Yep, White Lily it is. I’ll even give away the other two ingredients: buttermilk and butter-flavored Crisco. (We generally use self-rising flour. There aren’t any real brownie points to be gained in adding your own baking powder and salt!) In a real pinch, if you’re in the wilds of the Bronx or Seattle or something, use half cake flour and half of a standard bleached AP flour, and then add your own baking powder and salt. I’ve never tried that, but my Georgia-born aunt lives in Portland, and swears it works just fine.
Tomorrow I will start the experimentation on my breakfast soup. My initial thought was to begin with a potato soup, and make it more “breakfast-like,” but now I’m considering the possibilities of a sausage gravy, and making it more “soup-like.” Either/both could work, but there will be a number of consumer survey panels (in other words, I’ll make everyone I know try several variations. The 16-year-old boy is happy to oblige, and to offer up his friends as guinea pigs!)
Can you mail samples? I’ll be a guinea pig.
Damn, I was afraid of that answer.
How about if I swear on my mother’s grave never to share it, would you consider sharing whatever recipe you come up with.
I just had dinner, and damn if breakfast soup doesn’t sound freaking wonderful.
Oh and chefguy that recipe for gravy up thread? Damn you I gained 3 lbs just reading that.
I think having 2 different breakfast soups would be nice. A savory meaty one like you’re talking that is cream based and has spiced pork sausage. Similar to white gravy like you already mentioned.
Then I think it might be nice to have a spiced sweet/semi-sweet fruit based soup. I’m thinking maybe a pumpkin or apple cinnamon soup? That would be breakfast-y soup too.
Anyhow, I don’t have any suggestions for the name. I hope the restaurant plan goes well for you!!! Sounds like you have a dream, have a clear plan, and are doing everything right.
I hadn’t really thought of a warm fruit/sweet soup, but apple cinnamon does sound pretty good. Pumpkin, too, but everybody on the planet does something pumpkin-flavored between October and December, and I get heartily sick of the idea by about October second of each year. But a nice pot of steel-cut oats each morning could sub for that, with homemade fruit mix-ins available. (I make a very awesome apple dish that would be great for that, and it’s also fabulous with a biscuit. But then, almost anything is good with a biscuit, right?)
I’ve also had (and enjoyed) several cold brunch/lunch fruit soups in the past, but I think those are just called smoothies nowadays! But seasonal cold fruit soups or drinks could be nice. I don’t really want to branch out into the smoothie business, though…
I don’t know if asian soups would be a big seller in your area, but there are some great ones out there, I can eat kimchee jigae anytime of day.
Also, you might want to experiment with the Polish soup, zurek, it is know as an “eye opener” and commonly served after a night of drinking. The slightly sour tasting rye base is addicting!
As tasty as those look, I just don’t see Asian or Polish soups working well in such a small town, nor with our Southern food focus, but I’ll try them on my guinea pigs at home and see what everyone thinks. I may also try my hand at menudo - gotta talk to my cousin about getting some tripe. Does anyone have a good recipe? I don’t know enough about it to be able to just look on line and figure out which might be good or bad.
You could make a lot of good soups that are very breakfasty just by taking a normal set of omelet ingredients (minus the eggs) and adding them to a potato soup.
Like Denver soup would be a cream based potato soup with ham, onions, peppers, and cheese.
I make soups like that all the time.
You could just make one a day and have it rotate or have it be a soup of the day.
Zurek would probably be a hit, but I agree, most Southerners would reject asian soups.
Just for your own delight, look up a Zurek recipe and try it. The Olive Garden has an Italian version of it on their menu, so I doubt it is as exotic as you might be thinking.
That’s pretty close to how I make them, except I use all butter. Crisco would be much cheaper for making large quantities, of course. Self-rising flour is the only way to go. And yeah, Soft As Silk flour is a good substitute, as it’s a soft winter wheat like White Lily. I made a mistake earlier about the high gluten/protein flour, which is NOT appropriate for biscuits. I was thinking of bagels. :smack:
Rick: it’s a killer gravy and nothing at all like Southern gravy. The quantities are vague, because I make it from memory after a lot of experimentation, and my use of the dried herbs can tend to be heavier than some like. Also, the flour to fat is an eyeball thing. Bacon is a recent addition, and not at all necessary. It’s so rich that I only make it on rare occasions, maybe twice a year.
Most milk/cream gravy eaten in the south is fat, flour, meat and dairy (with a ton of salt and pepper). The only real difference I’m seeing in your ingredient list is the herbs, though sage is already heavy in most of our breakfast sausage. We wouldn’t use 2 kinds of meat in the same recipe, either.
Yep. That’s me and my personal website. (I’m not shy about my identity here. If you click on my username and contact info, you’ll see it’s me.) What a funny coincidence.
