FEEL FREE TO BROWSE AROUND!

MY COLLECTION OF USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT COOKING, TIPS, FOOD HYGIENE, TECHNIQUES AND MORE!
"I am committed to prepare the best food, using the best natural ingredients, according to the classic recipes while working under a safer environment with strict food hygiene regulations".

Monday, August 18, 2008

SOUP

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables in stock or hot/boiling water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth.

Romanian potato soup

Romanian potato soup

Traditionally, soups are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish thickened with cream; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and veloutés are thickened with eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and grain.

One of the first types of soups can be dated to about 6000 BC.[1] Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of pouches made of clay or animal skin) about 9,000 years ago.

History

The word soup originates from "sop", a dish originally consisting of a soup or thick stew which was soaked up with pieces of bread. The modern meaning of sop has been limited to just the bread intended to be dipped.

The word restaurant was first used in France in the 16th century, to describe a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup, sold by street vendors called restaurer, that was advertised as an antidote to physical exhaustion. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in restaurers. This prompted the use of the modern word restaurant to describe the shops.

In America, the first colonial cookbook was published by William Parks in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1742, based on Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife; or Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion and it included several recipes for soups and bisques. A 1772 cookbook, The Frugal Housewife, contained an entire chapter on the topic. English cooking dominated early colonial cooking; but as new immigrants arrived from other countries, other national soups gained popularity. In particular, German immigrants living in Pennsylvania were famous for their potato soups. In 1794, Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, a refugee from the French Revolution, opened an eating establishment in Boston called Restorator, and became known as "The Prince of Soups." The first American cooking pamphlet dedicated to soup recipes was written in 1882 by Emma Ewing: Soups and Soup Making.

Portable soup was devised in the 18th century by boiling seasoned meat until a thick, resinous syrup was left that could be dried and stored for months at a time. The Japanese miso is an example of a concentrated soup paste.

Commercial soup

Packets of soup

Packets of soup

Commercial soup became popular with the invention of canning in the 19th century, and today a great variety of canned and dried soups are on the market. Dr. John T. Dorrance, a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company invented condensed soup in 1897.[2] Today, Campbell's Tomato, Cream of Mushroom and Chicken Noodle soups are three of the most popular soups in America. Americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year.[2] Canned Italian-style soups, such as minestrone are also popular. Oriental-style soup mixes containing ramen noodles are marketed as an inexpensive instant lunch, requiring only hot water for preparation.[3] Vegetable, chicken base, potato, pasta and cheese soups are also available in dry mix form, ready to be served by adding hot water.

Nutritional developments

  • Salt - In response to concern over the health effects of excessive salt intake soup manufacturers have introduced reduced-salt versions of popular soups.[4]
  • Trans fat - Concern over coronary heart disease has led soup manufacturers to eliminate trans fats from their soups.
Vegetable beef barley soup

Vegetable beef barley soup

Types of soup

Dessert soups

[edit] Fruit soups

Fruit soups are served warm or cold depending on the recipe. Many recipes are for cold soups served when fruit is in season during hot weather. Some like Norwegian fruktsuppe may be served warm and rely on dried fruit such as raisins and prunes and so could be made in any season. Fruit soups may include milk or cream, sweet or savoury dumplings, spices, or alcoholic beverages such as brandy or champagne. Cherry soup is made with table wine and/or port.

Cold fruit soups are common in Scandinavian, Baltic and Eastern European cuisines while hot fruit soups with meat appear in Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Chinese cuisines. Cold fruit soups include krentjebrij.

Fruit soups are uncommon or absent in the cuisines of the Americas, Africa and Western Europe. They are also not seen in Japan, Southeast Asia or Oceania. The exception is cold fruit soups that are savory rather than (or in addition to) sweet. Examples:

  • Winter melon soup is a Chinese soup, usually with a chicken stock base. It is a savory soup, often including other vegetables and mushrooms. Technically, the winter melon is a fruit, since it is a seed bearing body, but in practical use, it is a vegetable. Winter melon soup is often presented as a whole winter melon, filled with stock, vegetables and meat, that has been steamed for hours. The skin is decoratively cut, so that what is presented is a decorative centerpiece, smaller than a medicine ball, larger than a soccer ball, filled with soup. The flesh of the melon is scooped out with the soup.
  • Gazpacho (from Spain) is a savory soup based on tomato, a New World fruit.

Cold soups

Cold soups are a particular variation on the traditional soup, wherein the temperature when served is kept at or below room temperature. They may be sweet or savory. In summer, sweet cold soups can form part of a dessert tray.

Asian soups

Main article: Asian soup

A feature of East Asian soups not normally found in Western cuisine is the use of tofu in soups. Many traditional East Asian soups are typically broths, clear soups, or starch thickened soups. Many soups are eaten and drunk as much for their flavour as well as for their health benefits.

Traditional regional soups

Swiss soup

Swiss soup
A thick pea soup garnished with a tortilla fragment

A thick pea soup garnished with a tortilla fragment

No comments: