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10 Ways to Make Soup Faster
Appears in
By Ivy Manning
Published 2017
- THINK AHEAD. Working a bit ahead can save you headaches later. For instance, if you’re going to chop some garlic for tonight’s soup and you know that you’ll be using more garlic later in the week, peel a whole head of garlic and throw it in a mini food processor. Keep chopped garlic in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator for up to a week. FYI: One medium garlic clove yields 1 tsp of minced garlic.
- DO MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME. Think like a chef and chop the vegetables while you heat the oil in the pot. Sauté the onions while you are mincing the garlic. While the soup simmers, grate the cheese you’ll use for the garnish and chop the fresh herbs. Or better yet, make a batch of bread, muffins, or rolls. This is how chefs get a lot done in a short amount of time.
- LEARN HOW TO CHOP AN ONION. You’ll do it over and over if you make soup frequently, so why not learn the most efficient way to chop an onion, if you haven’t already? Take a knife skills class; it’s the gift that keeps giving!
- BUY PRECUT VEGETABLES. Many grocery stores sell a variety of seeded, chopped, and prepped vegetables in their produce department. These shortcuts can be great time savers. (The only exception is prechopped onions, which become acrid and watery.) And hit the salad bar; you will often find chopped vegetables and precooked grains and beans, too. Double time-saving bonus!
- PRECOOK BEANS AND FREEZE THEM. Store drained precooked beans flat in zip-top plastic bags in 1½-cup [500- to 570-g] portions (the amount in an average can of beans). Add them directly to soup.
- USE FRESH HERBS. When you’re working fast, you don’t have time to simmer the flavor out of dried herbs, so opt for fresh. For the quickest plucking of woody herbs, hold the tougher end of the herb sprig with the fingertips of one hand and with the other, gently pinch the stem while pulling downward toward the tip to “unzip” the leaves from the stem. If you bought a big bunch at the farmers’ market and have leftover herbs, set the stems in a small glass of water, cover loosely with a plastic bag, and refrigerate.
- LINE IT UP. Riffling around in the produce drawer, searching for the can opener, or washing the cutting board in the middle of the cooking process slows you down. Put all the ingredients and equipment out on the counter before you start.
- BROWN MEAT UNDER A BROILER. Broiling, instead of browning meat on the stove top, will save you a lot of time. While the meat for your soup is broiling, you can be sautéing vegetables to get the rest of the soup started.
- USE HOT BROTH OR WATER. Hit the ground running by adding hot broth or water to the soup pot instead of cold liquid. It can speed up the cooking time by about 10 minutes. The only exceptions for this would be soups that include very firm vegetables, such as potatoes, that are not sautéed first. These veggies will cook evenly only when started in cold or room-temperature liquid.
- USE QUICK-COOKING GRAINS. I love whole grains, but they take a long time to cook. The recipes in this book call for quick-cooking grains like quinoa, pearled barley, bulgur, and rice, all of which cook in 45 minutes or less.
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