Soup is firmly embedded in every cuisine. Every culture has their own version or interpretation of soup.
Soups can be made with a variety of ingredients including leftovers from the day before and can be extended greatly simply by adding more liquid. Historically light soups were more generally viewed as medicinal as they were easily digestible, cheap and could feed a lot of people. With the right ingredients, soup can have great health benefits. They are also easily adaptable to make gluten free and vegan, they are a great filling meal, and quick and easy to make. There is nothing like a comforting warm bowl of soup on a cold day.
Classical French cuisine divides soup into two categories; broths and thick soups:
Broths are adaptable and provide the perfect base for your own creations. Broth-based soups are made by simmering flavourful ingredients like meat, poultry, seafood, legumes, vegetables, herbs and spices in water or stock to make a thin broth. The broth may then be garnished and seasoned in a variety of ways with vegetables, eggs, grains, or pasta/noodles and fresh herbs.
Thick soups are characterised by a silky-smooth texture, made of purees, bound with flour and often further enriched with cream or egg.
Starting off with a good quality base ingredients is the key to a flavourful bowl of soup. You can build and adapt a soup once you have established a base flavour. Here at The Culinary Food Group we believe a good quality stock like our Simply Stock is the hero of soup ingredients. They enhance the soup giving it a taste that lingers and entices you to keep eating. They add a moreish quality to soup too! Adding stocks also lends a huge boost of flavour.
Here are some of our favourite soups with Simply Stock used as a base ingredient….
Vietnamese Shredded Beef Pho (Simply Stock Beef)
Make a broth with the stock and water. Add ginger, anise, cinnamon, chillies and fish sauce. Pour this broth over shredded beef, rice noodles, sliced onion, bean sprouts, and fresh chillies. Garnish with fresh mint and coriander.
Brothy Leek, Lamb and Cabbage Soup with Butter Beans (Simply Stock Lamb)
In a large pot fry off shredded savoy cabbage, diced carrots, diced leeks, garlic puree, diced lamb shoulder, chilli flakes and flat leaf parsley. Add the stock and water and cook for 2 hours. Add in a can of butter beans and cook for a further 15 minutes.
Hearty Chicken and Vegetable Soup (Simply Stock Chicken)
Cook a whole chicken in stock and water. Remove the chicken once cooked and add the remaining ingredients and simmer until soft, then puree, adding back shredded pieces of chicken to add texture.