Soups offer an unending variety of ingredients cooked and served in a special stock, broth or liquid, but it is often a pleasure to delve into the possibilities of soup making a healthier and flavorful affair. An article in BBC opens to the soup lovers the whole vocabulary of soups in French Bouillon, Consomme, bisques, pottage, stews, chowders, so on and so forth.
The article points out that whatever the technicalities that may accompany a particular specification of soup making, the chefs should not forget the stocks, thickeners, garnishes and accompaniments that go into and along with the soups to make it endearing.
Facts provide that ingredients for the stock of the soup should be carefully chosen among fresh vegetable peelings, meat scraps, shells of seafood, mild herbs and spices, while strong herbs, spices, dark colored vegetables or bitter-flavored veggies should be left out of the stock.
There are claims that chefs, hosts or soup lovers can get the taste buds of their diners in hold at the very start of a buffet, by putting into the bowl maximum flavor of the main ingredient of the soup in stews, bisque, chowders and consommes.
Most often, the flavors of the soups are decked-up with unnecessary ingredients that mar the whole purpose and uniqueness of the base flavor and nutrient of that specific ingredient. Therefore, it is better to use the puree of the main ingredient like tomatoes, vegetables, seafood or meat puree to thicken the soups instead of cornflour, arrowroot, rice, tapioca, semolina, cornmeal, bulgar wheat, breadcrumbs or crushed nuts.
To sum-up a soup the chefs always have an alternative to lure the diners to a soup by improvising the accompaniments with the soup by serving tostadas, deviled eggs, chicken liver pate, pickles, cheese, fruits, baked potatoes, noodles and the list of accompaniments are endless.
What accompanies a soup depends on what unconventionality is conveyed through the arrangement of flavors as an appetizer with simple tomato soup or as the capacity of rich clam bisque to transform itself into a main meal.
