# Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 29, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551 "2009-10-29T02:51:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551/41 "2009-11-03T19:41:52Z")

</div>

This weekend, I made one of my major comfort soups, the Silver Palate’s White Bean and Sausage Soup with Peppers, made with kielbasa and green and red peppers. It gets a smoky flavor from the kielbasa, and it’s thick and yummy. Comfort in a bowl.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551/42 "2009-11-04T04:49:12Z")

</div>

My Mom’s potato soup.  
My Vegetarian Tortilla Soup and Caribbean Pumkin Stew (originally posted by Twickster, I believe.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551/43 "2009-11-04T07:16:16Z")

</div>

> [@Brynda](#):
>
> **Antigen** , soup is really simple to make. Once you start, you will love it.
> 
> Any soup is improved tremendously by the use of homemade stock, which is super simple with a crockpot.
> 
> Method:  
> Buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (or roast one yourself)
> 
> Take all the meat off the chicken, chop in the size you like for soup, put in fridge
> 
> Put the carcass in the crockpot, cover with water. Add some celery and carrots, whole peppercorns if you like them, a bay leaf or two.
> 
> Cook for several hours on low. Drain and discard everything but the stock.
> 
> Voila! You now have lucious stock. It will add favor and a lovely texture to your soup. Plus, you have chicken to put back in your soup when you add whatever you like to make it soup.

You forgot the chopped onion.

I sometimes roast a chicken because I want to make stock from it. I add the skin to the stock, too. I put onion, celery, and carrot chunks in the vent and neck cavities, instead of stuffing, and make any stuffing separately. I find that getting all the stuffing out of the bird is a royal pain. I break up the bones, both to fit in the pot better and to get some of the marrow in the stock, which makes it all gelatiny and thick and luscious. The gelatin will melt when the stock is reheated, but the liquid will still have more body than something made from cubes or powders.

The easiest way to degrease stock is to simply let it cool in the fridge, and lift out the solidified fat from the liquid. The second easiest way is to use a [gravy separator](http://www.kitchenniche.ca/gravy-separator-p-884.html) which takes a bit more effort, but you don’t have to let the stock cool completely.

I’d love to roast a whole turkey, as I vastly prefer turkey to chicken, but we just don’t eat enough turkey to justify buying one. And yes, I know you can freeze leftovers, but they do deteriorate over time. The cats help us eat turkey, but they have their limits, too. If I had a bigger family, I’d probably roast whole turkeys. As it is, I roast turkey breasts and am glad that I have the option of doing so.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soup-of-the-evening-beautiful-soup/515551.md?page=2)