Hi folks,
In this post I share two tips I learnt in the art of cooking soup.
I’ve been cooking soup for many years and would normally consider myself pretty good. But very recently I learnt some crucial steps that have been missing in my soup making routine. Usually I eye-ball the quantity of the various ingredients I put in my soup. The soup generally comes out well, but its taste varies slightly from one pot to the next. I usually ignored such variation in taste and texture as something inevitable. But just a few days ago while watching my Mum make soup, I learnt that by following two simple steps, I can do more to improve the quality of my soup.
The first tip is this: taste the soup while cooking it. By tasting the soup and paying close attention to the taste, you can tell whether it has enough ingredients, especially salt. You should be able to taste the salt slightly in the soup for it to come out well. If there isn’t enough salt, add some more, wait a few minutes and taste it again. In short, make sure you’re happy with the taste of the soup while you cook it. I believe this tip can be extended to other crucial ingredients you may need in your soups.
The second tip is to pay close attention to the texture of the soup while cooking it. By this, I don’t mean simply looking at the soup in the pot, but taking a spoon of the soup and observing its texture closely to make sure it looks right. Previously, I would just let the soup cook for a certain amount of time and be over with it. But I learnt that by observing its texture you can tell if there’s enough vegetable oil in it or not. When you pay attention to a spoon of soup being cooked, especially tomato-based soup, observe the texture of the soup at the edges. If it looks watery, then that could mean there isn’t enough vegetable oil in it. That means the soup would be more boiled than fried. If you would like the soup to be more fried, then you need to add more oil. If, on the other hand, you can see some traces of oil at the edges, then there is enough vegetable oil and you’re good.
That’s all for now. Till next time, happy cooking.