Soup Making Tips

I’ve lived in Atlanta for 20+ years now, and I’ve been really lucky to know Jenny Levison for much of that time.  Jenny is  Atlanta’s soup diva, and if you’ve ever driven by her shop, Souper Jenny, anywhere near lunchtime on any day that she’s open, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the line going way out into the parking lot.  Jenny was recently featured in AJC.com (the online version of Atlanta’s daily newspaper) where she shares her ideas (and a few recipes, hooray!) for making foolproof soup.  Here are some of Jenny’s tips:

Souper Jenny’s soup-making tips

● A soup can take 15 minutes, or it can cook all day. Find a recipe that suits the time you have.

● A heavy-duty, large stockpot is an essential piece of kitchen equipment.

● Invest in a hand-held or immersion blender. An immersion blender goes right into the soup pot and blends everything in a flash — no more ladling hot soup into a blender.

● Make soup ahead. Most taste even better the next day.

● It’s OK to use store-bought stock. Buy the highest-quality low-sodium stock you can find. The fewer the ingredients, the better.

● Sauté onions first, then add the garlic. Garlic burns quickly, so starting with the onions will temper the heat.

● Sweating vegetables in a sauté pan or roasting them before adding to soup releases some of their liquid and concentrates the flavors.

● Sauté or roast bitter vegetables such as eggplant and peppers before adding to soup.

● Clean mushrooms by putting them in a colander and shaking out loose dirt. Use a clean cloth to wipe each mushroom individually. Rinsing under water will make them rubbery when cooked.

● Unless the soup will be pureed, cut all ingredients into spoonable pieces.

● One way to make a vegetable soup creamy is to melt in low-fat cream cheese.

● Taste everything as you go.

● Use recipes as a guide. Read through them. Substitute if you need to adapt to what you have on hand or to your taste, and then try it!