Stocks, Soups, and Sauces

[RedWolf]

I'm just going to open this thread up and leave it here, because I can write a bibliography about all three.

Light stocks vs. dark stocks.
5 mother sauces (Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Tomato, and Hollandaise)
Game
Fruit and vegetable sauces (coulis, etc)
Vinegar and sugar sauces (gastrique)
Butter sauces (buerre blanc o buerre rouge)
Desserts

I cannot talk to a lot of formal/traditional Chinese or Japanese traditional sauces or techniques.

Anybody here who loves these forms? Look up Escoffier...that was my bible

 

[RedWolf]

I decided to do a manhattan clam chowder instead. Local grocer now sells generous bags of frozen clam meat. One of my favorite soups.

Show us big guy! 😉

Love me some Manhattan Clam Chowder!

 

[Boone]

 

[RedWolf]

Boone looks great! Bacon or no?

 

[Boone]

I planned on it but my wife is a psychotic thrower out of any open container and threw out a couple days old 1/2 lb of bacon.

 

[RedWolf]

I planned on it but my wife is a psychotic thrower out of any open container and threw out a couple days old 1/2 lb of bacon.

Some like the bacon in it some do not. You need to get that girl straight! 😂😂😂

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Great idea for a thread.
I do most of the cooking but, with the exception of bean soup, or the occasional pot of stew, Mrs. Skinsfan makes the soup around here.
She really enjoys doing so and does a wonderful job. I don't have the patience for it.
Our mantra is "don't waste food", so chicken carcasses, ham-hocs, leftover crabs, (shells & all), whatever can be used for soup are all utilized.

 

[RedWolf]

Great idea for a thread.
I do most of the cooking but, with the exception of bean soup, or the occasional pot of stew, Mrs. Skinsfan makes the soup around here.
She really enjoys doing so and does a wonderful job. I don't have the patience for it.
Our mantra is "don't waste food", so chicken carcasses, ham-hocs, leftover crabs, (shells & all), whatever can be used for soup are all utilized.

I was taught not to waste anything. If we slaughtered a pig we used every piece of it from head to tail. Taking leftovers and bones/shells, or whatever is the basis for many stocks and soups.

Patience is a necessity. My demi glace used to take three to four days. The base beef/veal stock took 24 hours

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I was taught not to waste anything. If we slaughtered a pig we used every piece of it from head to tail. Taking leftovers and bones/shells, or whatever is the basis for many stocks and soups.

Patience is a necessity. My demi glace used to take three to four days. The base beef/veal stock took 24 hours

People don't know what they're missing when they toss bones, shells, whatever.
Mrs Skinsfan has the patience of Job, for that kind of thing.
I'll have the patience when I retire, which is rapidly approaching

 

[DWinzit]

Recently went to Chef Sara Bradley's Freight House in Paducah Kentucky. My wife ordered a soup that honestly sounded awful to me as I do not like sweet potatoes but it was incredible with layers of flavors and textures:

sweet potato soup fried brussels, bacon, sage crema, green herb oil, pecan

 

[Boone]

I would have the same reservations - I don't dislike sweet potatoes, I just don't find them to have a flavor I crave in any way.

We did a family trip to Playa Del Carmen about 10 years ago, rented a big house for a week and my brother hired a cook to do dinners for us every night. The first night we were there, he whipped up this Poblano and shrimp soup that was outrageously good. When I got back, I tried to recreate it from memory and the below is what I came up with. It was very good but still not quite as good as what our chef served us.

Poblano soup

Roast Poblanos in oven or on grill, peel, and puree

In saucepan, combine:
4 cups Poblano puree
2 cups Chicken broth
1 cup Milk or half-and-half
Salt/white pepper to taste
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
Juice of 1 lime

Bring to boil and reduce to simmer 10 minutes

To soup, add:
1 cup sliced roasted corn from the cob
1 cup small shelled and deveined shrimp

Simmer until shrimp cooked
Serve with French bread

 

[DWinzit]

^^^YUMMMM

 

[Boone]

Altering my recipe a bit..

Adding potatoes, roasted corn, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes to chicken stock, roasted poblano pepper and cubanelle (sweet) pepper puree, half and half, lime juice, a ham hock and Italian parsley and shrimp/mussels/clam/squid meat.

 

[Boone]

Soup turned out fantastic.

 

[RedWolf]

Soup turned out fantastic.

Great to hear!

 

[DWinzit]

Experienced a couple great chowders during the past 3 weeks in Florida

Great lobster bisque made with Lobster stick, sherry, cream, and silky. Had another one that had big chunks of lobster along with small potato and celery chunks, also was slightly spicy

Stone Crab chowder was thick and freaking loaded with chunks of crab, red skin potatoes, corn, onions and a tiny bit of bacon. This was super loaded chowder.

 

[Chris]

I love me some chowda. Lobster bisque, too, probably more.

 

[Boone]

Food Lion started selling big chunked clam meat in their frozen seafood section this year. Game changer. I make clam chowder (mostly Manhattan style as I prefer it) at least once a month now.

 

[DWinzit]

I love me some chowda. Lobster bisque, too, probably more.

Funny thing, I didn't like them at all until about 15 years ago. I started going to the Saratoga Chowder Fests each year. All the local restaurants and bars began making their own types of chowders, chowders of all kinds. That's when I found I really started liking them

 

[DWinzit]

Food Lion started selling big chunked clam meat in their frozen seafood section this year. Game changer. I make clam chowder (mostly Manhattan style as I prefer it) at least once a month now.

That sounds great, no Food Lions by me. Manhattan used to be the only clam soup I would eat. Now I like New England style more, but it is much worse for you