September 28, 2017
September 28, 2017
Souper Day!
Cream of Mushroom Soup:
Chef specifically emphasized that cream soups should taste like the main ingredient that they are named after. So for my mushroom soup, I made a very conscious effort to capture the essence of mushroom to the best of my ability. After making a volute base and adding mushrooms, cream and thyme, I developed a very flavorful, mushroomy soup. It was delicious and deemed better than the horrific cream of mushroom from Campbell's. Thank goodness. I think this soup with the German classic schnitzel would be a lovely combination. Pour this over the top of the breaded and fried pork and you have a great meal.
Corn Chowder:
A lot more complex than the mushroom soup but relatively easy. I think thickening up this soup sufficiently was the real clincher. I made a roux out of the bacon fat and some flour, then I added the rest of the veggies and bacon. I oven roasted my corn cobs and after cutting off the corn, boiled my cobs in the chicken broth. I then added that to the roux and veggies and stirred until all was incorporated. I pureed half of the corn with milk and added it to the soup. From that point on it was about seasoning it enough and letting it simmer to develop more flavor. 10 ears of corn for that soup sure produced a corny product. LOL. It ended up tasting nice, even though it was WAY too fatty for my liking. I would have rather like to add more herbs and "fresh" ingredients. I feel like cream soups are very heavy and pull the freshness factor out of any vegetable.
White Bean Chicken Chili:
Okay wow. Chef KJ made a bomb version of this with some sour apples and some other magic I don't even know but it was delicious. My group made this soup as well and I contributed by peeling the roasted and sweated peppers. The peppers made the white beans and chicken go from bland to very flavorful. Ours turned out a little thick so I think it would have been better to add some chicken stock to the blended beans. It would have liquidized it a little more and made it more like soup and less like a stew.
WHAT I LEARNED:
Flavor in soup is developed by layering flavors. Soup is a relatively simple food item but can be easily overlooked in the flavor department. I have had very bland soup and I know that any soup con be improved marginally simply by developing better flavor. Chef's suggestion for me to boil my corn cobs in the chicken broth for my chowder helped me to see the importance of that.
Souper Day!
Cream of Mushroom Soup:
Chef specifically emphasized that cream soups should taste like the main ingredient that they are named after. So for my mushroom soup, I made a very conscious effort to capture the essence of mushroom to the best of my ability. After making a volute base and adding mushrooms, cream and thyme, I developed a very flavorful, mushroomy soup. It was delicious and deemed better than the horrific cream of mushroom from Campbell's. Thank goodness. I think this soup with the German classic schnitzel would be a lovely combination. Pour this over the top of the breaded and fried pork and you have a great meal.
Corn Chowder:
A lot more complex than the mushroom soup but relatively easy. I think thickening up this soup sufficiently was the real clincher. I made a roux out of the bacon fat and some flour, then I added the rest of the veggies and bacon. I oven roasted my corn cobs and after cutting off the corn, boiled my cobs in the chicken broth. I then added that to the roux and veggies and stirred until all was incorporated. I pureed half of the corn with milk and added it to the soup. From that point on it was about seasoning it enough and letting it simmer to develop more flavor. 10 ears of corn for that soup sure produced a corny product. LOL. It ended up tasting nice, even though it was WAY too fatty for my liking. I would have rather like to add more herbs and "fresh" ingredients. I feel like cream soups are very heavy and pull the freshness factor out of any vegetable.
White Bean Chicken Chili:
Okay wow. Chef KJ made a bomb version of this with some sour apples and some other magic I don't even know but it was delicious. My group made this soup as well and I contributed by peeling the roasted and sweated peppers. The peppers made the white beans and chicken go from bland to very flavorful. Ours turned out a little thick so I think it would have been better to add some chicken stock to the blended beans. It would have liquidized it a little more and made it more like soup and less like a stew.
WHAT I LEARNED:
Flavor in soup is developed by layering flavors. Soup is a relatively simple food item but can be easily overlooked in the flavor department. I have had very bland soup and I know that any soup con be improved marginally simply by developing better flavor. Chef's suggestion for me to boil my corn cobs in the chicken broth for my chowder helped me to see the importance of that.
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