More soup tips....

1. A simple important step is using fresh cold water for the base to any soup. Cold water is the foundation to any good stock and is the foundation to any good soup. Hot water comes from a tank that can have traces of metals and sediments, which in turn can create a bad taste in your soups. The heat can also leach heavy metals like lead from your plumbing into the water, which could then go into your soup.

2. A good stock makes for good soup. If you are making your own stock, you should make it with plenty of bones, the meat on the bones gives the soup flavor and the bones give it body, because of the natural collagen. Cold homemade stocks often have so much body and texture that it can be scooped out with a spoon. A good quality stock provides the soup with body and a silky texture. Good stock can be portioned and frozen for future use.

3. Whenever you make a soup, cook it slowly and only allow to boil briefly then reduce to simmer. Boiling soup for an extended period off time disintegrates the ingredients and makes the liquid cloudy. When reducing heat, reduce until you see small bubbles around the rim, not rolling bubbles across the service.

4. Season slowly, add water slowly. The old expression is that you can always add, but you can never take away. Add water and seasoning slowly and taste often to adjust until desired consistency and flavor are achieved.

5. Soups are best made in bulk and portioned out and frozen for future use. Soups are the perfect food for busy schedules since frozen portions can be stored in zip top bags to make efficient use of freezer space.

Useful Equipment for Making Soup and Producing Purees

Food Mill: A hand-cranked food mill purees soup by forcing ingredients through a preforated round disk to remove fibers, skins and seeds from vegetables. Most mills come with both medium and fine disks offering the cook a choice of coarser or smoother purees.

Food Processor: A food processor purees soups almost instantaneously. First, fit the processor with a metal blade. Ladle small batched of the cooked product and a bit of the liquid into the food processors bowl. Be careful not to over fill, fill to just about half way. Cover and pulse the machine several times, then process until the puree to desired consistency. When using a food processor, straining may be necessary to remove fibers, skins and seeds. Remove them by pouring contents into a sieve over large bowl or you may use a stainless steel wire mesh strainer.

Handheld blender ("Stick Blender"/"Immersion blender") Hand held blenders also called immersion blenders have a blade that can lowered directly into a pot of soup, blending large amounts of soup at one time without having to switch the contents from pot to a separate bowl. I prefer using an immersion blender for ease of use, less dishes to clean and for it's ability to easily achieve a smooth silky texture in soups in the least amount of time and with little effort. Immersion blenders also tend to incorporate air into the soup, resulting in a silky foamy texture.

Standing blender: Blenders make pureeing soups fast and easy, they can handle more liquid than food processors and usually produce a better puree than food processors. When using a blender, work in small batched and never fill blender more than half way to prevent overflow.