My Favorite Simple Trick for Transforming Boring Soups
Although soup season should be coming to an end, frost still threatens some parts of the United States. Just when I needed to crack my knuckles to make some hamburger patties, a cold wind forced me to pull out the Dutch oven to make some soup. Again.
If you’re tired of the same old soup recipes, I get it: lots of salt and umami can get boring. That’s why you need my trick to bring fresh interest to tired flavors (and prepare your palate for spring at the same time): simply brighten them up with a dose of acidity.
American-style soups tend to focus heavily on the savory and salty end of the flavor spectrum—stews, chili, chicken noodle variations, gumbos, chowders, and creamy soups. We all sleep on a whole category of sour soups. Consider these iconic dishes: Thai tom yum, Chinese suan la tan (also called hot and sour soup), German sauerkraut soup, Italian giambotta , and Greek avgolemono soup. And you can decorate any soup using several ingredients that you probably have on hand.
How to make sour soups at home
Adding sourness to a soup does not mean replacing the broth with a bottle of vinegar. Rather, it’s about adding balance and complementing the salty, sweet or savory components. There are several ways to add acidity to soups. The dishes I mentioned above use lime juice, vinegar, fermentation, crushed tomatoes and lemon juice to give them their signature tart flavor. All of these things are easily available at your local supermarket, or even in your kitchen.
If you’re new to sour soups, try adding one of the elements listed above to start experimenting with flavors. You can of course use a specific recipe for a specific sour soup (I’ve included it below), but if you don’t, just start with a stock soup you already like, cut a wedge of lemon, and squeeze it into the soup. If you don’t have lemon, try a teaspoon of vinegar. Try the soup and take it from there.
If you overdo it on the juice or vinegar the first time, don’t throw it away—you can add a little more salt and then eat the soup with some cooked rice to soothe the sting.
A few fresh flavor combinations to try
Personally, I find that lemon juice goes especially well with most soups that use chicken broth or a neutral, creamy broth. A couple of tablespoons of crushed tomatoes goes well with any beef, pork or sausage soup. Adding sauerkraut or kimchi can be a great addition to soups with lots of potatoes or beans.
A couple of years ago, my fiancé and I became obsessed with avgolemono soup. I’m not sure what the inspiration was for this (neither of us are Greek), but it has become our go-to recipe whenever our typical soup mix becomes mundane. (If you really want to get your taste buds buzzing, double the amount of lemon juice.)
Avgolemono soup recipe
Ingredients:
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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¼ cup finely chopped carrots
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½ cup finely chopped celery
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3 finely chopped shallots
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2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow onion
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2 cloves garlic, minced
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¼ teaspoon salt
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3 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
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1 bay leaf
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½ cup jasmine rice (or orzo if you prefer)
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1 cup cooked and shredded chicken
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Juice of one lemon (about ¼ cup)
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1 egg
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Parsley (optional for garnish)
1. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat until hot. Add carrots, celery, scallions, onion, garlic and salt. Stir frequently to coat the vegetables with oil.
2. Once the vegetables begin to sweat and become translucent, after about two to three minutes, add the broth and bay leaf. Increase heat to medium and bring broth to a boil.
3. Add the rice (or orzo) and reduce the heat to a simmer again. Let the carbs simmer and cook for eight to 15 minutes, depending on whether you use orzo or rice.
4. Add shredded chicken.
5. Crack the egg into a medium bowl. Add lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Using a ladle, temper the eggs by stirring the hot chicken broth into the egg mixture. While whisking quickly, pour two or three ladles of broth into the egg mixture. You will see the egg mixture turn an opaque yellow color. This is cool.
6. Remove the soup pot from the hot burner and add the tempered lemon-egg mixture to the soup pot. The broth will become creamy and light. Serve with torn parsley, if desired.