At the end of the day, there is nothing quite like sipping a comforting bowl of soup. But because it wo n’t make itself, you’ll want to set yourself up for success with a few simple, yet essential, tips for making soup from the Barefoot Contessa herself. Learn how to cook leftovers so that your dish is actually better than it was the day before as well as what cookware works best for simmering soups, what ingredients to add, and when to season them. By the time you finish reading the next tip, you’ll become as comfortable as a professional and prepared to tackle all the soup recipes. Tip 1: Break Out Your Dutch Oven Positive, it’s big and heavy and perhaps stashed in the hardest-to-reach case in your home, but a French range is a must for cooking soups and stews. The heavy, usually cast-iron walls help preserve and distribute temperature, which means Dutch ovens are better at trapping moisture and cooking equally than stainless-steel cookware. You can also brown, braise, and cook right in the same dish because they typically have an enamel coating. That frequently uses the traditional home mainstay in several of her sauce recipes, including her Ultimate Beef Stew, where she browns, sautés, and simmers all in a big Dutch oven. In many of our dish dishes, including our Milky Chicken Noodle Soup, we also recommend using a Dutch oven. Tip 2: Do n’t Toss the Rinds Out; Toss Them In Many soups can benefit from the salty, nutty flavor of Parmesan cheese. But that does n’t mean you have to add in your precious (aka expensive ) Parm by the pile. In reality, adding it in this way may cause the cheese to sink to the bottom and turn into a gluey mess. Save your Parmesan peel otherwise so you can shove them into soup while they simmer. The best part is that when the soup is set, they can be easily removed with tongs, aside from the extraordinary flavor they impart. To place this hint to work, try your hand at Ina’s Chicken Pot Pie Soup, which she tops with a handful of wonderful heart- and star-shaped puff pastry bread. Our One-Pot Lentil &amp, Vegetable Soup with Parmesan is also a Parmesan peel recipe that we adore for its spicy weirdness. Tip 3: Let It Simmer When it comes to sauce, low and slower is the way to go—a approach you’ll see in almost every one of Ina’s soup recipes. It just means avoiding boiling sauce over high heat and letting the dish simmer slowly. This soft cooking technique also aids in the preservation of some texture and allows all the flavors to create and meld. Tip 4: Put Any Legumes Last As previously mentioned, precooked legumes may be added during the final 30 minutes or so of bubbling. Put them too soon, and you might not be able to find them when the time comes, as they frequently disintegrate and dissolve in the soup. In Ina’s wonderful Tuscan White Bean Soup meal, she notes that, when using canned seeds, the simmering period should be reduced to 45 days —half the moment the recipe calls for when using dried seeds. Similarly, you’ll want to add ingredients in order of how long they take to cook. To give precooked beans time to soften a bit, raw vegetables like onions, carrots, and celery should be added first, in order to create the traditional French flavor base known as mirepoix and give them some time to rest. Tip 5: A Taste for Salt and Pepper Nearly no soup would be complete without a dash or so of salt. However, it’s best to change the seasonings once the soup is finished cooking before serving because ingredients gradually lose their flavors. That’s why you’ll notice that nearly every one of the Barefoot Contessa’s soup recipes ends with” Taste for salt and pepper” or” Taste for seasonings”. It’s a particularly important tip to remember when making soups with salty ingredients, like Ina’s Spanish Pea Soup with Crispy Ham. Tip 6: Do n’t Forget the Fat Adding oil to the pot before you start sautéing is a given, but depending on the kind of soup you’re making, you might consider adding butter too. A couple of tablespoons of butter can do wonders, it thickens, creates a silky texture and helps meld flavors, and its low smoke point makes it ideal for sautéing vegetables, so that they become softened and translucent rather than browned. Ina frequently uses this method, most notably in her Creamy Potato Fennel and Cheddar Corn Chowder recipes. Bonus Tip for Reheating You’ve probably noticed that leftovers become more appealing as they get better with time. Follow Ina’s straightforward instructions for reheating when removing the large pot of soup from the refrigerator. ” Reheat this ( and all soups ) slowly, adding extra chicken stock or water, until it is the desired thickness”. When it comes to soups with starchy ingredients, like rice and pasta, adding extra stock or water is a must, as those ingredients tend to act as a sponge.

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