Famous Soups

The world is full of delicious soups, here are some information about eleven of them:

Bisque: Is made with shellfish, white wine, Cognac and enriched with cream. The word suggests a connection with the Spanish province of Vizscaya, which lends its name to the Bay of Biscay. But today the word is used imprecisely for several pink puréed soups.

Borsch: It’s a beet soup eaten hot or cold, popular in Ukraine, Russia and Poland and also an Ashkenazi Jewish dish. It’s traditionally served with sour cream.

Caldo Verde: Is a popular soup of Portuguese cuisine. The basic ingredients are potatoes, kale or collard greens, onions and garlic. Before serving, slices of Chorizo (a smoked pork sausage seasoned with paprika, crushed pepper, garlic and other spices) are also often added as well as olive oil. It is usually accompanied by slices of Broa (Portuguese bread made of a mixture of cornmeal and rye flour, and leavened with Yeast) on the side.

Chowder: Is enriched with pork fat and thickened with flour. Associated to the cuisine of New England, it can have different base ingredients, but the most famous is the clam chowder. It’s done with milk or cream in most places but in Manhattan it has tomatoes. Its name probably comes from the French word chaudière that means pan.

Chupe de camarones (shrimp): This a Peruvian dish that in fact stands between a soup and a stew. The preparation has, besides shrimp and its stock, onion, garlic, chillies, tomatoes, rice, potatoes, corn, egg, fish filets and cilantro, so it’s quite fullfilling.

Gazpacho: The Spanish soup is originally a labourers’ dish from Seville, made with bread and vegetables including cucumber, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, seasoned with garlic, olive oil and vinegar. It’s served ice cold and commonly with garnishes, such croutons, chopped cucumbers, hard-boiled egg and bell pepper. Its name, of Arabic origin, means soaked bread.

Matzo Balls Soup: Mazto balls are traditional jewish dumplings made from matzo meal, eggs and some sort of fat or oil. Some recipes may add a number of ingredients, such as stock and seasonings (for taste), seltzer or baking powder (for fluffiness). Traditionally, the fat used had been Schmaltz (chicken fat), which imparts a distinctive flavor, but it can be replaced by vegetable oil. The balls are shaped by hand and dropped into a pot of salted, boiling water or Chicken soup.

Minestrone: An Italian mixed vegetable soup containing pasta or rice. It is characterized by the variety of vegetables it contains, which vary from region to region. Minestrone originally was a very humble dish and was intended for everyday consumption, being filling and cheap, and would likely have been the main course of a meal. The word means a very substantial or large soup.

Miso Soup: A traditional Japanese Soup, consisting of a stock called Dashi into which is mixed softened Miso paste. Although the suspension of miso paste into dashi is the only characteristic that actually defines miso soup, many other ingredients are added depending on regional and seasonal recipes as well as personal preference.

Vichyssoise: A leek and potato soup thickened with cream and served cold, garnished with chives. The soup was created in the US by Louis Diat, a French chef who named it after his local town, Vichy.

Vietamese Pho: A beef noodle soup with a rich, clear broth achieved from hours upon hours of boiling meat and different herbs. There are many varieties of pho, with different selections of meats (most commonly beef and chicken) along with beef balls. Pho is typically served in bowls with spring onion, slices of semi cooked beef (to be cooked by the boiling hot broth), and then of course the broth itself. The use of vegetables and various herbs is common in the southern region.