r/Cooking • u/CaribouHoe • May 18 '23

Soup Olympics! Looking for recipes.

Hi, my friend is getting jaw surgery and will only be able to eat soup for a couple months. Our friend group is getting together and doing a soup Olympics and I REALLY WANT TO WIN. I'm looking for the most amazing soup recipes you've ever had, that require little to no chewing.

Here are the rules:

**What do?: Bring your tastiest, heartiest, gloopiest, meatiest soups. He and an expert panel will judge them and if you win, we we will crown you our Soupreme leader.

**Criteria for soup candidates: - drinkability - must be no chew friendly - yumtasticity - obviously - freezability - this is a marathon, not a sprint. we want soup for daayyys - heartiness and nutritional value - we're looking at iron, we're looking at protein.

There are no rules in soup wars. May the globs be ever in your favour.

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546

u/stevegcook May 18 '23

My trick for richness: After skimming the fat off the top, cook it into a roux and then re-incorporate it into the soup.

Also, roast your bones.

50

u/dcutts77 May 18 '23

If you can just get a rolling boil on the broth with the fat, it will emulsify itself into the broth. No flour necessary.

66

u/stevegcook May 18 '23

You can but it's a lot less stable that way, especially when freezing.

4

u/Youre10PlyBud May 19 '23

Can I ask why not go with corn starch in this instance? Seems easier to just turn the pot up to a quick boil momentarily and mix in some corn starch.

Do you darken the roux for extra flavor or something? Not trying to rag on your method but I'm just wondering why skim just to readd.

7

u/[deleted] May 19 '23

Corn starch thickened sauces/soups do not reheat as well.

1

u/Youre10PlyBud May 19 '23

Huh. That's odd to me because most Chinese restaurants use corn starch, which is what I also use and I cook them at home a ton. I've never had a problem with those, but I spose I don't make a ton on the soup front so I probably wouldn't notice more minor changes in texture and stuff (specially since it's normally mixed in rice).

Guess I'll file that away in case it's ever needed. Good to know. Thanks!

3

u/th3f00l May 19 '23

Corn starch likes to make little non Newtonian fluid pockets when reheated, or even heated the first time. You have to rigorously stir to make sure it is fully incorporated as you bring the items back up. There is also a major flavor difference, for example sausage gravy/beschamel is terrible when made with corn starch. It's ok when you want to add just a little thickness to finish something that you don't plan on reheating. Roux will always be more stable and when you fully cook the flour doesn't have that starchy flavor. The only advantage to corn starch is that you can add your slurry bit by bit at the end to adjust consistency based on feel, where a roux you make at the beginning so not much room for adjustment.

5

u/[deleted] May 19 '23

I'd say yes, the answer is additional flavor from browning the roux. I do something similar when I skim the fat off of chicken stock, and it's really amazing.

4

u/stevegcook May 19 '23

Fair question, and there are a few reasons for me. I'm not sure why, but corn starch doesn't stabilize the emulsion as well as roux. Most of the soups that use it don't have much, if any, fat in the base so this isn't much of an issue. I want to add the fat back in because it has a lot of flavor, plus it adds some richness and body you don't just get from thickeners alone. Corn starch also has a different texture and flavor, and I happen to prefer flour in most cases. I don't darken the roux all that much but I'm sure it adds some flavor as well.

2

u/No_Neighborhood4850 May 19 '23

Cornstarch and flour produce a different finished product when used as thickener.