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Learn more about "Soup"
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Soup
Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables in Stock (food)|stock or hot/boiling water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth. The first recorded soup was hippo soup.[Steven Fry - QI]
Traditionally, soups are classified into two broad groups: ''clear soups'' and ''thick soups''. The established France|French classifications of clear soups are ''bouillon (broth)|bouillon'' and ''consommé''. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: ''purées'' are vegetable soups thickened with starch; ''Bisque (food)|bisques'' are made from puréed shellfish thickened with ''cream''; cream soups are thickened with béchamel sauce; and ''velouté sauce|veloutés'' are thickened with egg (food)|eggs, butter and cream. Other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include rice, flour, and wiktionary:grain|grain.
One of the first types of soups can be dated to about 6000 BC.[Rastelli, Robert. (January 12, 2005) The Star-Ledger. ''Soup 101 First, take an onion, and then make something that will warm the soul.'' Section: Savor; Page 33.] Boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers (which probably came in the form of pouches made of Pottery|clay or animal skin) about 9,000 years ago.
History
The word ''soup'' originates from "sop", a dish originally consisting of a soup or thick stew which was soaked up with pieces of bread. The modern meaning of sop has been limited to just the bread intended to be dipped.
The word ''restaurant'' was first used in France in the 16th century, to describe a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup, sold by street vendors called ''restaurer'', that was advertised as an antidote to physical Fatigue (medical)|exhaustion. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in ''restaurers''. This prompted the use of the modern word ''restaurant'' to describe the shops.
In United States|America, the first wiktionary:colonial|colonial cookbook was published by William Parks in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1742, based on Eliza Smith's ''The Compleat Housewife; or Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion'' and it included several recipes for soups and bisques. A 1772 cookbook, ''The Frugal Housewife'', contained an entire chapter on the topic. English cooking dominated early colonial cooking; but as new immigration|immigrants arrived from other countries, other national soups gained popularity. In particular, German people|German immigrants living in Pennsylvania were famous for their potato soups. In 1794, Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, a refugee from the French Revolution, opened an eating establishment in Boston, Massachusetts|Boston called ''Restorator'', and became known as "The Prince of Soups." The first American cooking pamphlet dedicated to soup recipes was written in 1882 by Emma Ewing: ''Soups and Soup Making''.
Portable soup was devised in the 18th century by boiling seasoned meat until a thick, wiktionary:resin|resinous wiktionary:syrup|syrup was left that could be dried and stored for months at a time. The Japanese miso is an example of a concentrated soup paste.
Commercial soup
Commercial soup became popular with the invention of canning in the 19th century, and today a great variety of canned and dried soups are on the market. Dr. John T. Dorrance, a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company invented condensed soup in 1897.[Campbell's: Our Company, History] Today, Campbell's Tomato, cream of mushroom|Cream of Mushroom and Chicken Noodle soups are three of the most popular soups in America. Americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year.[About Nissin Foods] Vegetable, chicken base, potato, pasta and cheese soups are also available in dry mix form, ready to be served by adding hot water.
Nutritional developments
- Salt - In response to concern over the health effects of excessive salt intake soup manufacturers have introduced reduced-salt versions of popular soups.[Hurley, J. and Liebman, B. Soups: The Middle Ground. Nutrition Action December 1997.]
- Trans fat - Concern over coronary disease|coronary heart disease has led soup manufacturers to eliminate trans fats from their soups.
Types of soup
Dessert soups
- Ginataan, Filipino soup made from coconut milk, milk, fruits and tapioca pearls, served hot or cold.
- Red bean soup|Oshiruko, a Japanese azuki bean soup
- Tong sui, a collective term for Chinese sweet soups.
- Fruit soups (see below)
Fruit soups
Fruit soups are served warm or cold depending on the recipe. Many recipes are for cold soups served when fruit is in season during hot weather. Some like Norway|Norwegian ''fruktsuppe'' may be served warm and rely on dried fruit such as raisins and prunes and so could be made in any season. Fruit soups may include milk or cream, sweet or savoury dumplings, spices, or alcoholic beverages such as brandy or champagne. Cherry soup is made with table wine and/or port.
Cold fruit soups are common in Scandinavian, Baltic and Eastern European cuisines while hot fruit soups with meat appear in Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Chinese cuisines. Cold fruit soups include krentjebrij.
Fruit soups are uncommon or absent in the cuisines of the Americas, Africa and Western Europe. They are also not seen in Japan, Southeast Asia or Oceania. The exception is cold fruit soups that are savory rather than (or in addition to) sweet. Examples:
- Winter melon soup is a Chinese soup, usually with a chicken stock base. It is a savory soup, often including other vegetables and mushrooms. Technically, the winter melon is a fruit, since it is a seed bearing body, but in practical use, it is a vegetable. Winter melon soup is often presented as a whole winter melon, filled with stock, vegetables and meat, that has been steamed for hours. The skin is decoratively cut, so that what is presented is a decorative centerpiece, smaller than a medicine ball, larger than a soccer ball, filled with soup. The flesh of the melon is scooped out with the soup.
- Gazpacho (from Spain) is a savory soup based on tomato, a New World fruit.
Cold soups
Cold soups are a particular variation on the traditional soup, wherein the temperature when served is kept at or below room temperature. They may be sweet or savory. In summer, sweet cold soups can form part of a dessert tray.
Asian soups
A feature of East Asian soups not normally found in Western cuisine is the use of tofu in soups. Many traditional East Asian soups are typically broths, ''clear soups'', or starch thickened soups. Many soups are eaten and drunk as much for their flavour as well as for their health benefits.
Traditional regional soups
- Ajiaco - A chicken soup from Colombia
- Avgolemono - A Greek cuisine|Greek chicken soup with lemon and egg (food)|egg
- Bajajou - A soup of Slovakian origin. Ingredients include boiled cow intestines, chicken egg (food)|egg, onion and rice.
- Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
- Borscht - A beet-vegetable soup originally from Ukraine and Russia.
- Bouillabaisse - A fish soup from Marseille (Southern France. Also made in other Mediterranean regions. In Catalonia it is called Bullebesa.
- Bourou-Bourou - A vegetable & pasta soup from the island of Easter Island, Greece
- Bisque (food)|Bisque - A thick, creamy, highly-seasoned soup, classically of pureed crustaceans, of French origin.
- Canja de Galinha- A Portuguese soup of chicken, rice and lemon.
- Caldo verde - A Portuguese cuisine|Portuguese minced cabbage soup
- Callaloo - A thick, creamy soup made with okra and, often, crab meat from Trinidad and Tobago
- Canh chua (sour soup) - A Vietnamese dish made with rice, fish, various vegetables, and in some cases pineapple.
- Cock-a-leekie soup|Cock-a-leekie - Leek and potato soup made with chicken stock, from Scotland
- Clam chowder - two major types, New England Clam Chowder, made with potatoes and cream, and Manhattan Clam Chowder, made with a tomato base.
- Cullen Skink - A fish soup made with Smoked Haddock, potatoes, onions and cream from Scotland
- Egg drop soup, a savory Chinese soup made from cracking eggs into boiling water or broth.
- Etrog, a fruit soup made up from the citron used in Jewish Ritual at the feast of Sukkot|Succoth, is eaten by Ashkenazi Jews at Tu Bishvat.
- Maryland Crab Soup - A soup made of vegetables, blue crab, and Old Bay Seasoning in a tomato base. From Maryland, United States.
- Faki soupa - A Greece|Greek lentil soup, with carrots, olive oil, herbs and possibly tomato sauce or vinegar.
- Fanesca - A traditional cod soup from Ecuador
- Fasolada - Traditional Greece|Greek bean soup
- Fufu and Egusi soup - A traditional soup from Nigeria made with vegetables, meat, fish, and balls of ground melon seed
- Goulash- A Hungary|Hungarian soup of beef, paprika and onion.
- Gumbo - A traditional Louisiana Creole cuisine|Creole soup from the Southern United States, thickened with okra pods.
- Fisherman's Soup|Halászlé or Fisherman's Soup, a Hungarian very hot and spicy river fish soup with a lot of hot paprika
- Íslensk Kjötsúpa - Traditional Icelandic meat soup made with lamb and vegetables.
- Kharcho - A Georgia (country)|Georgian soup of lamb, rice, vegetables and a highly spiced boullion.
- Central Asia|Lagman - A traditional Uzbeks|Uzbek soup of pasta, vegetables, ground lamb and numerous spices.
- Lan Sikik - A Thai cuisine|Thai soup made with noodle, dried fish and tomato extract.
- Lentil soup - A soup popular in the Middle East and Mediterranean.
- Leek soup - A simple soup made from Leeks popular in Wales during Saint David's Day
- Menudo (soup)|Menudo - A traditional Mexico|Mexican soup with tripe and hominy.
- Minestrone - An Italy|Italian vegetable soup
- Miso soup - A Japanese soup made from fish broth and fermented soy
- Mulligatawny|Mulligatawny Soup - An Anglo-Indian curried soup
- Noodle soup - A very diverse collection
- İşkembe|Patsás - A Greece|Greek tripe soup
- Pea soup|Snert - A thick pea soup, eaten in the Netherlands as a winter dish, traditionally served with sliced sausage. Also known as ''erwtensoep''.
- Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup - A Philadelphia specialty, traditionally made with tripe.[A TASTE OF PHILADELPHIA; In Hoagieland, They Accept No Substitutes - New York Times]
- Psarosoupa - A Greece|Greek fish soup. There are various versions of it and could be made with a variety of fish types.
- Phở- A Vietnamese cuisine|Vietnamese beef/chicken soup with scallion, welsh onion, cherred ginger, wild coriander (Eryngium foetidum), basil, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and black cardamom.
- Revithia - A Greece|Greek chickpea soup
- Scotch broth
- She-crab soup - from Charleston, South Carolina, a creamy soup made with blue crab meat and crab roe.
- Sorrel soup|Shchav, a sorrel soup in Polish, Russian and Yiddish cuisines
- Solyanka - A cabbage soup from Russia
- Tarator - A Bulgarian cold soup made from yoghurt|yogurt and cucumbers
- Tarhana|Trahana soup, from Greece
- Tomato soup (pomidorowa) - Traditional polish soup made of tomato concentrate
- Vichyssoise - A French-style soup invented by a French chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company|Ritz Hotel in NYC. France|French cold purée soup with potatoes, leeks, and cream.
- Waterzooi - A Belgium|Belgian fish soup
- Sour rye soup|Żurek - A Poland|Polish wheat soup with sausages often served in a bowl made of bread.
Soup as a figure of speech
In the English language, the word "soup" has developed several phrasal uses.
- ''Alphabet soup'' is a term often used to describe a large amount of acronyms used by an administration, and has its roots in a common tomato-based soup containing pasta shaped in the letters of the alphabet.
- ''Abiogenesis|Primordial soup'' is a term used to describe the organic mixture leading to the development of life.
- A ''soup kitchen'' is a place that serves prepared food of any kind to the homeless.
- ''Pea soup'' describes a thick or dense fog.
- "Soup legs" is an informal or slang term used by athletes to describe fatigue or exhaustion.
- "Stone soup" is a popular children's fable.
- ''Czernina|Duck soup'' is a term to describe a task that is particularly easy.
- ''Word soup'' refers to any collection of words that is ostensibly incomprehensible.
- ''Tag soup'' further refers to poorly coded HTML
- ''Soup Fire!'' can be used an expression of surprise.
- "Soup du jour" is French for "soup of the day." Sometimes used as a metaphor for anything currently trendy or fashionable.
- Soup to nuts is an American English idiom conveying the meaning "from beginning to end" (see: full course dinner)
See also
- Tureen - A large soup dish
- List of soups
Literary references
- Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. ''Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food'' (2002). New York: Free Press ISBN 0-7432-2644-5
- ''Larousse Gastronomique'', Jennifer Harvey Lang, ed. American Edition (1988). New York: Crown Publishers ISBN 0-609-60971-8
- Morton, Mark. ''Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities'' (2004). Toronto: Insomniac Press ISBN 1-894663-66-7
- The Mighty Boosh. ''Soup, Soup, A Tasty Soup, Soup'' (2005).
References
Category:Soups|
nds-nl:Soop
simple:Soup
bat-smg:Zopė
Related Images- Packets of soup
- Vegetable beef barley soup
- Swiss soup
Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
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