No Recipe Soup

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I had a friend, with whom I used to cook quite often, who would never stray from a recipe. If a specified ingredient were unavailable, he preferred to change the menu. When I would make a substitution or try a variation, the results were always viewed with deep suspicion.  It was as though there were to be a final exam one day and he wanted a perfect score. Yet this was someone who often said that he would only consider himself an accomplished cook when he could go into any kitchen, see what was on hand and make a tasty meal with whatever there was. With that in mind, I would wager that your kitchen contains everything you need to throw together a good soup.

Soup, is a good place to begin a discussion of cooking without recipes.  It is easy but immensely satisfying to make, no commercial product compares to a homemade soup and one can make excellent soup from almost anything. Your choice of the main ingredient may depend on several factors. Is there a particularly beautiful something in the market that you want to use? Did a friend who has a garden give you a huge pile of watercress? Or is there a no longer beautiful something in the fridge that you want to use before it can't be used at all?

Take Stock

First, there is the issue of stock. There are several kinds of stock but for home cooks, the only one you really need on a regular basis is chicken.  If you absolutely must have demi-glace — a highly concentrated veal stock used to enrich sauces — it can be bought, ready made, in gourmet shops or, if you ask very nicely, I'm sure a local French restaurant would sell you a quart or two.  If you find out that they don't make their own, I would think twice about dining there again.

Although you can make a decent soup with commercial  chicken stock, I urge you to make your own. It's very easy, especially if you ignore anything you may have heard about careful skimming and never letting the stock boil. I have worked in two of the most prestigious kitchens in New York City, and in neither did I ever see anyone waste time skimming.

Chicken stock is best made with the wings, necks and backs of the birds. There is more flavor in bones than in flesh, so these scraps are far better for stock than the meatier parts. They are cheaper too. OK, Ready?

Rinse the chicken pieces and put them in a large pot; I wouldn't bother making stock in anything that holds less than eight quarts. I don't know how large your pot is but you ought to have enough chicken pieces to fill it half way or a little more.  Rinse a stalk or two of celery, a few carrots two or three onions. Cut the carrots into large chunks, cut the onions in half  (don't bother peeling them), and add the vegetables to the pot. Throw in a few sprigs of parsley, a few peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, a few sprigs of thyme and a two or three cloves. If you are in doubt about how much of any of these things to use, err on the side of less rather than more. A stock is not a finished soup and you can ad more flavors later. Some people add a sprig of rosemary; some add a clove or two of garlic but do not add salt. If you salt it now, it may become too salty when boiled down to a more concentrated form in a finished dish.

Fill the pot with cold water, leaving only enough room at the top to allow the stock to boil without spilling over.  Put the pot over moderate heat, and let it come to a boil. Do not rush this process. You are not merely extracting flavor but causing proteins from the bones to dissolve in the water. It is the proteins that give a homemade stock its rich texture, a texture that no commercial broth can reproduce. Different proteins dissolve at different temperatures take your time. When the stock comes to a boil, reduce the heat so the liquid stays at a gentle simmer or low boil. A violent boil will evaporate too much water too quickly and will cause some of the proteins to coagulate, making the finished product cloudier than necessary. And, by all means, skim off any scum that forms at the top if you enjoy doing so, but don't worry about removing the fat; it will be much easier to remove when the stock is cold.

Let the stock simmer for about three hours, adding more water if the liquid level gets down below the top of the solids. Taste it from time to time. At first it will be quite watery but, after some time, it should feels distinctly rich in your mouth.  When the stock is done, remove the larger pieces of chicken and vegetables with a slotted spoon and discard them. Strain the stock into another pot or container (for the clearest results you can line your strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth, but I never bother) and cool it as quickly as possible. Warm stocks — especially chicken stock — are excellent breeding grounds for bacteria and you want to minimize any risk; three hours or less is perfectly safe. If you can get the container into a sink full of cold water, this is excellent method for fast cooling. Stir the stock now and then to make sure it is cooling evenly, and replace the water in the sink from time to time as it warms up. When the stock is lukewarm, divide it into containers of a manageable size and refrigerate it or freeze it for future use. Once it is chilled you can remove the solidified fat from the top. The stock ought to have a semi-solid, gelatinous consistency. If it does not, you may want to boil it down a bit more before using it.

Stir the Pot

Now that you have stock you can turn it into soup. The simplest way to so this is to simmer some sliced vegetables in some chicken stock until the vegetables are tender. If you like, you can add some cooked rice or pasta. (This good use for last nights spaghetti or the extra rice from take-out Chinese food. Taste the soup, add salt to your own taste, sprinkle with some chopped parsley or dill and go visit a sick friend. Marlene Dietrich was known to take homemade soup to attractive people with colds (including Maria Callas and Maximilian Schell) as the first step in an attempted seduction as soon as they felt better.

But there are more interesting soups.  So, chop some tomatoes (if tomatoes are not in season, canned tomatoes will give excellent results), or cut up some carrots and some ginger root, or break up a cauliflower, or chop up some or cut up that brunch of asparagus or spinach that is wilting in the fridge, or clean that watercress your friend with the garden dropped off and put whatever you are using in a big pot. Cut some potatoes into largish pieces (I'd say something like good sized potato for each pint or so of your basic vegetable, more for leafy veggies, less for anything starchy) and throw them in as well.  If you feel like it you might peel an onion, cut it in quarters and put that in as well.  Add about three times more stock than you have solid matter.  Put the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil over moderate heat; then adjust the heat so that your soup will bubble gently. Cover it if you like but it really makes no difference. When the potatoes are tender (when you can stick a fork in them and meet no resistance) the soup is done. Let it cool for a few minutes and then whirl it, a little at a time, in a blender or put it though a food mill. If you have an emersion blender this is a good use for it. All of these give better results than a foods processor.

If the soup looks like it is becoming too thick, don't blend in all the potatoes (if it is too late, add a bit more stock).  If too thin, put it back over low heat to cook for a few more minutes, the potato starch will thicken it. If it is still too thin, cook another potato and re-blend the soup; or just use more potatoes next time. Whatever the thickness, taste your creation and season it with salt and pepper. If you are using a stringy vegetable you may want to strain the soup. If you do this often, you may find it worth investing in one of those very fine, conical strainers (called a "Chinois" because some French cook thought it looked like a Chinese hat), which give the smoothest results.

You may think your soup is fine but if you want it a bit richer, add a little heavy cream. Return the whole thing to the stove for a few minutes over low heat to let the flavors marry, taste for salt and pepper and you're done. Garnish it with a chopped, fresh green herb. Any herb will do, but parsley is always safe. Chives or dill are pretty good for most soups. Basil goes well with tomatoes and cilantro is good with beans. And if your soup leaves anything to be desired, chalk it up to experience and put in more of something or less of something else next time.  For example, curry powder will enliven a dullish cauliflower soup, a chunk of slab bacon gives a soup a subtly smoky flavor, and a few drops of Worcestershire or Tabasco sauce are usually good in any thick soup, but use your own imagination here. The point is not for the soup to be perfect but for it to be entirely your own.

Leading up to the publication of the first Beekman 1802 cookbook, Heirloom Recipes, we've asked one of the best cooks we know to offer up some cooking lessons, so that you'll be able to cook up some heirloom recipes on your own (and share them with the rest of us).