I know I have read directions for pouring two soups in one bowl so they appear side-by-side. Last night, as I went to assemble a lovely duet of chilled soups (cantaloupe and avocado), I realized that I had no idea where I saved the information on this technique or what I had called it. I had to fake it and it worked pretty well, a lovely pastel peach alongside a soft green in the bowl(s). I did it by tipping the bowl and pouring a soup into one side, then slightly evening the bowl out and pouring the other soup in the other side. I tried one using the cantaloupe first and one using the avocado first, and the latter order worked better. The flavors of the two soups complemented each other nicely. I'm definitely doing this again (and I'd like to know what I'm doing next time )

Is this how it is done, or are they both supposed to be poured in simultaneously? (If so, is there a trick to it, or is learning by doing?)

For the soups in question I seeded and chopped about 3/4 of a very large cantaloupe, then pureed in the food processor with 1 cup plain lowfat yogurt, 1 cup lowfat sour cream, and about 1 tablespoon of honey. (A medium cantaloupe would be about the right size.)

The avocado soup was this one(sans garnish)

I just put the soups in two coffee cups and pour them simutaneously.

Thanks. I've got some leftover soups and will try it this way tonight. I'm kind of clumsy, but we'll see how it goes

I would go with pouring the soups into measuring cups with spouts and then pouring them simultaneously. While I haven't done this with soup, I have done this with a dessert which required poachng pear halves in two wines (one white, one red) and then making sauces from each. The two sauces were poured on a plate and then topped with opposite colored pear halves. Looked damned impressive and tasted pretty good, too.

I agree with the pour simultaneously technique, but I would caution that both soups need to be of similar viscosity to achieve the desired effect.

They're pretty similar, but the avocado soup is slightly thicker. That might be why, when I was experimenting with which should be put in first, the avocado held in its space a bit better; the cantaloupe soup spread itself out across the bowl just a tad faster. I'll keep that in mind and maybe incorporate a tiny lag in the simultaneous pouring.

I actually have seen this done with the soups in kind of a bulls-eye setup that looked really neat. It was done by placing a ring mold in the center of a wide, shallow soup bowl and pouring soup #1 on the outside, soup #2 on the inside. If you get the ring lift right you can get a pretty good circle in the middle; and if not, oblong shapes look very mod. I've been meaning to try it and then run a toothpick from in to out to make a starburst pattern with the inner soup. Consistency is definitely the key.

That sounds like it would be a beautiful winter holiday dessert. I'm not a huge fan of pears and was surprisingly pleased with the results when I made a pears poached in red wine for a holiday dessert one year.

Agreed -- having some kind of barrier which you can then remove would probably help. Might consider having someone else hold a piece of aluminum foil in the middle while both soups are poured, then remove it when you're done pouring. A mezzaluna would work too, if it fit the curve of the bowl.

Good luck!

I suppose you could take one of those cheap flexible cutting boards (get them at the dollar store) and cut yourself a template to fit your soup bowl. Then pour soup on either side and remove the template. You could also curve it into an "S" shape for a yin-yang design. Might be nice with asian-spiced soups...