There are very few things in this world that make me happier than making a big fucking pot of soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because soup is complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s the beauty of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soup is one of those rare foods that can be humble as hell and still make people feel like you’ve taken care of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I know people love soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know because I’ve sold a hell of a lot of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of my career working in kitchens, I’ve watched people happily hand over nine dollars for a bowl of soup<\/strong> that started with a pot, some vegetables, a little stock, some seasoning, and somebody who knew what the hell they were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nine dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And nobody complained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They ate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They scraped the bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They came back for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s when you learn something important about food:<\/p>\n\n\n\n People aren’t always looking for fancy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes they just want something hot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something comforting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something that smells fucking amazing when they walk through the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something they can wrap both hands around on a cold day and think, Oh yeah. This is exactly what I needed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve made a lot of things in kitchens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve made food that required expensive ingredients, complicated techniques and enough little containers of mise en place to make you wonder if you were cooking dinner or conducting surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve also made soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I’ll take the soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because soup gives you room to cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can start with onions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add garlic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throw in carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, beans, lentils, leftover chicken, yesterday’s roast, a piece of bacon, whatever vegetables are threatening to die in the crisper drawer…<\/p>\n\n\n\n And suddenly you’ve got dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s not magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s knowing how food works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the reasons I love soup so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don’t need a recipe carved into stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need a basic understanding of balance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with some fat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Butter, oil, bacon fat\u2014whatever makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cook your aromatics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Onion is usually a damn good place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add garlic if you want it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then add your vegetables, meat, beans, grains or whatever else is going into the pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add stock or water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let it cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is where the cooking actually happens.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Taste your soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it bland?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It probably needs salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still dull?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it needs acid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A squeeze of lemon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A splash of vinegar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe tomatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does it taste thin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might need more body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A little butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you need to reduce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it too heavy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acid can wake the whole damn thing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soup teaches you to taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And tasting is how you learn to cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is something I wish more people understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recipes are useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But eventually, you need to start looking at your pot and thinking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this need?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’ve got a pot of chicken soup that’s missing something, don’t immediately start searching Google for “chicken soup recipe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taste it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it needs salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe the chicken stock is weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe there’s too much water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it needs onion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it needs parsley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it needs lemon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe you cooked the vegetables into oblivion and now everything tastes like beige sadness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve done it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve all done it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s how you learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s the thing about that nine-dollar bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People sometimes look at the price of restaurant food and think they’re paying for the ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They’re not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They’re paying for knowing what to do with them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A bowl of soup might contain inexpensive ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s perfectly fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The value is in turning those ingredients into something people actually want to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s what cooks do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We take a bunch of ordinary things and figure out how to make them taste extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And soup is one of the best examples of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A carrot doesn’t have to be expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An onion doesn’t have to be fancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A potato doesn’t need a pedigree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But give them some attention, proper seasoning, good heat and enough time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you’ve got something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is another reason I love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soup doesn’t demand perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forgot to chop the carrots exactly the same size?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Got a weird-looking potato?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throw it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your celery is looking slightly questionable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cut off the sad bits and carry on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have half a chicken left from yesterday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have three mushrooms, half an onion and a handful of spinach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have beans in the pantry and absolutely no idea what you’re making for dinner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soup.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is especially useful when money is tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And let’s be honest\u2014there are a lot of people trying to stretch a grocery budget these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good pot of soup can take ingredients that look like odds and ends and turn them into several meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s not boring food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s smart cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there’s one thing I’ve learned after all those years in kitchens, it’s this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t rush the beginning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Give your onions time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let them soften.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let the vegetables develop some flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t dump everything into a pot of boiling water and wonder why it tastes like hot vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Build the flavor in layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s what professional cooks do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you don’t need a professional kitchen to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need a pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A stove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the willingness to taste your food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s pretty much it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make a big pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t worry about making it perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use what you’ve got.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taste it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taste it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put some in the freezer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eat some tomorrow because soup is often even better the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give some to somebody who needs dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you make a pot that’s really fucking good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write down what you did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because that’s how recipes are born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not in some magical kitchen where everybody wears white coats and measures parsley with tweezers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They start with somebody standing over a pot thinking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Holy shit. That’s good.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve made a lot of soup in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if people were willing to pay me $9 a bowl for it, I’m pretty confident I’m not the only one who thinks soup is worth getting excited about.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI Love Making Soup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Soup Is One of the Best “Use What You’ve Got” Foods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
You Don’t Need a Recipe for Everything<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The $9 Bowl of Soup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Soup Is Also Forgiving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Secret Is in the Pot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So Make the Soup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n