"We don't need no stinkin' recipe"

It seems that our family is quite talented at throwing together bits and pieces of leftovers and things from the garden and coming up with delicious soups and stews that go beyond the need for a recipe. I've gathered everyone's tips and tricks, and can easily add more as they are invented.

Mom

If you were ever in Maa's kitchen when she was handling carcasses of any kind - chicken, turkey, ham - you know she boiled the bones with carrots, celery, and onion. Then let it all cool on the back porch and then removed the solids, picking the bones clean. The veggies were tossed and the rest was ready for gravy, stew, turkey hash, or soup.

If you don't have a carcass to boil, I found something that I like much better than either Swanson's Chicken Stock or the little bouillon cubes - BETTER THAN BOUILLON chicken base by a company called Superior Touch. 

Beth

Beer! Add some good dark beer to the stock (I use Swanson's Beef Stock). If I make a big pot, I'll add a whole beer. If just enough for a couple of nights for two, I'll add about 1/2 to 2/3 and drink the rest.

Be sure to dredge the stew beef in a mixture of flour and black pepper and brown before adding to the stock. This will make the stew thick and rich.

Jackie

I make soup/stew a lot, but don't use a recipe. I'm getting better and better, so usually now they turn out great, although there is still the occasional dud. My earlier ones were hit or miss.

I've found that it's important to sauté everything first, then gradually add the water and/or other liquids and simmer. I prefer butter, but there are healthier choices. Leftovers work particularly well, and chopped garlic and onions are an important ingredient in every soup. Especially the garlic. Also important is a bit of wine or vinegar, unless it's a cream soup and you add a little half and half. Sometimes I add beer. For richness, making your own stock with some bones/meat is really good, but not as easy as adding some bouillon. Fresh herbs can be sautéed at the beginning, but I like to also add them near the end so you can see them.

A couple of favorites:

  • Leftover cut up chicken meat with chopped fresh greens and noodles. (Add noodles at the end so they won't be soggy.)
  • Thin little pieces of leftover sirloin steak, with cut up chunks of leftover baked potato. I can't remember the vegetables I put in this one, but it was superb, and also it passed the Daniel test. (Daniel only eats really good soup.)
  • Little balls of hamburger with eggplant cubes, some yellow bell pepper pieces, and Jamaican style dumplings. The dumplings are simply flour (sometimes I add some cornmeal) salted then mixed with water until you can work with it enough to form little round patties. They're tough and chewy compared to traditional dumplings. Vinegar brought out the flavors in this soup, and it was so good that I made some more and canned it last summer.

One other thing about making soup - it's a great way to use up bits of stuff from the garden, like the pitiful little broccoli heads I get. Also, I had a cayenne pepper plant go viral (that's the best word to describe all the peppers I got, even though it is on the list of banned words for the year because it's so overused,) and they are a great addition to soup. I once made a chicken/greens soup with a cayenne pepper and some grated ginger. It was really good - had an Asian taste.

I love cooking and eating soup!!!!

Laura

Our favorite soup is chicken noodle, made with a leftover chicken carcass from a roast chicken. We remove leftover meat, boil the carcass with celery, carrot, onion and garlic until it falls apart, strain all the stuff out, and pick out the pieces of meat to put in the soup. Then when you're ready for soup, boil the stock, add noodles and whatever veggies you want, and enough salt. YUM!