Cream Soups

Cream Soups

Cream soups are made by combining a very thin Veloute, or Béchamel, sauce (do not use béchamel if soup is to be stored before use, cream will sour the soup), with a suitable quantity of cooked, mashed, strained vegetable, fish or meat pulp. While the vegetables, fish, and/or meat are really just a garnish; flavour is always improved by the use of some highly flavoured vegetables.

Cream Soup Recipes and Base

I could, at this time, include recipes for various cream soups, and for a cream soup base; but, it is very impractical to do so.

Commercial, soup bases are, simply, processed starch, or a homogenized white roux using chicken fat, with the addition of some additional spices and herbs.

All cream soups are prepared as described above. 

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Parisian Onion Soup

3 onions, small dice

       Salt and pepper

3 Tbsps. margarine

Toasted French bread slices

1 Tbsp. flour

3/4 cup grated

       Gruyere cheese

2 cups each light, cream and milk

In a large saucepan, cook onions in the margarine 5 minutes. Blend in flour to make a roux and bring to boil. Simmer 10 minutes. Season the soup to taste. Put the toast in a tureen. Pour the soup over toast, and sprinkle with cheese. Sprinkle some coarse pepper over top. Makes: 4 servings.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Pepper Pot Soup

Veal bones

11/2 qts. water

1 lb. boneless stewing veal, cut up

2 potatoes, diced

1/2 lb. tripe, cubed

2 carrots, diced

1/2 bay leaf

1/4 cup celery, diced

1/8 tsp. whole black peppers  

1/2 medium green pepper, diced

       Salt      

2 Tbsps. butter

3 onions, diced                     

Pepper

Minced parsley

Put bone, veal tripe, bay leaf, 2 tsps. salt, whole peppers and 1/3 of onion in large kettle. Add water. Bring to boil; cover, and simmer 2 hours; remove bone. Cook remaining onion, potato, carrot, celery and green pepper in butter 10 minutes. Add to meat mixture and simmer 30 minutes. Season. Serve with parsley. Makes: 2 qts.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Cockaleekie Soup

Cockaleekie Soup-Is a slow cooking, soup, staring of course, chicken, and leeks.

Salt

2 dried hot red peppers or dash of cayenne

1 fowl, cut up

2 1/2 qts. water

3 onions, diced

1 doz. leeks, white part only, 1 in. pieces

1 clove garlic, crushed

Few sprigs parsley

1 bay leaf   

6 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

       Pepper

1. Put Tbsp. salt and remaining ingredients, except last 3, in large kettle. Bring to a boil and simmer covered, 4 hours, or until fowl is tender.

2. Remove skin and bones from chicken and cut meat in good-sized chunks. Skim fat from broth and add chicken, leeks and potatoes.

3. Cover and cook 30 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes, about: 3 quarts.

Petite Marmite- The Soup Casserole, not the Cheap Filler, or Low- cost, Soup-base.

A "marmite" would not make a suitable base for a soup or stew. 

A "marmite" is NOT the sticky brown spread made from yeast extract; and it is not a by-product of the brewing industry. 

A "marmite" IS a deep clay casserole-or soup pot.
Remember, the average North American family throws away,well over half of; their food dollar.

Yes,"Marmite", is now a "borrowed" trade name: for that sticky brown stuff (fairly popular in  the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa-however, a picture of a marmite appears on the front label of this product) which CAN be used as a , filler, and base, (some believe time and money saving)for braised dishes, soups, and/or stews (see: ingredients to make 1 qt. soup stock and following beef stock post).
Slightly simpler and quicker to prepare than Grande Marmite, there's nothing, at all, petite about this beef, chicken, and vegetable soup.

3 medium onions, sliced

        Few sprigs parsley

1 Tbsp. butter    

1/2 tsp. thyme

2 lbs. beef chuck, in one piece

2 whole cloves

2 lbs. beef soup bones

1 cup diced celery

1 fowl

4 carrots diced

3 qts. water

3 sliced leeks, white part only

Salt

1/4 small green cabbage, slivered

2 bay leaves

1 box frozen peas

8 whole black peppers

       Pepper

       Grated cheese

·        Brown, onions, in butter, in large kettle; then add beef, bones, fowl, water, 1 Tbsp. salt, bay leaves, whole peppers, parsley, thyme, and cloves. Bring to boil, and simmer, covered 4 hours, or until meats are tender.

·        Remove meats, cool, and slice thin.

·        Cook remaining vegetables for garnish until barely tender in a little boiling salted water.

·        Drain. Strain soup mixture and reheat.

·        Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put some vegetables and meat slices in individual marmites or soup bowls.

·        Cover with broth. Serve with grated cheese. Makes: 6 to 8 servings.            

Grande Marmite-the Large Soup Casserole-NOT the Cheap,Sticky Brown Filler.

The average North American family throws away,well over half of; their food dollar.

Any true "marmite" would not make a suitable base for a soup or stew; 

for, a "marmite" is NOT the sticky brown spread made from yeast extract; 
it is not a by-product of the brewing industry; 

A "marmite" IS a deep clay casserole-or soup pot.

Yes,"Marmite", is now a "borrowed" trade name: for that sticky brown stuff (fairly popular in  the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa-however, a picture of a marmite appears on the front label of this product) which CAN be used as a filler, and  base, (some believe time and money saving)for braised dishes, soups, and/or stews (see: ingredients to make 1 qt. soup stock and following beef stock post).

·        In a large soup kettle in 2 qts. water put six (2 ins. long) pieces of marrow bone. Do not add any seasonings or vegetables.

·        Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat, and remove scum as it accumulates on the surface.

·        When the surface is clear, cover the pot, and simmer the water for 3 hours.    

·        Strain the broth, remove the marrow from the bones, reserve it, and discard the bones. Measure the broth, pour it into the soup kettle, and add enough cold water to make 4 qts of liquid.

·        Add 2 lbs. lean beef, using plate, flank, or round and keeping the beef in one piece. Add 1 four lb. fowl, and 1 tsp. salt.

·        Slowly bring the liquid to a boil and simmer it gently, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes.

·        Remove the scum as it accumulates on the surface.

·        Stud 1 medium-sized yellow onion with 2 cloves and tie 2 leeks together.

·      Put the onion and the leeks in a moderate oven (350 F) and roast them until they are golden brown. This is important and must not be omitted, as it is the browning of the onion and the leeks that gives the marmite its rich, golden colour and characteristic flavour.

·        When the surface of the soup is free of scum, add the browned onion and leeks and add 6 medium-sized carrots, quartered lengthwise, 3 white turnips, quartered, 4 leafy stalks of celery and 1 small head of white cabbage weighing about 1 lb., cut into inch-wide strips.

·        Add 8 whole peppercorns and a bouquet garni. Simmer the soup over very low heat for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours.

·        Set the cover of the soup kettle slightly askew to allow some steam to escape during the simmering.

·        When beef and fowl are tender, add the reserved marrow, adjust the seasoning, and serve in one of two ways. If the marmite was prepared in an earthenware soup pot, as it is customarily done in France, the soup is served from this pot.

·        The beef and the fowl are removed to a hot platter and slices are carved to be added to each serving.

·        The other method of serving the marmite is to dice the beef and the white meat of the chicken, return the dice to the soup, and then serve.

·        In either case, slices of fresh bread, browned in the oven, not just toasted, are served floating on the marmite.

·        If chicken and beef, or just beef alone, are prepared in the marmite manner, the broth, of course, may be served as a strained soup or be used as a base for onion soup, and the beef may be served as the main course of the meal accompanied by vegetables and any one of a number of sauces.©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved. 

Parisian, French Potato Soup

 is a very popular soup, of potatoes, and leeks.

4 medium potatoes

1 1/2 cups light cream, scalded

3 to 4 leeks, white parts only   

       White pepper

Butter or margarine

2 egg yolks

Salt

Croutons

Peel and dice potatoes; put in large saucepan. Dice leeks fine and brown lightly in 2 Tbsps. butter. Add potatoes. Add boiling water to cover and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cover, bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender. Put entire mixture through Food mill, or purée in blender. Add milk and heat. Season; to taste. Beat in egg yolks. Serve with a spoonful of butter and a few croutons in each bowl Serves 4

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.