5 TIPS FROM THE SOUP PEDDLER TO IMPROVE YOUR SOUP
By Addie Broyles

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Austin 360 (blog)
ed-gen/blogs/austin/food2/entries/2010/01/28/5_tip s_from_the_soup_peddler_t.html
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 11:53 AM

David Ansel, aka The Soup Peddler, knows that, in Austin, the soup
days ahead are limited. Within weeks, the days will be long and the
weather warm, which triggers something deep within our bellies to
crave food that isn’t made of hot liquid. But before we jump ahead
to spring salad days, we’ll certainly have a few more spells of cold
and rain that we’ll only get through with a bowl of steaming soup.

Just days ahead of the next cold front, the owner of the Austin soup
delivery company offered up 5 tips on how to be a better soup-maker.

"Making soup is like painting," he says. "When you start a painting,
you start with big brushes and broad strokes." This is the stock,
a background color that sets the mood for the whole soup. "As you go
along, you do less and use smaller brushes," and by the end, you’re
painting the smallest details, which for a soup is the finishing
notes of fresh herbs, sherry or acids like citrus or vinegar.

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In this list, Ansel takes the painting metaphor even further and
explains why you should always keep a package of turkey necks in
your freezer:

1. Be like Bob Ross. "The Bob Ross School of Soup Making is not paint
by numbers. It’s encouraging people to develop a feel for soup and not
feel like you have to stick to a recipe," he says. "Soup is ill-suited
for recipes." For instance, "1 medium potato" and "1 medium carrot"
are not exactly precise measurements and every stock – just like the
palate of the person who made it – is unique.

"Relying on any recipe will generally leave you in a pinch," he says.

Look up at least three different recipes for the soup you want to
make to learn the traditional steps and the shortcuts. Combine the
recipes according to the amount of time and ingredients you have.

2. Make your own stock. "Don’t cut corners on the stock," he says.

"Even the best stock that you can buy sucks. It’s just smoke and
mirrors so that it tastes like chicken stock. It’s cheap and easy to
make it yourself."

This is where the turkey necks come in. To make a pot of versatile
and rich turkey stock, bring a pot of water and turkey necks to a
boil and simmer for as many hours as you have to spare. (The longer
both stock and soup are on the stove, the better, he says.) Strain
the stock and spread out the leftover meat and bones, which allows it
to cool faster so you can pick out the meat to add back to the stock.

What about onion, carrot and celery, the holy mirepoix that many
chefs refuse to leave out of any dish? "I find that (it) just gets
in the way. It takes up space where you could have more chicken backs."

Add aromatics along with noodles or rice after you’ve already made
the stock, and you’re in for a spectacular soup. "I’ve eaten soup
all over the world, but that turkey rice soup is super wow."

For chicken stock, rotisserie carcasses are fine, but thighs or wings,
the cheapest and most flavorful parts of the bird, are even better.

You can leave the skins on, but you’ll have to skim the fat, so
Ansel recommends removing the skin before boiling. For fish stock,
freeze the shrimp shells that you peel at home and ask the staff at
your grocery store seafood counter if they have fish bones for sale.

3. Plant your own herbs. Rosemary, oregano, thyme, mint and cilantro
are easy to grow in the ground or in pots, Ansel says. Having fresh
herbs handy will automatically improve your soups.

4. Use what you have. "Soup has always been a food of necessity,
of emptying the fridge," he says. "Designing a soup around what you
have is more in the tradition than going out and buying ingredients."

If a recipe calls for parsley, for instance, and you only have cilantro
or mint, go with what you’ve got. Don’t have shallots and leeks? Use
garlic and onions instead.

Look at seafood soups such as bouillabaisse: "The best ones were
developed in poor cultures by fishermen who were left with unsellable
stuff." If you shop for ingredients, you’re also more likely to use
too many ingredients. Less is more: "You should be able to taste what
you’re putting in or else you shouldn’t bother putting it in."

5. Add salt and herbs or acids toward the end. Lemon juice, parsley,
cilantro or scallion will brighten any soup, and adding salt too early
in the process can interfere with cooking legumes and potatoes. Salt
should be added after the vegetables and starches are cooked, but
not well-cooked. "You want the chunks to be able to absorb salt."

If you are going to make a pureed soup, like this Armenian Apricot Soup
from Ansel’s book "Slow and Difficult Soups" that 101 Cookbooks blogger
Heidi Swanson wrote about in 2005, process it in small batches in a
regular blender instead of an immersion blender for a finer texture.

Photos by SonicWalker and Alexik on Flickr.