English Soup

[迷途羔羊]

Cheese & Ale Pub Soup

5 Tablespoons butter
1 cup onions, chopped fine
1 cup celery, with leaves, chopped fine
1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped fine
1 cup parsnips, peeled and chopped fine
2 Tablespoons garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
3½ cups rich chicken stock
4 cups Bass ale
2 bay leaves
cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce, to taste
4 Tablespoons cornstarch, diluted in cold water
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 pound Stilton and Cheddar cheese (the proportion of each, to your taste), grated
salt, to taste
Garnish: minced parsley

Melt the butter over low heat in a large pot, then toss in the vegetables, cover, and sweat til the onion is transparent. Stir in the flour (adding more butter if it is too dry) and let cook 2 minutes. Pour in the stock and ale, and stir in the bay leaves and hot peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

When the vegetables are tender, stir in the diluted cornstarch, raise the heat to medium high, and let cook until the soup thickens. Stir in the cream, then stir in the cheese by handfuls. When the soup has thickened nicely, take off the heat, cover, and let the flavors blend. When ready to serve, reheat and ladle into bowls. Brown bread! Butter! Tankards of ale!

 

[迷途羔羊]

SOUP OF THE EVENING
Beautiful Soup

"Beautiful soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau--ootiful Soo--oop! Beau--ootiful Soo--oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, Beautiful, beautiful Soup"
[Hear 12-year-old Michael Bannett perform Lewis Carroll's
"The Mock Turtle's song"]

For centuries, soup has been the first resort of a special dinner and the last resort of weary providers with tired vegetables and hungry children. And it's a lot more than that. Thackeray has versified on it; Queequeg has rhapsodized about it; George Santayana has waxed downright Proustian for its sake. In these pages, dear readers, I would sing a song of soup to fill your bellies and satisfy your souls.

 

[迷途羔羊]

Potato Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter or lard
1 carrot, peeled & chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 leek, cleaned & chopped
3 sprigs parsley, chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 lb potatoes, peeled, washed & diced
2 litres beef stock (or less)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley (garnish)
Method
Heat the butter or lard in a large pan.
Place the vegetables, parsley and onion in the pan and fry until the onion becomes transparent.
Add the potatoes and enough stock to cover all the vegetables.
Add salt and pepper to taste, stir well and cook until the potatoes are tender all the way through and
almost done.
Remove about a third of the potatoes from the pot.
Mash the remaining two-thirds and return to the pot for thickening the soup.
Reheat the soup. Test for seasoning, garnish with the 2 tbsp chopped parsley and serve.
Definitions
To chop: To cut food into small even-sized pieces using a knife or food processor.

To dice: cut small uniform cubes of any solid ingredient eg cheese or carrots, first cut the food into even-sized thick strips and then slice crosswise into cubes.

To fry: cook in hot fat.

To mash: To break down a cooked ingredient such as potatoes into a smooth mixture using a potato masher or fork.

To peel: To remove the outer layer of a food.

To simmer: keep a liquid just below boiling point, usually in a pan on the hob, e.g. simmer the sauce until it starts to thicken.

To stir: To agitate an ingredient or a number of ingredients using a hand held tool such as a spoon.