BS: Tomato soup

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Charmion
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 09:28 AM

I have never seen a soup-maker; they must be a Brit thing.

The hand-held stick blender is my go-to gadget for almost anything to be puréed. Like Steve Shaw, I'm a lazy beast; cleaning the food processor or the blender is a cumbersome task that I will do almost anything to avoid.

I have to admit, however, that both gadgets earn their stable space with certain dishes that are delicious but (in my opinion) hell to make the manual way. Top of the list is pesto; I have made it by hand, with a mortar and pestle, and all I can say is Never Again. Decent pesto can be made in a blender, I'm told, but when I tried it, we ended up with green goo on the kitchen ceiling. Enter the Kitchen Aid food processor: a hulking machine of great capabilities that -- thank God -- also makes terrific pesto. When the manual meat-grinder kept falling apart, it turned out to be good for forcemeat, too, if the ingredients are half-frozen and you go easy on the pulse button. I also confess to using it to blend pastry and the crumble topping for baked fruit dishes. (Baking is not my forte.)

As for the blender, the thing it does that keeps it in the house is the frozen daiquiri. The frozen strawberry daiquiri, to be precise, which is the thing I really, really want after completing three batches of strawberry jam in one hot Saturday in mid-July. Jam recipes always say to use so many quarts of fruit, but however precise I think I am at the market, I always end up with about three extra pints of strawberries; not enough for a batch of jam, but too many for two people to just sit down and eat. (Your mileage may vary.) The answer to this (First World) problem is the strawberry daiquiri: ya get drunk, and your anti-oxidants and vitamin C all in the same delicious package.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 13 Mar 15 - 06:48 AM

Hi

I agree with Steve and others who think that a Soup Maker device will not make soup as good as "the Real Thing"

However I found a reasonably priced/sized one - £40 at Coopers of Stortford.

By practicing I have come to be able to create soup almost as good as the hand made way. Like Steve I believe that soup is better when left for a day before eating...or is it drinking?


So, having chosen my ingredients, exactly as I would if I were to do it the "manual" way. Then I pour the soup into a saucepan and put a lid on. When I come to heat it up I do it on the cooker and while doing so I taste the soup and add butter etc to taste.

We have a large family with a number of grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren. They come to visit us regularly I am pleased to say.

The soup maker is great for making quick small batches when they ring us to say that they are on their way. For the two of us the maker we have does just enough for two large dinner sized portions.

We have a "posh" food processor as my wife is a qualified chef and has worked in the catering industry for many years. The Processor has now been shelved and is only used by my wife when she cooks for formal dinner parties.

My soup Maker has other qualities ( I haven't used them yet) eg Smoothies, Blending, Boiling, as well as the ability to make chunky or smooth soup to two thicknesses.

If I want to make large batches I do it manually...just preparing another favourite of ours...Pea and Ham...yummmmmmmmy !!

Happy soup Making

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 03:40 PM

Jeri, how do you sautée onions in stock, as given in that Hungarian mushroom soup? I thought sautéeing was always done in oil?

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 03:39 PM

Mrs Steve uses our food processor and our food mixer a lot. But I'm the main everyday chef and I don't use stuff like that if I can help it because of the cleaning up afterwards and, in the case of the processor, the need to leave everything out for hours to dry properly. My gizmo is a hand-held stick blender that I use for blitzing soup and making pâté with. I can do everything I want with that, or with a whisk or just a fork. The whizzer part of my stick blender is the only bit that gets dirty and it screws off for easy cleaning.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 02:06 PM

"Yeah I own an expensive one but like you said not worth it and takes too much space"

Seems to be a bit of missunderstanding here. We (mostly Pip) find it useful and believe it justifies its bit of space on the kitchen worktops. The point I was trying to make is that space is tight and we can't simplay accomodate every gadget that might just take our fancy.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 01:47 PM

a food processor is great if you are doing large quantities and more than a couple times a year... nothing wrong with elbow grease if you aren't plagued with arthritis. The cleanup just has to be worth the savings in time/effort. though nothing wrong with a small unit for doing small batches since they are easy to clean.   

a good knife, cutting board & lots of properly sized containers to put the prepped food is all I use... dinosaur that I am.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 01:32 PM

I would not recommend a food processor. Yeah I own an expensive one but like you said not worth it and takes too much space. It was one of those impulse buying things I thought I would use more than I do

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 12:41 PM

the soup we had was well flavored, but no spicy hot... but this recipe seems to hit it pretty close.

http://www.aducksoven.com/2015/01/crockpot-roasted-garlic-tomato-soup.html

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 08:50 AM

When it comes to stock cubes, I find that if I make the stock strong enough for my soup it's way too salty. If I haven't got quite enough stock, or if it's a bit weak because the chicken was a bit small, adding just one cube to something like a litre and a half of the weak stock can work wonders. Veg stock can cost next to nothing if you use the outer, slightly tough layers of the onions, carrot peelings and trimmings and the tough outside bits (and leaves, don't chuck 'em) of a head of celery. Just boil that lot up for an hour with a dash of pepper, parsley or thyme and a couple of bay leaves and Bob's yer uncle.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 07:49 AM

went to hear a friend perform at a small bistro and they had roasted garlic tomato soup on the menu... very nice.

now to check out google to find a recipe that will duplicate it. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 07:04 AM

Interesting, Steve, I've only ever used the shop bought things and hadn't realised one could do ones own oven chips like that. That's worth a try for us some time.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 06:44 AM

Mrs Steve won't let us have a deep fat fryer in spite of all my campaigning, but I do make very nice oven chips without. You need waxy spuds such as Nicola or Anya or Charlotte, preferably organic for best texture. "Salad potatoes." Don't peel but cut them into wedges or chips, not too thin. Parboil in salted water for about eight minutes. Meanwhile, get your oven as hot as it will go and pre-heat an oven tray that's big enough to spread your chips out in one layer. Drain the chips, let them dry for a minute then rough them up in the pan, as with roast spuds. Pour a thin layer of groundnut oil on to your hot tray (don't overdo it) and carefully tip in the chips. Toss them around to coat with oil then put them in the hot oven for about 20 minutes, giving them another tossing after about five minutes. Voila! Healthy too, as they soak up less oil than deep-fried chips.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 05:55 AM

Same space issue, Jon!

As for my criticising, a couple of years ago I spent hours looking at reviews of soup makers with a view to buying one. None of the ones that came in at anything like an affordable price (for me anyway) cut the mustard in terms of soup quality, texture and convenience, so I gave up on the idea. If your priority is flavour and texture they are never going to live up to what you can produce yourself. There's more to good soup than just chucking everything in at once and mushing it all up. Also, I like to make soup in advance and eat it next day, which improves its flavour no end. So, unless I left it the soup machine I'd have to dirty a pan anyway! I have enough white elephants in the house without adding a soup maker to their ranks! Only my opinion!

Oh, and I enjoy cooking...

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 04:45 AM

If considering one, I think kitchen worktop space is the issue here rather than the expense of a dedicated soup maker. Of larger devices, there is the food mixer and the food processor both of which Pip finds useful (our Kenwood Prospero mixer does come with blender etc. but sitting on top of the mixer, there are problems with work height and the separate processor is more convenient). Then there's the breadmaker that will come in to action again and the microwave.

Add a few other bits like kettle and toaster and we are "full up". The deep fat fryer already has to live in the porch (only comes out maybe once a week/fortnight but we all like deep fried chips once in a while - I never find oven chips the same) where it fits neatly in a cupboard I fitted to provide extra shelving space for the kitchen.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Mar 15 - 04:15 AM

Vaguely watching TV last night and there was a hilarious (in a very English way) show about a cookery writer. It included several very nice-sounding recipes; it mocked soup-based slimming diets, and there was a constant trope of the writer's agent talking to Salman Rushdie on the phone - demanding of his assistant "What am I, his nursemaid?"

The recipes were fun, and he had lines like "A couple of words on using stock cubes: Just Don't".

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 11:09 PM

I am lazy so have one of those fancy expense food processors for my soup

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 09:54 PM

Sounds good Tattie -going to have to try that sometime.

The soup maker cooks and liquidises so no messy pans to clean. Just the container, which goes in the dishwasher and the blades, which get rinsed under the hot tap. Horses for courses - I find it a useful piece of equipment as there is no risk of burning the soup if, for some reason you can't keep a close eye on it and it can be left to cook without having to be stirred or watched. Not sure, Steve, why you find the need to criticise to the extent you do.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 08:23 PM

Ribollita needs rosemary in it's cooking and a generous grating of Parmesan cheese in it's serving.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 07:41 PM

Used to get Heinz tomato in packs of 4 or 6, as our son loved it - didn't like anything "with bits in it" when he was younger.
Now he's a big boy and his ageing parents have found (also in tins!) Sainsbury's Tomato and Basil which is gorgeous!
I do make my own soup sometimes, but usually only if we're having a gammon joint, when I will use the stock to make lentil soup - just throw in an indeterminate amount, let the lentils soak overnight, add any other left-over veg, boil up and there you have it!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 07:26 PM

But when you're making a soup, you have to chop your veg whether or not you're going you use a soupmaker. The only work a soupmaker saves is the whizzing at the end. I have a cheap Kenwood hand blender that I can use in any container, and it blends my soup perfectly in seconds and it is far less messy to wash up than a soupmaker.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 07:04 PM

I will give it a try thanks so much

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 04:02 PM

Dan - fast reply from my kid.

'I used 4 parsnips chopped up, 1 leek(or onion), 2 apples and 2 veg stock cubes with about 2 pints of water.   Tastes lovely!! Also did a curry one- take out the apple and add as much curry powder as you like!!'

she was using the Soupmaker, which means that everything goes in at the same time and it cooks and then liquidises all in one. Neither of us are into frying the veg beforehand so this system works well for us. I guess that it could be made in a pan and then blitzed though. I am definitely going to give it a go.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 03:01 PM

Hi Dan - I was on Facetime with my daughter while she was making this one - a good one for the soupmaker, it seems. She tried it and said it tasted really good. I think she's trying another one with a bit of spice. I'll get her to send the recipe, but I think it was basically parsnips, apple and stock. I would probably add some curry powder to that for a bit more of a kick.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 02:31 PM

Apple and parsnip what is that jacqie.. I bet it's great but never had it

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: jacqui.c
Date: 11 Mar 15 - 12:58 PM

I just had a great cup of soup. Boiled up chicken bones, let them get cold to strain off the fat and then added celery and spring onions with some dried minced garlic and let the whole thing simmer for a few hours. Blitzed it and then threw in left over peas from supper and chopped up chicken. Let it simmer away again for 2-3 hours and then ate! Good stuff and very welcome as an almost fat free meal for me, as I have had to cut out most of the fat from my diet for health reasons. Didn't need to use the soupmaker this time but will be trying a recipe my daughter found for Apple & Parsnip soup next.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 15 - 02:21 PM

The tomatoes I use are homegrown and canned or frozen. I usually blanch and peel then dice and process them in pint jars. When I don't have enough to make it worth the trouble to set up the boiling water I freeze them. I made two pans of lasagna last night, one to eat, one for the freezer, using tomatoes, onions, green bell peppers, garlic, herbs, and eggplant (one layer in lieu of pasta) from my garden. The only things I didn't produce were the cheese, Italian sausage, or the pasta. And if I'd been thinking about it, I could have made the pasta and a batch of yogurt cheese instead of ricotta.

It tastes so much better when you grew it yourself. My soups also have the same home grown ingredients. One of these years when I have another huge summer tomato crop (the last really excellent one was in 2012) I'll try that roasted tomato soup. My first priority is canning for the year so I'd only use that many for soup like that if I was already set with enough processed pint jars.

I grow herbs and dry some and freeze others. I read somewhere recently that slightly blanching then freezing the basil is the way to keep the leaves green in the freezer, but they do just fine without blanching if I pull the bag out very quickly, break of a batch, then crumble the frozen leaves into the soup or sauce or onto the pizza, whatever.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 06:01 PM

Kinda like jello for me.. The horror

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 02:32 PM

I cannot convince Himself that kidney beans of any persuasion are actual food; he considers them the work of the devil. Lima beans, likewise. I played a dirty trick on him once -- I used young limas instead of navy beans in a batch of minestrone. I doubt that he noticed; he ate it for lunch every day for a week with every evidence of pleasure.

Tins labelled "kidney beans" in our pantry would cause quite a fuss. "Oh, how could you do this to me! You don't love me any more!"

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 10:12 AM

Nice to hear from fellow soup lovers I could live on soup alone. Love it all

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 07:40 AM

Not thinly sliced and chopped   Either or.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 07:37 AM

Don't add it too early then! Basil always goes in absolute last minute this end, never chopped, always torn in. Sometimes just baby leaves sprinkled on top of the finished dish, preferably with a swirl of the best olive oil in the cupboard. Dried basil was powerfully ruinous in every dish I ever added it to.

They use a firming agent sometimes in canned beans, and they won't soften much in the cooking. Morrisons and Sainsburys beans are often too hard. I always use Napolina brand, very dependable but sometimes on the soft side but you can just add them towards the end. I also like their canned chopped tomatoes, much better than some own-brands, though Waitrose are not too bad. I find that the best tomatoey flavour boost to the canned tomatoes, if you need it, is provided by a good dollop of Marks and Sparks vine-ripened paste. Or you can use the canned toms to make your own freezable tomato sauce. Fry some thinly-sliced chopped garlic in olive oil. When softened, add your canned toms and some tomato paste and simmer away with the lid off for half an hour. Season with black pepper and not too much salt. Tear in some basil at the end.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Musket
Date: 09 Mar 15 - 02:41 AM

We buy cannelloni, borlotti, flageolet, kidney and haricot beans in tins, as well as chick pea.

If you buy Sainsbury value tins, some can be a little hard and don't soften much with cooking. Their value chopped tomatoes in tetra packs are convenient for a cooking base when we don't have our own but need some tomato paste adding as they aren't exactly flavoursome...

Steve. There are times when I ignore the basil plant growing in the window cill and get the dried basil (chopped from our own plants) to use. Different taste and better for adding whilst cooking. Fresh basil loses it if added too early.





I heard a good one the other night. What's the difference between a chick pea and a lentil? I haven't paid good money to have a lentil on me......

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 10:02 PM

"Tomatoes and chickpeas are the only vegetables I buy in tins."

You could add red kidney beans to our list of things in cans in the cupboard.

Basil. Something to be planted later. My own planing from seed will be Greek basil.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 09:26 PM

Eek. Dried basil....AAARRGH!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 05:30 PM

Joe, I misspoke - it wasn't Martha Stewart, it was Mrs. Wheelbarrow, a gardening and canning site I found years ago via twitter.

Roasted tomato and garlic soup.

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup
This recipe can be pressure canned or frozen. Cream is added when the soup is reheated.
Makes about 6 pints

15-20 tomatoes
2 carrots, chop roughly
1 large onion, quartered
2 whole heads garlic, peeled, not crushed
olive oil
3 cups fresh, homemade, chicken broth, skimmed of fat
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil — (or 1 Tbsp. dried)

Preheat oven to 425°
Core tomatoes and cut in half. Place, cut side up, on parchment covered cookie sheet. Add carrots, onion and garlic. Brush with olive oil.
Roast at 425°F for about an hour, or until veggies are roasted and a little blackened.
Blend with a stick blender (or in small batches in a blender) until smooth. Throw the basil in and blend some more.
Place in a large saucepan with the chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes.

To can: Process in a pressure canner, pints for 60 min. and quarts for 70 min. at 11# of pressure (dial gauge.)

To serve: Warm soup in a saucepan. Add cream to taste. Serve garnished with chives or frizzled shallots.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 05:24 PM

I have no hesitation using canned beans in soups. Napolina cannellini beans are brilliant, and cheap. Mentioning using kale in soup reminded me of one of the best of all Italian soups, ribollita. A fantastic soup for anyone, including veggies. I start with chunky soffritto: chopped carrots, onions and celery in olive oil. When the veg is soft I chuck in canned tomatoes, some sundried tomato paste, a bit of white wine, veg stock and beans. Tons of beans. And seasoning, of course. After a bit of simmering I throw in an impossibly large amount of chopped cavolo nero and let it cook for about ten minutes. What you do next is crucial: you need some ciabatta or other crusty white bread, which you toast then rub with very garlicky olive oil. Put the bread into bowls and ladle the soup on top. You'll live forever.

All the better if you make the ribollita the day before. Ribollita means "reboiled".

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 04:53 PM

I make it that way also, it is wonderful

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 04:29 PM

Himself is out of town doing a two-week Court Martial, so I'm eating my way through a large batch of minestrone.

Take a pound of small white beans, put them in cold salted water, and boil them until they are cooked. While that's going on, shred the leaves of a pound and a half of kale, and dice two stalks of celery, a large carrot and a large yellow onion. Mince several cloves of garlic, and cut four rashers (slices) of smoked bacon into lardons.

When the beans are tender, strain them. Take a large soup pot and fry the lardons in the bottom until they have rendered up their grease; then add the garlic, onion and celery. Cook for a while, until the onion is translucent. Add the carrots and the beans. Then pour in about half a large tin of diced tomatoes (~14 fluid ounces) and up to two litres of beef stock.

Bring all that to a boil and cook until the carrots are tender. Then add the kale, stir it down, and bring it back up to the boil. Finish with some chopped basil, rather a lot of pepper and some salt if you think it necessary.

Tomatoes and chickpeas are the only vegetables I buy in tins. Yes, I am a snob.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Musket
Date: 08 Mar 15 - 04:04 AM

Beanz means fartz

We get Branston these days because their low salt and sugar ones aren't as watery as Heinz.

Heinz inhabit our pantry in terms of tomato soup and ketchup. That said, we have more of our own tomato soup than tinned. Tinned is when I am home alone and being lazy.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 02:21 PM

Mike thank you my friend

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: MikeL2
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 10:42 AM

Hi

The discussion about tomato soup reminds me of when my wife's sister invited us to dinner. She had also invited our favourite niece and her new boyfriend.( They were in their twenties ).

Barbara is an excellent cook and goes " the extra mile" when cooking, especially at dinner parties.

For starters she did her "special" homemade tomato soup.

The boyfriend had a couple of spoons and then started looking at it and didn't have any more.

My Sister-in-law asked him if he didn't like tomato soup. He said he did but he only liked Heinz tinned soup.

He was never invited again......tee hee

Cheers

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: MikeL2
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 10:31 AM

Hi Dan

<" Mike I would love your leek and potato recipe >"

I will give you my way of making the soup, but as I said earlier I tend to "play it by ear.

Ingredients - 4 Portions: 1 lb Potatoes - 2 medium carrots - 1. medium white onion - 1 Small red onion - 2 large leeks - Fresh Herbs as available or tablespoon of dried mixed herbs - pint of chicken or vegetable stock. Use salt and pepper to taste.

Method -: Dice the potatoes and carrots into small cubes. Chop the leeks into 2inch pieces and cut lengthwise (wash thoroughly ).

Fry the vegetables lightly - I use butter and olive oil - I fry for about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the stock and throw in the herbs in a large pan.

Add in the fried vegetables and use water as necessary and simmer for for 45 minutes and the let it stand until it goes cool.

Blitz the soup until you get the consistency that suits you. Sometimes I have it chunky but most times I do it smooth....the family like it this way.

Hope this helps Dan. You will have to do a little experimenting to get the right contents to suit your taste.

You can leave out the frying stage if you want it healthy. Steve is right this gives the most taste but IMHO it is not significantly different.

As regards Soup makers. I have one and I find that if you let the finished soup stand for a couple of hours and then heat it up in a saucepan by adding a knob of butter and a dessert spoon full of vegetable oil there's not much difference.

Please try it Dan and let me know how you go on.

Kind Regards

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Mr Red
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 06:29 AM

the best tomato soup I ever had was in a transport cafe on the A5 near Browhills.
It was Heinz, I am sure but they had thrown in fresh ripe toms cut up and then heated it. Tried it since, never quite the same as the first time (now where have I heard that before?).

I heard on a dieting type documentary recently that there is a very good reason why soup is filling. Something that explained why I prefer half a tin at one sitting. (or did I mean slurping?)

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 05:40 AM

I do like tomato soup so it's dissapointing not to get the recipe. Try and make it again and let us know!
In cans I prefer Baxters

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 05:07 AM

I must put in a word for salmorejo, a rich, thick Spanish soup that must be served very cold. Makes a great tapas or starter in summer. It's made with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and bread, and, most important, a dash of sherry vinegar. I don't favour those recipes that include almonds. It's traditional to garnish it with chopped hard-boiled egg and chopped Serrano ham. It's pointless trying to make this, as with gazpacho, with anything other than perfectly red-ripe, full-flavoured tomatoes. I first had this on a hot summer's evening sitting outside a bar in Terque, a little village in Andalucia. Gorgeous!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 03:25 AM

For anyone who wants to make their own cream of tomato soup that tastes just like Heinz (I know..) you just heat tomato puree and single cream together on the hob. Season as liked.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 07:43 PM

So, Stilly, we'll all be at your house for dinner tomorrow night. Did your airport open up yet?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 06:58 PM

Hmm Janie, I think my tastes changed over the the years, I'd not do what parents sometimes do and have grilled salad (eg. Ailsa Craig") tomatoes on toast it's not for me. But on a very rare day when I do depart form the family and have a grill/fry up with bacon a can of plum tomatoes is nice.

There was a time when I found cooking things too "tomato-y" for me but that has largely changed. In the summer if things go well, I boil up home grown tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergine and courgette. It gets frozen an Pip can use it as a base for a meal.

Whatever, maybe for me the best tomato is the salad one you pick from your own vine and maybe eat with cheese in a sandwich,

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Janie
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 06:21 PM

Not fond of cooked tomatoes as the main ingredient in anything other than creamed tomato soup, and confess a fondness for Campell's canned tomato soup/bisque with grilled cheese sandwiches.

I'm a little younger than Joe, but don't ever remember there being many soups labeled Heinz on the grocery shelf where I grew up or where I have lived - all south of the Mason-Dixon line.

If a little thread drift may be allowed - Snow's Clam Chowder used to be great. My ex-husband told of working at a clam shack/seafood restaurant on Cape Cod in the 1960's that was famous for their clam chowder, which patrons assumed to be restaurant made. One of his prime jobs was to bag and keep concealed the Snow's cans from whence the chowder came. Not easy to find in stores in many places, then or now. But they have been bought out by Bumble Bee, have changed the recipe, and it simply is no better than any other canned New England clam chowder any more.

*sniff*

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 05:15 PM

Very easy

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 05:13 PM

The trouble with all-in-one soup makers is that you put everything in raw. That is not the way to achieve the flavour base needed for a good soup. You need to fry the veg in oil, get it all nice and soft, to release the flavours and aromas before adding the stock. It really is every easy to make soup from scratch.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 05:08 PM

Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for tomato soup that I cut out, but haven't made yet. You cut in half and arrange on a baking sheet a bunch of ripe tomatoes and various other vegetables, and roast them before pureeing the lot. It sounded fabulous. If I can find that later I'll transcribe and post it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 04:35 PM

Oh Joe, and maybe me showing my age... Beanz meanz Heinze.

Maybe not in this (UK) hosuehold though. Branston seems the most popular at home these dasys.

There is a jar of Heinz ketchup in the cupboard but when we have a good crop of plum tomatoes. Pip makes her own.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 04:22 PM

I met her Joe beautiful person inside and out.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 04:11 PM

I don't see Heinz soup often in the U.S. any more. Heinz is the standard for Ketchup, but not soup. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is married to a Heinz heiress, Teresa Heinz Kerry. She is the widow of Senator Henry John Heinz III. Teresa Heinz is the chair of The Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, disbursing money to various social and environmental causes.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 04:06 PM

Dan - I know what you mean. I made a tomato soup a while back with fresh, canned and roasted tomatoes. It came out well but I didn't write it down.

I made butternut squash soup a few days ago. I've got a new toy - a soupmaker that cooks and then liquidises all in one.

I put in the squash, with homemade vegetable stock, some dried minced garlic, pepper and dried crushed red pepper. Overdid it on the peppers I think, it's edible for me but I like hot stuff!

There's chicken stock in the fridge now for a chicken soup to be made tomorrow. I'm having to cut right back on fats so will take of the fat from the top.

I must admit, though, that my real comfort food on a cold day is Campbells cream of chicken.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 03:49 PM

For stock, these days we tend to use the Knorr vegatable stock pots.

We still have a few leeks in the garden. They will probably go into a leek and potato soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 03:26 PM

Mike I would love your leek and potato recipe. I can never get it right and every spring I have a bumper crop of leeks growing wild here. Thank my friend

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: MikeL2
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 02:31 PM

Hi Dan Hope you're keeping well.

I have been making soups now for many years and like you I just toss in what I have at the time. All the children in the family as well as the adults really love them.

I have on occasions when, after tasting before finishing, I have even added some 2 CupaSoup to give it a bit of substance.

The soup that I make that goes down best with my family is leek and potato.

And I make a very popular Gazpacho in the summer as it is a cold soup. Deliciously refreshing on a warm day....and healthy too.

I have tried to capture the Heinz taste for the kids but it is cheaper and better to buy it for them.....and less work.

Cheers

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 01:31 PM

I tempted you and you fell for it! You won't be saying that when they slaughter Rovers on Sunday in t'cup. I can only pray that I get released from the baby-naming ceremony we've been invited to in time to watch the game. I'm being railroaded into wearing a bloody tie for that. Don't think I can remember how to put one on. And pants with a crease. Jaysus, Mrs Steve loves this sort of thing... :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Musket
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 01:12 PM

I take it you are referring to the contents of the Anfield Kop sir?

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 01:11 PM

Hungarian mushroom soup from the Moosewood cookbook. I could eat a few gallons of it. I also agree with #'s opinion on Campbell's Cream of Mushroom.

I never liked tomato soup because the only thing I've experienced has been Campbell's. I think this is what Bat Goddess makes, and I plan on trying it this summer: Fresh Heirloom Tomato Soup from The Splendid Table

I'm now hungry.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Mysha
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 01:10 PM

Hi,

Olddude: Just start with the ingredients you recall and vary from their. Even if you don't rediscover your lost recipe, you may find another, equally good.

Not really my thing, though, tomato soup. But fortunately the thread then mentioned pasta!
Personally, I use peas, rather than carrots. I can see the appeal, though, and may try it sometime.

The one trouble with peas is that for some reason most people seem to believe that peas are inedible if over 4mm in diameter. As a consequence, what is sold over here, labelled as "extra fine peas", is something that almost disappear into your pasta sauce without a trace. What you need instead are not even "fine peas", but "medium peas". Those are good in pasta sauce.

I imagine "large peas" might be as well, but so far I've never found any peas on offer on that half of the scale. Quite weird, really, since that means all peas or on one size of the scale: Either medium or smaller.


Bye,
                                                               Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 11:50 AM

Too thick and salty!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Musket
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 11:08 AM

You know.. We make all kinds of soups, from scratch and enjoying a lot of our own produce, including our own tomato soup. But I do stand by the fact that Heinz have cracked the code...

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:53 AM

Must have been my bad memory, Charmion.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:50 AM

I don't think I have used a stock cube since about 1975. Making stock is not just easy, it clears out the freezer and the veg bin in a good way, and makes the house smell great. Like Guest#, I take the fat off; I use stock in too many recipes that have no room in them for extra fat.

I learned to make proper cream of mushroom soup in Grade 8 cookery class, back in the middle sixties. At the time, I thought it was an enormous waste of effort; now it's a treat.

Sodium bicarb shows up in quite a few tomato recipes, but to the best of my knowledge it has no effect on the relationship between tomatoes and milk. In the Grade 8 recipe, which doesn't curdle, the soup is thickened with beurre manié and the cream goes in at the very end.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:35 AM

Dan, I had a tomato soup years ago that was made with tomato juice and milk. However, the cook added sodium bicarbonate (I think) to prevent the milk from curdling. I do not recall the order things were done in and I'd guess that's crucial because of the milk souring. I'll dick around with it in the next while and let you know what I find out.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:29 AM

Pretty much the same here, Steve, but I also add between 4 and 8 cloves. Much as I like the fat that renders into the broth I have to skim it after refrigerating the stock. Old age/golden years aren't all they're cracked up to be :-))

I've been unable to locate a satisfactory stock cube. Here in Canada they seem to be 90% salt bound together with stuff. However, there is a chicken or beef stock out of late made by Mr Campbell that comes in a one liter box, and it's a handy way to increase the stock rendering. The birds like the chicken fat which I 'butter' toast with before tossing it out to them.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:17 AM

I never eat tinned soups or those than come in expensive cartons. I find them all to be disgustingly over-processed and, considering the cost of the ingredients, a total ripoff. And too salty. Making really good soup at home is easy, and you can always make your favourites in bulk and freeze the excess. I think the best ones for freezing are the ones that you've blitzed in the processor.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 10:08 AM

To make my chicken stock I boil the carcass of the Sunday roast in a large pan of water, adding a couple of onions, a couple of carrots and a couple of sticks of celery, all chopped up. Add pepper but not salt. I add a few sprigs of thyme and two fresh bay leaves and some parsley if I have it. If the carcass is a bit small I might cheat and add one chicken stock cube (the Kallo ones are organic), just to man it up a bit. Just simmer that for hours with the lid on then mash it all up a bit and sieve it. I never skim the fat off stock. That's where the flavour is. I'd rather cut down the butter or oil in whatever recipe I'm using the stock in.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 09:57 AM

It might be a stretch calling this tomato soup, but it is tomato-ey. Veggies look away now. This is by far the finest soup I've ever made. It comes from Gino D'Acampo.

Fry half a pound of diced pancetta or chopped streaky bacon (not smoked) in olive oil. After a few minutes, add a pound and a half of sliced onions or shallots (I love banana shallots and use them instead of onions all the time these days). When the onions have softened nicely, add at least two and a half pints of your finest chicken stock and a 440ml can of chopped tomatoes. Maybe a few more toms than that or maybe a slug of sundried tomato paste in addition. Season. Simmer for 40 minutes. Check seasoning again. Easy with the salt because the bacon contains some.

Serve this in big bowls with some fresh Parmesan shavings on top and some crusty bread to accompany. If you have fresh basil sprinkle some baby leaves on top. If you have only dried basil throw it straight in the bin and do without. Fit for a king.

That will do four people, or two of you twice.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 07:43 AM

Of the Heinz ones, their vegatable soup suits my own tastes.

Home made,e made soups. Mums celery soup for one is delightful. Then there is one using stilton cheese...

I (UK) don't have the US/UK experience on possible differences.

At least not usually. Years ago I was sent some maple syrup by another person here. If memory is correct, it was B grade and had been produced in Vermont. It wasn't just sweet as I'd expect but it was full of flavour. In a daft sort of way I suppose, you could almost taste the tree!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 06:21 AM

Have to agree about Heinz, it seems to have kept the same taste over the years unlike a lot of other "new improved formula" products which end up ruined!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Musket
Date: 06 Mar 15 - 05:45 AM

There are very few processed foods that can hold themselves against home made, but Heinz Tomato Soup hits the comfort spot for me.

To be fair, I haven't tasted it when in The US, and I find a number of things that are the same don't taste the same. But the UK Heinz, from their factory just off the M6 in Lancashire make wonderful tomato soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 08:02 PM

Joe give it a try i added a couple teaspoons of sugar to tame the acid it was amazing especially with the sliced mushrooms

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 06:53 PM

Thanks "#". I'm sure we'll come up with something and I'm quite fond of nutmeg. Wandering even further, I love bread sauce - just the simple cook with an onion with cloves stuck in at and to finish it off, top with grated nutmeg. Only seem to have it at Christmas though.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,#
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 06:06 PM

Use al dente cooked carrots instead of meat. That works, and if the vegetarians can use a bit of butter, with the milk sauce or a very light cream, so much the better. I prefer to use the nut of the nutmeg and grate it onto the finished dish. YMMV, but it can be a different pasta sauce for a change :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 05:58 PM

I live with 2 vegetarians so the mince would be out but something spaghetti using this soup as a base for the sauce is something I think we will try.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,#
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 05:34 PM

"I really like their condensed cream of mushroom."

I use that with cooked ground beef, milk with a dusting of nutmeg to make spaghetti sauce as a change from tomato sauce, etc. Sometimes I add fresh mushrooms if they're a reasonable price. But as you allude to, Jon, the soup's gotta be Campbell's.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 05:13 PM

Tomato soup has never really been my favourite but there was one my mother made once that I did enjoy.

Again, I haven't a clue what the recipe was. The only thing I can say was it was made a year when we had an excess of the plum tomato, Roma VF - it might have been the first year I tried a plum.

Campbells soup... I really like their condensed cream of mushroom.

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 04:48 PM

Gee, it sounds delicious, Dan. I never thought of tomato soup coming from anywhere but a can. I have had ties to Sacramento since 1970, and moved there in 1981 - the city has the nickname "Sacatomato," because so many tomatoes are grown here in the Sacramento River Delta. During the harvest season, tomatoes are transported in big hopper trucks, filled to overflowing with beautiful canning tomatoes. The freeway ramps often have piles of tomatoes, left by trucks that took the turn too fast.

The Campbell's Soup Company plant shut down a couple years ago. It had a water tower painted to look like a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup. But now that Campbell's deserted us, I'm considering getting my tomato soup fix in other ways. Yours sounds good.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 03:45 PM

I am not one of them but I understand that many women can isolate ingredients by aroma- try your wife on it!

Subject: RE: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 03:35 PM

I know I had whole tomatos canned tomatos some red wine, some mushrooms, some cream some butter some basil a dash of something spicy and.. Dang if I know

Subject: BS: Tomato soup
From: olddude
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 03:29 PM

Just made the best tomato soup i ever made, I threw in what ever I felt would work. Now I could not recreate it if I tried. Wish now I wrote it down