The Great Soup Exchange of 2010, dr.com Style

[leleboo]

I need a new camera.

Let me rephrase:

I need a new battery for my old (old old old) Nikon 6006, so I can shoot with a real camera instead of a crappy four-year-old digital point-and-shoot that takes worse photos than my iPhone does.

The only ones that really came out were the amuse of French onion and the dessert. There are some wonky shots of the chicken noodle and the oxtail stew. The beet soup, in all its gorgeous color, and the butternut squash soup, are both too blurry, and the winter melon is vastly underexposed. Alas!

But, for your viewing enjoyment, here's a small sample of super soup.

[Flavortown]

Now that I've awoken from my soup induced coma, I can share some of the highlights for me last night.

Those awesome lamb wontons from goodeats

The slow burn from the pepper in marketfan's chilled beet soup

The richness of leleboo's squash soup, and the fried sage (more next time!)

The roasted vegetables in DanielK's stew, so nicely infused with the flavor of the meat

Kmango's dessert soup, which both reminded me of breakfast cereal and acted as a perfect end to the meal thanks to its variety in sources of sweetness, and the clash between these flavors and that touch of salt and smoke

As for my recipes, my onion soup was an attempt at using Cook's Illustrated's method. That recipe is here; up until the stove-top part, it worked beautifully. But rather than getting a fond to deglaze, all I got was burnt blackness on the bottom of my pot. I'll have to try again and see if it's possible, because I think that successfully getting a thick layer of fond, deglazing, and repeating multiple times would deepen the flavor in the soup, making it richer and far less sweet.

And here is the recipe I followed (basically) for my beef stock. Next time, I'll roast the bones longer to get a darker, richer stock, and I'll make sure to have a greater proportion of beef to veal.

The chicken soup is super simple: a whole chicken, some celery, and some carrots, in a pot with cold water and peppercorns. Bring it up to a simmer, and let it go for about 1.5 hours. Remove and reserve the chicken, skim out the vegetables and peppercorns, and throw them out. Strain the stock, refrigerate overnight, and skim off the fat. Then just simmer fresh carrots and celery in the stock until slightly soft. Taste for salt. Cook egg noodles 3/4 of the way in a separate pot of salted, boiling water (preventing all of their starch from clouding up the broth), and add them to the soup along with chunks of the reserved chicken. When the chicken has warmed up, it's done.

[KMango]

...The beet soup, in all its gorgeous color, and the butternut squash soup, both are too blurry, and the winter melon is vastly underexposed. Alas!

Less alackin' now.

Enclosed are token shots of beet and butternut.

Via iPhone, so in no way capture the magic, but an available approximation.

(winter melon soup still mia)

(missing image action)

[marketfan]

Beet soup: It is an adaptation of David Tanis' Cold Pink Borscht from Platter of Figs. I called it Beet Gazpacho to entice the Borscht phobics.

2 pounds of thinly sliced beets

2 LARGE sliced shallots

1 clove garlic

9 cups water

1 star anise

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon cardamom seeds

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper (or sub cayenne but I think the Aleppo pepper is much better)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup whole milk yogurt

Simmer the beets with all the spices,water and seasonings until the beets are tender enough to puree. (The liquid should be very flavorful: sweet, sour, peppery.) ]It could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the beets. ]Remove t he bay leaves and star anise. Puree with a stick blender for five minutes until very very smooth. Strain. Chill for several hours to overnight. Just before serving, whisk in the yogurt, adjust the seasoning and serve in short water glasses.

The color is a gorgeous deep reddish purple pink.

[zoramargolis]

Beet soup: It is an adaptation of David Tanis' Cold Pink Borscht from Platter of Figs. I called it Beet Gazpacho to entice the Borscht phobics.

2 pounds of thinly sliced beets

2 LARGE sliced shallots

1 clove garlic

9 cups water

1 star anise

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon cardamom seeds

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper (or sub cayenne but I think the Aleppo pepper is much better)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup whole milk yogurt

Simmer the beets with all the spices,water and seasonings until the beets are tender enough to puree. (The liquid should be very flavorful: sweet, sour, peppery.) ]It could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the beets. ]Remove t he bay leaves and star anise. Puree with a stick blender for five minutes until very very smooth. Strain. Chill for several hours to overnight. Just before serving, whisk in the yogurt, adjust the seasoning and serve in short water glasses.

The color is a gorgeous deep reddish purple pink.

I think of this as a summer soup. I was out of town when this event was planned, and I just went back and read the thread, so I get how a cold soup was included for contrast. But hot cabbage/beet borscht is one of my winter standby dishes--made with a hunk of beef shank and served with sour cream and buttered caraway rye bread. You can hardly get more Russian than that.

[marketfan]

I think of this as a summer soup. I was out of town when this event was planned, and I just went back and read the thread, so I get how a cold soup was included for contrast. But hot cabbage/beet borscht is one of my winter standby dishes--made with a hunk of beef shank and served with sour cream and buttered caraway rye bread. You can hardly get more Russian than that.

Definitely my summer standby and very refreshing. But it makes a nice amuse as well in the winter. And the shocking color brightens winter palettes.

[DarthJim]

There's not much I can add to the excellent descriptions of others, but it was a huge treat for me to partake of everyone's creations! Leleboo and I will have you back any time!

And maybe one of these days I'll actually cook something...

[DanielK]

Here's the recipe for the Oxtail Stew. It made 9 smallish bowls, but the bones were cut to 1". Normally it would probably make 4 dinner-sized servings.

INGREDIENTS

3 lbs oxtails, cut 2-3" tall

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

2 cups beef stock

2 cups wine or beer

3 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 bay leaf

Pinch of thyme

[second day]

Parsley

2 carrots, cut into 1" pieces

2 parsnips, cut into 1" pieces

2 turnips, cut into 1" pieces

Thoroughly dry oxtail pieces. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil on medium high heat in a 6-quart Dutch oven. Work in batches, searing the oxtails on both sides until golden brown. Remove to a plate.

Add the chopped onion, celery, and carrot to the pan. Cook until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the oxtails back to the pan, along with the garlic, bay leaf, thyme, 1tsp of salt, stock, and beer. Bring to a simmer, reduce to low, and cover and cook for 3 hours.

Remove the pan from the heat and let it come to room temperature. Put in the fridge overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350F. Toss the carrots, parsnips, and turnips in a roasting pan, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, and roast for 1 hour or until tender and browned.

Remove the pan from the fridge and scrape the fat off the top. Reheat just until warm, and remove the meat from the pan. Pour the remaining cooking liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, using a rubber spatula to press all the liquid from the vegetable solids. Discard the solids, return the liquid to the pan, and simmer until reduced by half. Then add back in the oxtails and the roasted vegetables. Heat on a low simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve in bowls with chopped parsley on top.

If you like a thicker stew, you can add a half cup of barley to the last simmer.

[goodeats]

Note: I am not good with measuring, since the way I learned how to cook was through my mom and grandmom - eyeballing-style. So apologies in advance if something doesn't make sense or maybe off when you try it.

Pork and Wintermelon Soup

Ingredients:

Pork Stock (see below)

Pork with rib bones (riblets or in this case, 2lbs. of St. Louis Baby Back Ribs, cut into small square pieces by WF)

1 or 2 wedges of Wintermelon (purchased at Great Wall Supermarket)

3 slices of ginger

1-2 stalks of green onions (not used in this version, but is typically used)

Alcohol (e.g. rice wine to cut the meaty taste of the pork - 1/4 cup was used in this case)

Salt

Scoop out the seeds of the wintermelon. Cut into size of honeydew/cantaloupe seen sold in grocery store self-service bars. Set aside.

In stockpot, use enough stock to cover the bones + room for the wintermelon. Heat to boil, scoop out any marrow bits, add ginger, scallion (optional) and alcohol (also optional, but typically used). Reduce to simmer for about an hour. (I then strained or you can pick out the ginger at this point.)

Half-an-hour to an hour prior to serving, place wintermelon cuts into the soup. Simmer for that long. It should turn translucent (clear) and soft when it is cooked and ready. Salt to taste.

Pork Stock (adapted from a blogger's adaptation of the Zuni cookbook style)

Neck bones

Bones

Ribs

Meat with fat

Water

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place cuts of neck bones and meat into oven-safe pan. Roast for 20 mins, then flip meat to its other side, then for 15mins more.

Place meats in pot, add enough water. Then add water to the bottom of the roasting pan to loosen the fat and juices - if it does not taste burnt, add that to the pot. Then bring to boil. Add ginger + alcohol (optional).

Cook for at least an hour on simmer and then strain.