Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rochester.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!rochester!nemo From: nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Cream of soup Message-ID: <11517@rochester.UUCP> Date: Tue, 10-Sep-85 10:26:11 EDT Article-I.D.: rocheste.11517 Posted: Tue Sep 10 10:26:11 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 12-Sep-85 22:27:07 EDT References: <579@mtuxt.UUCP> Organization: U. of Rochester, CS Dept. Lines: 70 > Any good recipes for Beef Barley and Cream of Chicken soups???? > Thanks in advance. There are four basic ways to thicken soups that I know of. One is to add corn starch, dissolved in cold liquid (as in egg drop or hot and sour soup). This produces a clear, thick soup without overloading your calorie counter. However, it is not appropriate for a cream of x soup. Another way is to add thickening veggies, and cook & mash them (like potatoes or beans), producing an opaque, relatively low-fat, thick soup. Okra can be used if a more translucent soup is desired. Again, nogo for cream soups. Third way is to actually add cream to the stock. It will thicken (as will your midriff), but the soup will have a distict cream flavor that I find distracting in most cases. The soup will also be pale and opaque. Finally, you may add a roux or a bechamel sauce to the base, adding fat & calories but not as much as cream would. The result is not as pale as the cream-thickened variety, nor does it have the dairy taste to it. You can make the roux quite dark (even to black in some Creole recipes), but this is not what you want to do for a cream soup. Generally, for the liquid part you want about half stock & x liquid and half milk with the same amount of roux you would use to make a thick bechamel sauce if you only used the milk. The stock can be vegetable (potatoe peel, artichoke, asparagus, etc), or meat (chicken, turkey, ... haven't tried beef or pork. Maybe guinea pig broth would do...). The x can be the same stuff you used for the broth or some veggie (esp. leftovers that are likely to turn to mush when you reheat them, like cauliflower). A little salt & pepper are usually all the seasonings needed, although a pinch of nutmeg will sometimes do wonders. Sample recipe below : Cream of Brocolli Soup 1 cup (over)cooked, mashed brocolli 1 cup chicken stock 1 cup milk 1/2 stick butter 3-4 Tbsp flour salt pepper Cook the brocolli if it is not a leftover already. Cook until it is past bright green and getting soft. Mash with potatoe masher (or you can toss it in the blender with the stock and puree it) until the lumps are acceptably small. If there are fibers, remove them at this point. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add enough flour so that it is not runny, but not so much to make a paste. Cook on low, stirring gently, until it stops foaming. Add warmed milk and stir vigorously with a whisk. Add stock and mashed veggies. Stir over medium heat until it has thickened. Do NOT boil, but get pretty close to it. Adjust seasoning. Serves two. For cream of chicken, boil a piece or two of chicken in the stock for 20 min. until cooked, remove & cool. Cut meat off bone & discard skin & bones (or use for more stock). Cut meat into small chunks. Add to soup after the roux, milk and stock have been thoroughly combined (ie: don't try to stir the chicken while you are still using a whisk!) It is important for the aesthetics of the soup to remove the fibers you are likely to get if you use asparagus, brocolli, celery, etc. as the veggie. This may be done by putting them through a food mill, or mashing through a strainer. Or you can just kind of pick them out if they are large enough and there aren't too many. Enjoy, Nemo -- Internet: nemo@rochester.arpa UUCP: {decvax, allegra, seismo, cmcl2}!rochester!nemo Phone: [USA] (716) 275-5766 work, 232-4690 home USMail: 104 Tremont Circle; Rochester, NY 14608 School: Department of Computer Science; University of Rochester; Rochester, NY 14627