CONVENIENCE AND HEALTH FOODS 3 (1+2)

Lesson 12 : Soups And Convenience Soup Mixes

Various Terms used to describe Soup

Stock: It is the liquid obtained from the long cooking of meat, poultry, fish or vegetables in water. It is seasoned with herbs and spices.

Brown Stock: It is made from lean beef and bone. Part of the meat is browned before it is added to water.

White Stock: It is made from veal (meat from cattle slaughtered 3 to 4 weeks after birth) or chicken. Here the meat is not browned.

Broth: It is the liquid resulting when meat or poultry is simmered in water. It is an unclarified thin soup.

Bouillon: It is prepared from brown stock, lightly seasoned and clarified. It is a clear, seasoned soup usually made from beef or chicken.

Consommé: It is made from two or more kinds of meat (beef, veal and chicken). It is highly seasoned, clarified and strained and hence it is a thin clarified soup.

Cream Soup: It is a combination of white sauce and a puree of vegetables or fish, such as cream of pea, tomato, carrot, celery, corn, spinach, bean and oyster (shell fish) or clam bisque. The term bisque is applied to cream soups prepared from shell fish.

Chowders: These are made with milk, fish, shell fish or vegetables such as potato, onion and corn.

Gumbo: It is a mixture of chicken, oysters, crab, shrimp (shell fish), tomatoes, okra and seasonings.

Preparation of Soups:

1. Cream Soups: In the preparation of cream soups, it is customary to use part of vegetable or fish puree to 1½ to 2 parts of thin cream sauce. Pureed vegetables may be used as such or vegetables may be sieved after they have been cooked sufficiently to become soft. The heated puree should be added gradually to the hot sauce to prevent lumping and curdling. This is especially important in the preparation of cream of tomato soup because the acid present is likely to produce curdling.

2. Meat Stock: Less tender cuts of meat or poultry are rich in extractives and together with bone, provide the ideal combination for full flavoured meat stock. The meat or chicken should be cut in pieces in order to increase the surface area and thus facilitate the extraction of purines. Here long cooking at a simmering temperature is essential for maximum extraction of purines. Diced vegetables’, spices, herbs and salt are added during the last hour of the cooking period for attaining best flavour.