INTRODUCTION
Soup is immensely popular. It is warm and nourishing. It is perhaps the ultimate comfort food complete with childhood memories of blustery winter days. It is the age-old remedy of choice for soothing a sore throat. Each country has its own distinctive soup(s) ranging from Chinese hot and sour to polish duck blood soup. From the four star restaurant to the country diner, soup is featured on just about every menu. Food historians tell us the history of soup is probably as old as the history of cooking. The act of combining various ingredients in a large pot to create a nutritious, filling, easily digested, simple to make/serve food was inevitable. This made it the perfect choice for both sedentary and travelling cultures, rich and poor, healthy people and invalids. Soups were easily digested and were prescribed for invalids since ancient times. The modern restaurant industry is said to be based on soup. Restoratives (whereon the word "restaurant" comes) were the first items served in public restaurants in 18th century Paris. Classic French cuisine generated many of the soups we know today. Advancements in science enabled soups to take many forms; portable, canned, dehydrated, microwave-ready. "Pocket soup" was carried by colonial travelers, as it could easily be reconstituted with a little hot water. Canned and dehydrated soups were available in the 19th century. These supplied the military, covered wagon trains, cowboy chuck wagons, and the home pantry. Advances in science also permitted the adjustment of nutrients to fit specific dietary needs (low salt, high fiber, etc.).
SOUP
The word 'soup' comes from the Latin 'suppare', which means 'soaking', and once described a dish of meat or vegetables that was soaked in the liquid in which it was cooked. Stock is the foundation of all good soups. Soups are made from meat stock. Meat stock is a broth made by cooking meat with water and it requires long, slow cooking. Beef, veal, lamb or chicken can be cooked separately or in combinations. Soups are served all over the world, and they are wonderful time-savers and appetite satisfiers. Soup may be served as an appetizer, to stimulate the appetite, or it may be served as the main dish of the meal. If the soup to be served is a hot soup, it must be served piping hot. If it is to be a cold soup, it must be served icy cold.
TYPES OF SOUPS
Soups are classified according to their method of preparation. Traditionally, soups are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and velouté are thickened with eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and grain. One of the first types of soups can be dated to about 6000 B.C. Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of pouches made of clay or animal skin) about 9,000 years ago.
Type of soup Classification Named soups
1. Consommé
2. Chicken noodle soup
3. CLEAR Bouillon Pot-au-feu
4. Broth Minestrone
5. Scotch Broth
6. Puree Pumpkin
7. Pea and Ham
8. Cream of mushroom
9. Cream of tomato
10. Cream of cauliflower
11. Velouté Andalouse
12. Bisque Lobster bisque
13. Yabby bisque
14. Prawn bisque
THICK
1. Brown Kidney
2. Miscellaneous Mulligatawny
3. Cold Vichyssoise
4. Gazpacho
5. Cherry
6. Specialty Congee
7. Avgolemono
SPECIAL & INTERNATIONAL SOUPS
1. International Miso
2. Laksa
3. French onion
4. Cock-a-Leakier
5. Fish Chowder
6. Sweet corn Chowder
1 Thin Soup
Clear soups run the gamut--from the rustic and homey chicken soup to the most sophisticated consommé. What separates clear from thick soups is that clear soups are comprised of a clear
brothy liquid with things floating in it, like pieces of vegetables, meat, fish, rice, pasta, etc. while thick soups have items ground into a stock. The amount of garnish (the professional term for the "things" floating) in a clear soup varies considerably. Some are virtually garnishes while others are loaded with solids.
1) Consommé - This is a clear soup made from a well-flavoured stock that is cleared by the action of egg white protein (albumen) and meat protein which rise to the surface during cooking, bringing insoluble particles with them. When cool, the coagulated protein is carefully strained off and the
Resulting stock should be crystal clear. Consommé may be garnished in numerous ways and should be served very hot or chilled. The stocks used are either chicken, beef or game. They should be free from fat globules and thoroughly strained before being used in the preparation of consommé.
2) Bouillon - It is usually made by the simmering of Mirepoix and aromatic herbs (usually a bouquet garni) with either beef, veal, or poultry bones in boiling water.
3) Broths - These consist of a good flavoured stock containing diced meat or vegetables. They are thickened by the starch from either pearl barley or rice that is cooked with the other ingredients in the stock. As this soup is not passed in any way it is essential to have a neat burnoose cut of vegetables and finely diced meat. The stock should be well flavoured and be of the same type as the diced meat. Broths is a substantial nourishing food because of the cereal, meat and vegetable
Content, and are normally garnished with freshly chopped parsley, mint or coriander leaves.
Thick Soups
Soups made without meat stock and milk or cream. These soups are called cream soups and have for their basis white sauce. They are made by combining thin white sauce with cooked, mashed
or strained vegetable, fish or meat pulp.
1) Purée Soups - Purée soups are another type of substantial or filling soup because they are based upon vegetables like broths, these potages are substantial soups because of their high vegetable content. Puree soups are passed through a conical strainer. The resulting soup should be smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, while still being able to pour from a ladle. After reheating and seasoning, the purée soup is served with croutons as their accompaniment. Soups can be made from one main vegetable, such as lentils for a purée of lentil soup. Other vegetables are included in smaller proportions for flavouring purposes, these usually include onion, celery, leek, carrot, Swede or a combination of some of these vegetables. A purée soup is prepared by
Cooking all the vegetables previously diced in a good flavoured white stock. When the vegetables are cooked, the soup is passed through a sieve or liquidized, then croutons as an accompaniment.
2) Velouté Soup - Velouté soup is a lighter richer soup than broth, potages and purée soups. These soups are made using a blond roux and white stock with a few base vegetables for flavouring.. The base vegetables are diced and sweated in fat until softened, but not coloured. The flour is then added and a blond roux is made. The well flavoured white stock is added and, after bringing to the boil, the soup is simmered for 40-50 minutes. The type of stock used will depend upon the type of soup that is being prepared. For example, if a chicken velouté is being prepared, then chicken stock is used and diced chicken will be added for garnish just before service. After being simmered, the soup is passed through a fine strainer, reheated, and then checked for consistency and flavour. To finish the velouté soup, cream or milk is often added just before service and an appropriate garnish is added.
3) Cream Soup - A cream soup is a smooth, rich soup that has a definite main ingredient and flavour. It is a soup that has been made from another base soup. For example, it can he
made from any of the three following methods, a ptiree base that is finished with milk to create a creamy texture; a puree base that is combined with a thin, béchamel sauce to create a creamy based soup of a lighter texture than full puree soup; and a velouté base that is finished with the addition of a cream and egg yolk liaison to create a creamy, rich soup (care must be taken when adding the liaison).
4) Bisque - I t is a thick, creamy, highly-seasoned soup of French origin, classically of puréed crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, crab, shrimp or crayfish. Bisque is also sometimes used to refer to cream-based soups that do not contain seafood, in which the ingredients are pureed or
Processed in a food processor or a food mill. Common varieties include tomato, mushroom, and squash bisque.
Special & International Soup Varieties
1) Cold Soups – Cold soups and creams are top stars in the summer. Light and cool, flavorful, packed with vitamins. The right appetizer for a summer meal. The king of cold soups is gazpacho. This Spanish soup has multiple variations, but the famous tomato-based gazpacho is made with stale bread, olive oil, garlic, ground almonds and vinegar. This ancient soup is called ajo Blanco, a "white gazpacho." Vichyssoise is another cold savory soup made of pureed potatoes and leeks, the soup is enriched with a swirl of cream before serving.
2) International Soups – There are many varieties, cold or hot, thin or thick soups. They have been placed in a special category, as they have different origins. There are soups that originated in a certain locality and are associated with that particular place. Chowder is any of a variety of soups,
Enriched with salt pork fatback and thickened with flour, or more traditionally with crushed ship biscuit or saltine crackers, and milk. To some Americans, it means clam chowder, made with cream or milk in most places, or with tomato as "Manhattan clam chowder." Corn chowder is a thick soup filled with whole corn (maize) kernels. Fish chowder, along with corn and clam chowder, continues to enjoy popularity in New England and Atlantic Canada. Seafood chowder is a traditional and popular dish in Ireland. Sometimes the freshest clam chowder can have a gritty consistency due to small particles of sand still present in the clams at the time of preparation.
GARNISHING FOR SOUPS
A simple dish can be transformed by feasting the eyes first with even the most casual of garnishing – a sprig of mint, basil or parsley can add colour and aroma which looks attractive and demonstrate a caring attitude to a meal.
1) One of the simplest garnishes for soup is a tablespoon of salted whipped cream sprinkled with a dash of paprika or a little parsley chopped very fine.
2) Eggs are used as garnishes of soups in the form of baked custard cut in fancy shapes, or as egg balls. The whole yolks poached in salted water just below the boiling-point may be used; one yolk is served with each plate of soup.
3) Noodles, tapioca, spaghetti or macaroni cut in fancy shapes or quenelles make simple and attractive garnishes for soup.
4) Cooked vegetables cut in thin strips or in Julienne style or in fancy shapes or slices, are often used to add color flavor and nutritive value to a soup.
5) Soups may be garnished also with cubes of bread or puff paste buttered and browned in the oven or fried in deep fat. Garnishes for soups needn’t be complicated or time consuming, but they should meet two objectives:. They should be pleasing to the eye, adding to the visual impact of the bowl; and They should be edible, complimenting rather than competing with the main flavours of the soup.
METHOD OF SERVING SOUP
1) Soup dishes are always deep.
2) Soup plates are used for dinner soup.
3) Soup bowls and cups are used for luncheon soups.
4) Set soup dishes on a plate slightly larger than the soup dish.
5) A soup spoon is smaller that a tablespoon and larger that a teaspoon.
6) Bouillon spoons are small round-bowled spoons.
7) In using a soup spoon, dip the spoon away from you. Take the soup silently with the lips from the side of the spoon and not the tip.
8) Do not leave spoon in soup dish. When not using it, place on the plate.
9) When soup is served in a bouillon cup it is customary to take a few spoonfuls and then it is permissible to set the spoon on the plate, and drink the remainder of the soup from the cup.
10) It is permissible to put two or three pieces of crackers or toast on top of soup.
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