks. They are always expected to be on the line in the kitchen. It's part of the mise en place that you don't even have to think about because it's so important. They're almost as important as salt and pepper on the line. Yes, that important.
Why are these flavored liquids so important to the production of good food? First let me say that stocks can always be replaced with water but what does water taste like? NOTHING, exactly, moving along now. A lot of people ask me, "What's the difference between stock and broth?" Simple. Stocks are made with the carcasses/bones of the animal and broths are made mostly with meat. I believe stocks contain more flavor than broths because of 2 things; cooking time and cartilage. What? You don't know what cartilage is? Have you ever eaten fried chicken and at the end of the bone is that white, hard looking stuff? That's cartilage. It's the hard connective tissue in joints that hold animal (and our) bones together. You will get most of your flavor from the cartilage because it's protein. Normally it takes about an hour to make a broth because chances are the meat you're using to make the broth is going to be meat you use in a dish so even though you're cooking it for a long time in water it will still come out dry. In professional kitchens stocks are usually made with items that you can't eat but still have loads of flavor such as the roots of celery stalks and carrot peels and bones of animals after deboning or filleting. A lot of recipes will say to cook stocks for about 4-5 hours. I say cook it for 8 hours! And the best way to know if you've succeeded in making your stock is when it cools down it looks like jello, literally. While the stock has been cooking the cartilage breaks down and turns into gelatin (jello is made of gelatin). So it literally MELTS into the liquid. Stocks can be used for numerous things; making sauces, thinning out a sauce that's too thick, making soups or glazing.
There are so many dishes made with stock that a lot of people aren't aware of. How do you think gravy for Thanksgiving is made or chicken pot pie? It's so easy to make but people are afraid of it. Three ingredients - flour, butter, stock. Make your roux and add stock and BAM! You have gravy. For pot pie you would do the same thing but make it a little thicker and add your veggies and meat and then BAM! You have pot pie. Risotto is also made with chicken stock but that's for another blog :)
The most important thing to keep in the back of your mind about stock is when a recipe calls for it, chances are you're going to get most of your flavor from the stock. So if you're making your own stock, LOAD it up with A LOT of bones! If you decide to buy canned broth you can always enhance the flavor by adding in some mirepoix and some herbs and some meat just to bring in a little more flavor. OR what I like to do, when making stock from scratch instead of using water use the canned stuff. That'll give it A LOT of flavor.
Making stocks are easy really it just takes a really long time. But the reality is, it's not worth it. First, unless you have an actual butcher shop near you, it's going to be hard to find Chicken bones or Veal bones at your local supermarket because no supermarket butchers their own meat in house. All meat comes in frozen. Chicken is a little easier to work with because you can use chicken wings. Not the whole wing but the last part of the wing that nobody eats because there's really no meat on it. Though there's not a lot of meat on them they contain A LOT of cartilage and they're cheap! And unless you have your own garden you will have to buy at least 4 oz of each herb because you can't just buy 1 or 2 sprigs of Thyme or parsley. Same thing with the veggies, it's impossible to buy just 2 or 3 stalks of celery. So unless you plan on making 5 or 6 gallons (which is a lot) then just go with the canned stuff (nothing wrong with it, just remember to make it taste better). But if you really are going to make a couple gallons of stock you can always freeze it!
The next time you see a recipe call for stock/broth just remember to appreciate it and respect it. Make it taste as good as you can make it taste and last but not least, ENJOY IT!
bien manger
-cwis
Why are these flavored liquids so important to the production of good food? First let me say that stocks can always be replaced with water but what does water taste like? NOTHING, exactly, moving along now. A lot of people ask me, "What's the difference between stock and broth?" Simple. Stocks are made with the carcasses/bones of the animal and broths are made mostly with meat. I believe stocks contain more flavor than broths because of 2 things; cooking time and cartilage. What? You don't know what cartilage is? Have you ever eaten fried chicken and at the end of the bone is that white, hard looking stuff? That's cartilage. It's the hard connective tissue in joints that hold animal (and our) bones together. You will get most of your flavor from the cartilage because it's protein. Normally it takes about an hour to make a broth because chances are the meat you're using to make the broth is going to be meat you use in a dish so even though you're cooking it for a long time in water it will still come out dry. In professional kitchens stocks are usually made with items that you can't eat but still have loads of flavor such as the roots of celery stalks and carrot peels and bones of animals after deboning or filleting. A lot of recipes will say to cook stocks for about 4-5 hours. I say cook it for 8 hours! And the best way to know if you've succeeded in making your stock is when it cools down it looks like jello, literally. While the stock has been cooking the cartilage breaks down and turns into gelatin (jello is made of gelatin). So it literally MELTS into the liquid. Stocks can be used for numerous things; making sauces, thinning out a sauce that's too thick, making soups or glazing.
There are so many dishes made with stock that a lot of people aren't aware of. How do you think gravy for Thanksgiving is made or chicken pot pie? It's so easy to make but people are afraid of it. Three ingredients - flour, butter, stock. Make your roux and add stock and BAM! You have gravy. For pot pie you would do the same thing but make it a little thicker and add your veggies and meat and then BAM! You have pot pie. Risotto is also made with chicken stock but that's for another blog :)
The most important thing to keep in the back of your mind about stock is when a recipe calls for it, chances are you're going to get most of your flavor from the stock. So if you're making your own stock, LOAD it up with A LOT of bones! If you decide to buy canned broth you can always enhance the flavor by adding in some mirepoix and some herbs and some meat just to bring in a little more flavor. OR what I like to do, when making stock from scratch instead of using water use the canned stuff. That'll give it A LOT of flavor.
Making stocks are easy really it just takes a really long time. But the reality is, it's not worth it. First, unless you have an actual butcher shop near you, it's going to be hard to find Chicken bones or Veal bones at your local supermarket because no supermarket butchers their own meat in house. All meat comes in frozen. Chicken is a little easier to work with because you can use chicken wings. Not the whole wing but the last part of the wing that nobody eats because there's really no meat on it. Though there's not a lot of meat on them they contain A LOT of cartilage and they're cheap! And unless you have your own garden you will have to buy at least 4 oz of each herb because you can't just buy 1 or 2 sprigs of Thyme or parsley. Same thing with the veggies, it's impossible to buy just 2 or 3 stalks of celery. So unless you plan on making 5 or 6 gallons (which is a lot) then just go with the canned stuff (nothing wrong with it, just remember to make it taste better). But if you really are going to make a couple gallons of stock you can always freeze it!
The next time you see a recipe call for stock/broth just remember to appreciate it and respect it. Make it taste as good as you can make it taste and last but not least, ENJOY IT!
bien manger
-cwis
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