Soups For All Seasons

Is there anything better that enjoying a warm bowl of rich soup on a cold day? The tastes, the textures, the endless varieties, and let’s not forget the comfort food factor. While soups are often thought of as a wintertime food, there’s no reason they can’t be a year-round favorite. Many of the heartier soups can be a complete meal. And for the hottest days, you can always switch to chilled soup if you prefer. Below are some of are some of the basics about the types of soups you can make.

You can actually break down the types of soups in a few simple ways, most frequently by soups made with a stock base and those that can be made without stock. Additionally there is the option of fruit soups. Soups made with stock include broth, bouillon, and consomm. Soups that may be made without stock can include puree, cream, bisque, and chowders.

If you’re making your own stock, you can choose to make it meat or vegetable based. Meats often used are beef, lamb, turkey, chicken, veal, and fish. If you use dark color meat such as beef you will end up with the darker, brown color stock while your lighter meats such as fish and poultry will result in a white, clearer soup stock. Vegetables favored for flavoring stock are typically celery, onion, and carrots. These based are most commonly used for soups like tomato, cabbage, chicken, beef, vegetable soup, and broth’s.

Purees and cream soups often make a great main course for lunch or for a lighter dinner since they’re quite thick and rich. Varieties can include split pea, creamy corn or tomato, clam chowder, potato and bean purees bisques like lobster or oyster, and vegetable cream soups such as cream of broccoli or mushroom.

If you’d like great fruit soup, consider such refreshing favorites as chilled cantaloupe, cherry soup, honeydew melon, peach, or strawberry cream. These delicious soups are wonderful anytime, but especially on a hot sultry day. Some fruit soups use fruit juice as a base, while others call for a vegetable stock base. Either makes a wonderful vegetarian treat.

Whatever soup you choose to make, there’s nothing quite like coming home and savoring a well-made soup. Finish your cream soup off with a small garnish and serve in a large, flat bowl. Covered soup bowls are ideal for bean and onion soups. And don’t forget to make enough for second helpings.

Don’t forget to make a delicious dessert to serve after your soup dinner, such as a golden pound cake made using a stainless steelbread and cake loaf pan. There are so many great desserts you’ll be able to make when your own a variety of stainless steel bakeware.