How To Make A Great Pot of Soup

By Chef Darin Nesbit, Executive Chef of Palace Café and Bourbon House

Dickie Brennan’s restaurants have a tradition of serving great soups and gumbos.  Over the years, Chef Darin has developed a reputation for his special recipes.  His tips to help the homecook achieve restaurant-worthy soups are below.

1. Use homemade stocks with fresh ingredients, although canned broths are a good substitute.
2. Use ripe vegetables.  If not available, then used frozen (not canned). Add frozen veggies in the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Frozen vegetables have more nutrients than canned.
3. Add vegetables to soup in the time it takes to cook them. Add hard vegetables like root vegetables first, and soft vegetables like zucchini last.
4. Use fresh proteins.  Frozen chicken, for example, has less moisture and tends to be dry and tasteless.
5. When the soup is nearly ready, add seafood that you’ve just cooked separately. This preserves the texture of seafood (for example, shrimp becomes dry and rubbery).
6. Add seasonings in small amounts and taste as you cook.
7. Soup needs salt.  But if you over-salt, add a whole peeled potato for 15 minutes.
8. A pinch of sugar enhances tomato flavor when cooking.
9. Never boil a soup, simmer it.  Boiling will cloud the soup and toughen the protein.
10. Skimming foamy solids clears soups, but takes out a lot of flavor and nutrients.
11. To reduce fat, make the soup the day before.  Chill, and scrape off the fat.  Or, put ice cubes into cheesecloth and swirl them in the soup.
12. To make richer thicker soups without using cream, add mashed starchy vegetables like potatoes, rice, roasted squash or pureed beans. Or, add evaporated skim milk, instant mashed potatoes, rice flour, cornstarch, barley or oatmeal.
13. Use tall, non-reactive soup pots of heavy construction.  Tall pots limit evaporation, and heat will be distributed more evenly.  There’s also less chance of scorching.
14. Use stainless spoons to taste.  Wooden and silver spoons can disguise the flavor.
15. Soup is always better when it’s made 1-2 days before serving.