User blog:Asnow89/Cooking 101: Soup

What is Soup?
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid.

Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.

Types of Soup
Traditionally, soups are classified into two main groups: clear soups and thick soups.

"Clear" Soups
Clear soups are soups that are very liquid based, filled with chopped meats, vegetables, or starches like rice or pasta. Broth soups are differentiated by the type of liquid used to make them. There are broth soups, stock soups, and bouillon soups.

"Thick" Soups
Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used: purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch; bisques are made from puréed shellfish or vegetables thickened with cream; cream soups may be thickened with béchamel sauce.

Stews
Stews aren't always classified as a soup because stew don't have as much liquid. Although, most of the time, there isn't a clear distinction between the two. Stews are generally slow cooked soups that are very meat or vegetable based.

Recipes
Cream-based soups are rich and hearty in the winter time. Generally, you purée vegetables and slowly simmer the soup on the stove. You finish the soup off with cream at the end before it is finished.

Recipes:Crab Bisque, Cream of Potato Soup, Creamy Squash, Apple and Corn Bisque, Fresh Pea Soup with Lemon Crème Fraîche

Clear soups are easy to make if you have stock or broth on hand. You can clear out the vegetables and meats in your fridge and stick them all in the soup.

Recipes: Italian Minestrone, Hot and Sour Chicken Soup, Quinoa Vegetable Soup, Chicken and Rice Soup

Stews are great Fall and Winter meals. Generally, a stew is hearty enough to be an entire meal in itself. Stews also keep very well in the fridge.

Recipes: Lamb Stew with Rice,, Chicken, Tomatillo and Jalapeño Stew, Beef, Pork and Hominy Stew, Oxtail and Cabbage Stew