Pub/hotel soup

Where I worked, we used to use
- Potatoes
- Leeks
- Onions
- Carrots
- Veg boullion

Just boil it all up and cook until the veg got soft. Blend and add cream just before serving.

Very very simple, but it was known for being the best soup in town!!

Unknownability wrote: »

I always get the consistency wrong either too watery or too thick.

Has anyone a tip for getting that correct?

Remember, you can always add extra water at the end if it's too thick, you can't take it out

If I'm cooking any kind of vegetable soup I just make sure the water is only about an inch above the top of the vegetables. If it looks like it might start getting a bit too thick during cooking you can always add a little more.

If it's still too thick after you've blended it, just add a little more water, stir it in until it's just right.

Adding MSG to soup gave me a distinct reminder of many soups I have had out.

Boullion is mentioned a lot here, some of those will have MSG, or the "MSG free" ones will typically have yeast extract, another glutamate or there are various other glutamates

Knorr Aromat is readily available and after salt the second main ingredient is MSG.

A long time ago, but used to make this soup on a daily basis. The hardest 2 weeks ever from a soup perspective was when we had a conference group in and they wanted a different soup on the menu for lunch and dinner for 2 weeks.

But the basis for most of the hot veg type soups was as follows.

Leeks, onions and celery cooked/sweated off in the bottom of a large pot and then add some premade roux. (Flour and Butter version, not French)
The chicken stock would then be added. (Not too concerned about vegetarians back then.)
Then the vegetables that were to be the basis of the soup.
Carrots, Potato, Parsnip primarily. Avoid Broccoli and the like.
As mentioned previously if there were a pot of carrots leftover from the previous night, which was often the case, that would be used. 30l containers that would have been in a fridge from late the previous night.
Same with mashed potato, which also would have had Margerine, salt and pepper in it.
This is the part I didn't see mentioned though. The normal way these carrots would have been cooked was as slices or batons in a large pot, with a few blocks of margarine, salt, pepper and a considerable amount of sugar. This gives them a sweeter flavour and a bright shiny glazed look when being served as a side dish.

When the soup was cooked, you would then use an industrial hand blender to chop everything very finely in the pot.
This mix was then passed through a conical sieve into another large pot using a small ladle to speed up the pass-through process. anything that didn't pass through the sieve was waste.
The remaining mix was then heated up and cream added and kept in a bain-marie or soup holder until served.
The serving was normally with a small dollop of cream and a sprinkle of chopped parsley(fresh, not dried. Shouldn't have to point that out, but I have seen dried parsley used to quite comedic results)

Made cauliflower soup a few weeks back, wasnt gone on it but think I didnt season it enough. It was only cauliflower, an onion and chicken stock I used.

I bought veg soup in Aldi... New Grange *I think that's what it's called*. It's a big tub for 3euro. I thought of this thread while downing it, it is exactly like the bar/hotel soup this thread is about. Have bought it 4/5timea since, should be a lot more but a lot of the time it's already out of stock! And it's made in Ireland!

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

Dont waste your money buying soup. Very very unhealthy as full of salt. I make my own for 50cent which lasts about 5 days and is delicious.

I also make my own soups in large quantities in an 11 litre stock pot and freeze it but I also keep tins of soup like this https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=250412487 in my cupboard for a quick lunch when I need to. Not all bought soups are "Very very" unhealthy or "full" of salt. It's like everything else taken in moderation.

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

Dont waste your money buying soup. Very very unhealthy as full of salt. I make my own for 50cent which lasts about 5 days and is delicious.

Aren't you just fantastic!

Would agree that most of the packet soup is full of salt.

I'd recommend a soup maker, fire in whatever veg you want, couple of spuds, some pepper, chicken or veg stock cube, some garlic and onion and fill with water, when ready add some cream and small bit of milk. 5 or 6 portions of soup in just 25 minutes. Savage.

Tree wrote: »

Some of the worst soup i've ever eaten has been homemade. There's a lot to be said for letting the professionals at it (the soup maker in question has since found a cheffy boyfriend and no longer makes soup)

You dont need to be a professional to make homemade soup. It can be very simple. Homemade in my opinion and those I asked, superior than anything bought unless you want a tonne of salt.