Who doesn’t remember the fabulous episode with the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. If you haven’t seen it or need a refresher go to; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ3AOmZ2fps . I think that most people think that soup is relatively easy and truthfully it is. Once you have the basic composition you can make soup out of just about anything.
I have to credit my talented, wonderfully intelligent and divinely beautiful fiancé for getting me into soup. I was never a fan. I thought that soup was well SOUP. Not much to it other than its hearty goodness. But man was I wrong and she was the first to teach me that. Both Executive Chef and now Director of Operations built upon that initial love affair for me and have taught me much with regard to soup.
However, now that I am in a professional kitchen I have been making soups more and more frequently. And when I say soup I mean I am making anything from twenty to eighty litres of it.
The basic process is the same. You start with a mirepoix which is dependant on the type of soup you are making. Most of those that I have been making have either carrot, celery, onion and leek or no carrot. Just this past week I have made ninety litres of Cauliflower and aged cheddar Veloute and Tomato Vodka bisque. A couple of weeks ago I made an especially velvety mushroom bisque and right now as I prepare to go to work I know that I have to make both a butternut squash and a mushroom bisque.
At first when I was making soups on such a large scale I was making them too watery. Finding the perfect balance was incredibly hard. But as I have made them more frequently I have become better at it.
Each day when the service staff is getting ready to start their service they each taste the soup so that they can sell it. Twice in the past few weeks I have been congratulated on making such a good soup. It feels good. But I know that there is so much more to learn. And I can only get better as time goes on.
There is no limit to what you can do with soup. It can be hearty or merely a broth. But it is one of the critical elements of what we do. Soups, stocks, sauces, etc.
So, now I go off to work. Into soup land. Into another day of trying to be better than the last. To improve constantly on this journey which is never ending. So should you ever feel the need to have a great soup. You know where to find me. And it is my humble honour to make one for you.
Moliere once wrote; “I live on good soup, not on fine words.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
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