All About The Soup

Soup.  It's a definite 'want-to-have' food in a cold month like January.  It's also an easy meal to prepare from scratch for the family along with bread or biscuits.

For me, soup has an interesting story behind it.  Many years ago, I ran a software training and consulting business out of my home.  Occasionally, I needed to have a business meeting with a client or potential client.  At the time, the best soup in town was found not at a high-end restaurant, but at the local soup kitchen in downtown Kitchener.

St. John's Soup Kitchen, which is a program of The Working Centre, ran out St. John's Church  at Duke & Water streets.  The folks in that kitchen didn't make the best sandwiches around, but nothing beat the homemade soup they dished up every day for the city's homeless.  It was permissible to have lunch at the kitchen if you weren't homeless for a donation to the program.  I'd invite my business mates out to lunch featuring soup, take them to St. John's Soup Kitchen, donate $5 for each lunch, and we'd sit right next to the homeless of the city as we ironed out the details on sales agreements, contracts, training requirements, or whatever other business we needed to deal with.

Imagine taking the Director of the I.T. department of a large local company to lunch with a bunch of homeless people in a Soup Kitchen.  Not only was I not the least bit ashamed to hold my business meetings at the Soup Kitchen, but I was completely comfortable there, knowing several of the regular homeless in the soup kitchen by name.  The impact of this choice wasn't lost on some of my clients, who realized I regarded business and homeless culture as being intertwined, not mutually exclusive.  I didn't get all the business that I held lunch meetings at the Soup Kitchen for, but I got enough that I wasn't going to give up my favourite soup place for any reason, even if my business associates thought it odd or strange.

These days, without a reason to hold business meetings and living in a different city, I make my own soups from scratch and enjoy the results of my efforts on a regular basis.  One of my favourites is to make a Turkey Soup or Stew from the left over Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving turkey carcass that I toss in the freezer.  It's a very flexible type of soup that makes use of whatever you have in your fridge or cupboard. Here are some basic instructions for a Turkey Soup I made this past week.  Feel free to post questions or feedback in the comments, and enjoy your own pot of homemade Turkey Soup soon.

Homemade Turkey Soup:

Step One:  Take a defrosted turkey carcass and put in a pot full of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 60 to 90 minutes.

Step Two:  After simmering for at least 60 minutes, take out the turkey carcass, and remove the meat from the bones, taking care to shred it into bite-sized pieces.









Step Three:  Put the turkey back into the broth in the pot, and then add in whatever you want.  In this case, I added in 1/2 cup of Pot Barley, 2 large carrots coarsely chopped, 1 medium onion coarsely chopped, and 2 stalks of celery coarsely chopped.

A NOTE of CAUTION:  If you add pasta, barley, or beans, those absorb a lot of your broth if you leave the soup in the fridge for more than a day or two.  If you add potatoes, less of the broth is absorbed over time.  Also, don't put cabbage in this type of soup, as it complete breaks down and becomes part of the broth (unless that's what you want to have happen).

 

 


Step Four:  After about 30 minutes of the vegetables cooking in the pot, add in your preferred spices and herbs.  For this soup, I added minced garlic, fresh rosemary, salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, and thyme.  Once you've added your spices and herbs, let your soup simmer for another 30 minutes and then it's ready to eat!