Sniffle, sniffle, hack
Nov. 30th, 2006 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI valiantly dragged myself in to work today, but after putting together the most urgently needed data I told my boss I was going home sick and not to expect me tomorrow either. It's just an ordinary head/throat cold, but what's the point of having a job with sick leave if you don't use it when you're sick? (I've actually taken very few sick leave days since I took this job. Just haven't gotten sick that much.) So now I'm ensconced in the comfy chair in front of the tv with a pot of tea with lemon at my side trying to be good and actually rest rather than getting up and getting stuff done. But this is an excellent time to expound upon Soups. When the wind gets chill and damp, I start yearning to make scratch soups. The sort where you start with a pile of soup bones or a chicken carcass or the like and go on from there.
Sour cabbage soup
Start with a bunch of lamb neck bones or shanks. Simmer all evening in a stock pot full of water. Let cool overnight then de-fat the broth and remove the meat from the bones. Chop up a couple onions and any other seasoning vegetables you have lying around (e.g., celery, carrots, but not too much). Add any herbs you like (bay, thyme, sage, etc.). Simmer until the vegetables dissolve. Core a head of red cabbage and chop more coarsely than you would for coleslaw. Add it to the soup and cook until tender but not limp. Adjust the salt but less than you would ordinarily like. Add vinegar to taste. (The acid also makes the color brighter.) Serve with dollops of sour cream or unflavored yogurt.
Dissolved chicken soup
Take the carcass of a roast chicken after you've used most of the meat. Simmer it in a stock pot full of water for a couple of days, replenishing the water as necessary. (I don't actually leave it simmering when I'm asleep or out of the house, which makes it take longer.) Remove anything still identifiable as a bone. Decant, leaving the dissolved bone sludge in the bottom of the pot to be discarded. Add chopped leeks, celery, and what you will as well as your standard poultry spices. Toss in a couple handfuls of pearl barley or rice. Cook until the grain is mushy. Adjust your salt to taste.
I'm also quite fond of the oxtail soup recipe in Joy of Cooking but I won't reproduce it here since I do it straight out of the book.
Sour cabbage soup
Start with a bunch of lamb neck bones or shanks. Simmer all evening in a stock pot full of water. Let cool overnight then de-fat the broth and remove the meat from the bones. Chop up a couple onions and any other seasoning vegetables you have lying around (e.g., celery, carrots, but not too much). Add any herbs you like (bay, thyme, sage, etc.). Simmer until the vegetables dissolve. Core a head of red cabbage and chop more coarsely than you would for coleslaw. Add it to the soup and cook until tender but not limp. Adjust the salt but less than you would ordinarily like. Add vinegar to taste. (The acid also makes the color brighter.) Serve with dollops of sour cream or unflavored yogurt.
Dissolved chicken soup
Take the carcass of a roast chicken after you've used most of the meat. Simmer it in a stock pot full of water for a couple of days, replenishing the water as necessary. (I don't actually leave it simmering when I'm asleep or out of the house, which makes it take longer.) Remove anything still identifiable as a bone. Decant, leaving the dissolved bone sludge in the bottom of the pot to be discarded. Add chopped leeks, celery, and what you will as well as your standard poultry spices. Toss in a couple handfuls of pearl barley or rice. Cook until the grain is mushy. Adjust your salt to taste.
I'm also quite fond of the oxtail soup recipe in Joy of Cooking but I won't reproduce it here since I do it straight out of the book.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Are you sure?
Date: 2006-11-30 11:23 pm (UTC)Perhaps, Lamb?
Re: Are you sure?
Date: 2006-11-30 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 12:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 05:25 pm (UTC)2 cups Chicken stock
1 thin slice dry-cured smoked ham
3 dried Shiitake mushrooms
some dried Black Fungus
8 oz. firm Tofu
2 eggs
8 medium shrimp
2 or 3 scallions
about 1 inch of fresh ginger
pinch of white pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp Light (Chinese style) soy
1 tbsp Chinese Black Vinegar
1 tbsp White or Rice Vinegar
Soak the dried shiitake in boiling hot water for about 30 minutes, or longer. Soak the black fungus in cold water for 15 minutes.
Put stock into pot and set over low heat while preparing the other ingredients.
Cut the ham into matchsticks. Slice the shiitake into small wedges. Cut the black fungus into ribbons about 1/4 inch wide.
Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes.
Chop the scallions; peel and mince (or finely grate) the ginger.
Beat the eggs.
By this time the stock should be hot, so add the minced ham and bring to a boil. Then add the Shiitake; after a few minutes, add the black fungus and the tofu. Bring soup almost to a boil, turn down the heat and drizzle in the beaten eggs; do not stir for about a minute, while the egg sets into strands or small bits. Bring back to just boiling and add the shrimp; cook just a few minutes. Then stir in the pepper, soy sauce, black vinegar and white or rice vinegar. Add the scallions and ginger and serve at once. Garnish with cilantro to taste.
The original recipe specifies smoked Yunnan ham; I have found Saag's Westphalian ham an acceptable substitute. Now I can't get that either, so I substitute Speck, an Austrian ham.
There's no acceptable substitutes for the light soy or the black vinegar, but they are easy to obtain.
All quantities can be adjusted to taste. It should be distinctly hot from the pepper and sour from the vinegar. I often add a squirt of Sriracha to the stock before adding the tofu.
This reheats fabulously, except the shrimp. Makes a terrific breakfast. Really clears the sinuses, too.
Get well fast!