Introduction to continental cookery
Soup is a liquid food consisting of meat, seafood, vegetables, cereals or poultry. They play an important role on the menu and are regarded as appetisers as they stimulate the appetite for the higher foods to follow. On the menu they are served as the first course.
Clear soup:
Broths: Stocks, broths are prepared by simmering, flavouring ingredients in a liquid for long periods of time.
Broths and stocks differ, however, in two ways. First, broths are made with meat instead of just bones. Second, broths can be served as finished dishes, while stocks are generally used to prepare other items.
Broths are made from meat, poultry, fish or vegetables cooked in a liquid. An especially full-flavoured broth results when a stock and not just water is used as the liquid.
Consommé:
Consommé is a concentrated, thin, clear soup made from meat, poultry or fish. The word has the same origin as consummate, meaning to bring to completion or perfection. A consommé is cooked long enough for most of the nutritive properties of the ingredients to be extracted in to the liquid.
To make a consommé, you clarify a stock or broth. The stock or broth to be clarified must be cold and grease free. To clarify, the cold degreased stock or broth is combined with a mixture known as clear meat for clarification. A clear meat is a mixture of egg whites ground meat, poultry or fish; mirepoix, herbs and spices; and an acidic product, usually tomatoes, lemon juice or wine.
Thick soup:
Cream Soups: Most cream soups are made by simmering the main flavouring ingredient for example, broccoli for cream of broccoli soup in a white stock or thin veloute sauce to which seasonings have been added. The mixture is then pureed and strained. After the consistency has been adjusted, the soup is finished by adding cream.
Both hard vegetables and soft or leafy vegetables are used for cream soups. Hard vegetables are generally sweated in butter without browning before the liquid is brought to a boil. Because cream coups are pureed, it is important to cook the flavouring ingredients until they are soft and can be passed through a food mill easily.
Note:
Never add cold milk or cream to hot soup. Bring the milk or cream to a simmer before adding it to the soup Or temper the milk or cream by gradually adding some hot soup to it and then incorporating the warmed mixture into the rest of the soup.
If possible, add the milk or cream to the soup just before service.
Do not boil the soup after the milk or cream has been added.
The presence of roux or other starch helps prevent curdling. Therefore, Béchamel or cream sauce is often used instead of milk or cream to finish cream soups.
Puree Soups
Puree soups are hearty soups made by cooking starchy vegetables or legumes in a stock or broth, then pureeing all or a portion of them to thicken the soup. Puree soups are similar to cream soups in that they both consist of a main ingredient that is first cooked in a liquid, then puree.
The primary difference is that unlike cream soups, which are thickened with starch, puree soups generally do not use additional starch for thickening. Rather, puree soups depend on the starch content of the main ingredient for thickening. Also, puree soups are generally coarser than cream soups and are typically not strained after pureeing.
Veloute Soup:
Veloute as soups is similar to other sauces, but differs from purees, as they require a thickening element and a roux. Veloute is made by preparing roux and adding stock and the pureed vegetable or meat and hot milk is blended in, to produce as smooth soup.
Finishing of Veloutes is done by a liaison i.e. cream and egg yolks, as it enhance the taste and texture. Examples of Veloutes are Chicken veloute, celery veloute and almond veloute.
Bisques:
Traditional bisques are shellfish soups thickened with cooked rice. Today bisques are prepared using a combination of the cream and puree soup procedures. They are generally made from shrimp, lobster or crayfish and are thickened with a roux instead of rice for better stability and consistency.
Most of bisque’s flavour comes from crustaceans shells, which are simmered in the cooking liquid, pureed (along with the mirepoix), returned to the cooking liquid and strained after further cooking. Pureeing the shells and returning them to the soup also adds the thickness and grainy texture associated with bisques.
Chowders Soup:
An American soup resembling as stew made of meat, fish or vegetable with milk, salted pork and various seasonings. Crackers are generally added just before serving.
Chowders are hearty soups with chunks of the main ingredients (including, virtually always, diced potatoes) and garnishes. With some exceptions (notably, Manhattan clam chowder), chowders contain milk or cream. Although there are thin chowders, most chowders are thickened with roux. The procedures for making chowders are similar to those for making cream soups except that chowders are not pureed and strained before the cream is added.
Coulis :
A term often used for thick soups made with a pure of shellfish, e.g. Coulis d'ecrevisses, Coulis de crabes.
Sometimes the term also used for liquid purees such as chicken, game or vegetables.
Cold Soups:
Cold soups can be as simple as a chilled version of a cream soup or as unique as a cold fruit soup blended with yoghurt.
Other than the fact that they are cold, cold soups are difficult to classify because many of them use unique or combination preparation methods.
Regardless, they are divided here into two categories: cold soups that require cooking and those that do not.
International soups:
Mulligatawny: It is a cream of curry soup which is considered to be a classical example of Indian national soup.
Gumbo: Gumbo is the pride of the state of Louisiana. It takes its name from African word 'okra', the ingredient that gives this soup its characteristic gelatinous structure.
Avgolemono: It is a soup made of rice cooked in meat broth. It is finished with well beaten eggs and fresh lemon juice. This is from Greece
Minestrone: It is an Italian thick soup made of any vegetables available at the market.
