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For centuries, France has been the country of soup. After a long day, our ancestors found themselves at the corner of the fireplace, to “chop the soup.” Roboratives soups, thick with bread soaked in broth, sometimes supplemented with meat, poultry, meat or fish. At the time, the soup was a complete dish, closer to stews than broths.
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Nowadays, the women do not have time to peel the vegetables and simmer them in a chicken or vegetables broth. This is unfortunate. Nothing is better when it is cold outside, or after holidays meals
History of Soup
From antiquity, we hardly remember the black broth of Sparta, a mixture based of stewed meat in vinegar, more or less charred, accompanied by bitter herbs.
It was not until the reign of Charles VII that we find new and original recipes created by Taillevent, cook of kings: soup with onion, mustard, beans, fish. At the time of Rabelais, we appreciated the bisques, a kind of soup which was holding pieces of meat.
Today it is reserved for the preparation of crustaceans that are crushed to obtain a puree.
In the seventeenth century, the word soup changed into potage (potage St. Germain). It was under the reign of Louis XV that we are witnessing a veritable profusion from all French regions: garbure béarnaise, bourride of Sète, consommes.
Louis XVIII, a gourmet, feasted with a lentil soup with croutons, and the famous chef Carême has listed more than 300 recipes for soups, eaten, bisques, velvet, velvety cream.
How to classify soups?
Our soups are broth-based with meat, fish or vegetables. They are used with or without a garnish. To purists, note that when the garnish is in whole or in part, consisting of slices that are soaked in broth, potage takes the name of soup.
There are two classes of soups:
Soups clear: These are broths and consommes, clear soups with meat or vegetables. If the soup is too thin, you can thicken with a tablespoon of mashed potato flakes
Liaised Soup; Soup-puree: a vegetable base provides the necessary thickening.
Creams (crustaceans, fish, meat and vegetables): The thickening is made through a roux, in which you can add 1 egg yolk.
Soups (crustaceans, fish, meat and vegetables): The thickening is made at the last moment, yolks and cream.
Broth: I start with the simplest recipes. Cooking complete, you can either use the broth after being filtered, or turn it into soup after using a vegetables potato masher or mixer and after removing the bouquet garni, or enjoy it with pieces of vegetables.
If for your soup you use cubes or bouillon cubes, it is best to wait for the end of cooking to check the seasoning. The concentrate has a high salt content.
Clarification, this is a quick recipe housewife and not the method that is taught in cooking schools.
Ingredients
Preparation time: 10 minutes + baking pot: 1:30h / Cooking in a pressure cooker: 20 minutes
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 leeks
- 2 turnips, peeled and diced
- 1 stalk of celery, diced
- 1 large onion, cut into thin strips
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 bouquet garni *
- Salt and pepper
* Bouquet garni: 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried, a few sprigs of fresh parsley, a sprig of fresh thyme or dried, all maintained with kitchen string and possibly a stalk of celery or a piece of leek.Cut the root end of leeks and green leaves.
Then split in 4 and wash under water, then cut into small pieces.
Place all vegetables in a pot with 1 ½ liter of water.
Add the bouquet garni and ½ teaspoon salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat.
Cover and simmer 1:30h (20 minutes in a pressure cooker).
Check the seasoning and pass the broth through a sieve.
Serve hot. You can add a small amount of butter.
