Week 4: A Blog ON SOUPS
INTRODUCTION:
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Cookery Topic: Advanced Soups & Bisques
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The Menu:
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White Beans & Sausage
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Chilled Cucumber Soup
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Faux Caviar
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Bouillabaisse
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MY PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:
I have eaten soup quite a bit growing up; I believe we all enjoy the classic tomato soup on a chilly day, or when we are sick. As I have advanced in culinary knowledge, I have learned to appreciate different varieties, like lobster bisque, and New England Chowder, which also fall in the soup family.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
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reviewing the different classifications of soups;
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preparing cold soups;
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garnish and serving soups appropriately.
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Background:
Soups, Soups, Soups-
Looking back through history, soups were often made because the ingredients were low cost, and there was little technique needed. Soups were made year round- during the winter, soups were served hot, and then in the summer, soups would be served chilled. Many peasant farmers would pound a mix of raw fruits and veggies, and mix this combo with a fermented dairy product - this dish was easy to whip up while working in the fields.
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Culinary Institute Of America. (2012). Garde manger: The art and craft of the cold kitchen. John Wiley & Sons.
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Variety Of Soups:
Typically, when the average person thinks of soups, varieties like chicken noodle or tomato come to mind. In reality, there are many other types of advanced soups that can be created. Some of these include: a bouillabaisse, a chowder, a vichyssoise, sweet soups (fruit/dessert), and savory like bouillabaisse.
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Methods Used:
When making a soup or bisque, the category of soup one wishes to make will change the prep and cooking method. The one common factor of all soups is that they should have a practical and edible garnish. Often a garnish will be a part of the ingredients used to make the soup- i.e a fried kale chip on Toscana soup. A garnish can be on top of the soup, as well as a featured ingredient in the soup. The book gives the example of chicken noodle soup: the noodles are not an essential ingredient to make chicken soup, but adding the garnish/noodles makes a new dish.
Gough, R. (1999). On cooking. Routledge.
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Recipes & Plan Of Work:
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My Inspiration :
White Beans & Irish Sausage!
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Chilled Cucumber Soup
Katie Spears/Sublime Management
Bouillabaisse
Smarter, E. (2016, September 22). French fish SOUP (Bouillabaisse). Eat Smarter USA. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://eatsmarter.com/recipes/french-fish-soup-bouillabaisse.
WEEK 4: REFLECTION
Lab Outcomes:
For week 4 lab, we used our Irish sausages from last week to make white beans with sautéd kale. One group worked on the chilled cucumber soup, while the rest of us worked on the seafood stew.
Dish Results:
White Beans & Sausage: the Irish sausage had a great flavor, but sadly the structure would not hold up, so we were forced to scramble the sausage. The kale was wilted just enough to where it wasn't mushy, but not too raw. The beans had a very soft mouth feel, but this may have been because they were store bought.
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Chilled Cucumber Soup: the chilled cucumber soup had an interesting flavor profile, it had a very light, refreshing flavor. But the cucumber maybe should have been roasted beforehand, to give the star a deeper flavor. the color was also not as green as I expected it to be. I personally did not enjoy the dish as much as I expected to- potentially because I was startled over the idea of cold soup.
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Bouillabaisse: This was my favorite dish! I love all things French & French-inspired, so this was up my alley. I wish we would have baked the fish in the oven, with various seasonings- and then poured the rest of the soup on top of the fish filet. I really enjoyed using Amberjack in the stew. We all seemed to enjoy the stew. I did notice that once it cooled, the soup would leave almost a greasy film in your mouth.
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Results Evaluation:
Overall, the soup lab turned out to be more interesting than I expected it to be! Working with the live seafood was crazy- but definitely something I am glad we were able to experience in class first. The lobsters died a sad, painful death, but they paired so well in the Bouillabaisse. This was most of our first time working with a cold soup- there is definitely an art to making it refreshing, not greasy, and eye appealing.
