Traditional Vegetarian Soup Recipes And Cooking Methods

Nourishing Vegetarian Soups
There are very few people, unless they have made vegetarian cookery studies, who are aware what a great variety of soups can be made without the use of meat or fish. As a rule, ordinary cookery books have the one exception of what is called soup maigre.In England it seems to be the impression that the goodness of the soup depends upon the amount of nourishment that can be compressed into a small space. It is, however, a great mistake to think that because we take a large amount of nourishment we are necessarily nourished.

The French Introduced The Light Soup Starter
The French prepared soup in an altogether different style and introduced soup as the pre-course to the main meal as a light, thin broth, taken to strengthen the stomach, in order to render it capable of receiving more substantial food to follow. Vegetarian soups are, of course, to be considered from this latter point of view.

Vegetable Soup For A Delicate Stomach
Vegetarian soups, as a rule, and especially the thin ones, must be regarded as a light and pleasant flavoring that, with a small piece of white bread enables the most obstinately delicate stomach to commence a repast that experience has found best adapted to its requirements.

Good vegetable Stock Is Essential
The basis of all soup is stock, and in making stock we, of course, have to depend upon vegetables, fruit, or some kind of farinaceous (floury) food. To a certain extent the water in which any kind of vegetable has been boiled may be regarded as stock, especially water that has boiled roots, such as potatoes; or grains, such as rice. It will not, however, be necessary to enter into any general description as to the best method of obtaining nutriment in a liquid form from vegetables and grain, as directions will be given in each recipe, but a few words are necessary on the general subject of flavoring stock.

A Good Vegetarian Soup Depends Upon Balance
In making ordinary soup we are very much dependent for flavor, if the soup be good, on the meat, the vegetables acting only as accessories. In making stock for vegetarian soups we are chiefly dependent for flavor on the vegetables themselves, and consequently great care must be taken that these flavorings are properly blended. The great difficulty in giving directions in cookery books, and in understanding them when given, is the insuperable one of avoiding vague expressions. For instance, suppose we read, “Take two onions, one carrot, one turnip, and one head of celery,”- what does this mean? It will be found practically that these directions vary considerably according to the neighborhood or part of the country in which we live. For instance, so much depends upon where we take our head of celery. Again, onions vary so much in size that we cannot draw any hard-and-fast line between a little pickling onion no bigger than a marble and a Spanish onion as big as a baby’s head. It would be possible to be very precise and say, “Take so many ounces of celery, or so many pounds of carrot,” but practically we cannot turn the kitchen into a chemist’s shop. Cooks, whether told to use celery in heads or ounces, would act on guesswork just the same. Two absolutely essential things are common sense and experience.

Too Many Ingrediants Spoil...
Again, practically, we must avoid giving too many ingredients. Novices in the art of cooking are, of course, maybe unable to distinguish between those vegetables that are absolutely essential and those added to give a slight extra flavor, but which make very little difference to the soup whether they are added or not.

Learning To Blend Flavors Comes With Experience
We are often directed to add a few leaves of tarragon, or chervil, or a handful of sorrel. In making soups, as a rule, the four vegetables essential are, onion, celery, carrot and turnip; and we place them in their order of merit. In making vegetarian soup it is very important that we should learn how to blend these without making any one flavor too predominant. This can only be learnt by experience.

 Traditional Vegetarian Soup Recipes And Cooking Methods