Monday, January 10, 2011

Soup Lab

Building soup from the bones of a previous meal is a little like working in Dr. Frankenstein's lab. You build from parts you have lying around and hope for the best. It can become a tragedy with a moral about flying too close to the sun or a screwball comedy with belly laughs depending one how things go.

I started a few days ago with two smoked pork chop bones and a little water. The chops had been too salty for our taste, so I didn't finish mine and wasn't overly concerned about adding a lot of diluting water.

After simmering the bones and leftover meat for a few hours, the water tasted hammy but no longer salty. I eighty-sixed the bones and started building from there. It has been cold here, and gray, so soup from the South sounded just right - Mexico, here we come.

First, I softened half a chopped onion and a big pressed garlic clove in a little butter. Sprinkled about a teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder into the pan and cooked until they were fragrant. Then added a can of black beans, about a cup of frozen corn kernels, the shredded meat from the chops, the chop broth and a couple of cups of chicken broth.

When that had simmered together, I tasted the soup and found that it was spicy and tasty but needed salt and something else. The something was about a tablespoon of tomato paste and another of Sartain's Menu Sauce to give it a tad more heat, smoke and body. Next, two small chopped ripe tomatoes from far, far away. And, finally, a handful of corn chips to add crunch to the slurp.

Warm, hearty and sustaining, layer by layer, it brought the warmth of sunshine and light to our winter-chilled souls. OMG, it's alive! It's ali-i-i-i-ive!


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12 Comments:

Blogger Greg said...

Soup it does a body good! Or was that milk? Good on you for making something good out of leftovers.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Looks good. But, you used chicken broth instead of your bone broth??

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Greg, I love doing that. Appeals to my frugal soul.

Cookiecrumb, I used both and the ham/chicken flavors added another layer of good to the soup.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Cookie, I went back and changed the text for clarification. Thanks for the query that pointed out the confusion.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Toons said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Toons said...

That looks like one tasty "pork+bean soup" I think the Darling Rebecca and I will have to try it out! Off to the store to get some pork chops.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Now you're talkin'! Yum.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

James, of course, it was the Sartain's sauce that made the difference, right? :-)

Cookiecrumb, Yes, I have learned never to throw bones away unbrothed. A sin against nature.

Monday, January 10, 2011  
Blogger Toons said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011  
Blogger Toons said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011  
Blogger Toons said...

Thanks again for a wonderful meal, and the new addition:
www.sartainsmenu.com/recipes/
view/soup_lab_pork_bean_soup/

Wednesday, January 12, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

James, my pleasure! Thanks for posting my piece and for the links.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011  

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