Ingredients

　　

Bland

Step 1

Bouillons and extracts of beef or chicken are a mainstay here. For vegetarians, widely available vegetable bouillon is an excellent flavoring. But consider also yeast extracts like Marmite. Following is a list of common herbs and spices and some of their best uses in soups. You can use fresh herbs if you have them, but dried herbs are fine, too.

　　

Step 2

allspice (whole): pea, ham, vegetable, beef, and tomato soups (remove allspice berries before serving)

　　

Step 3

basil: tomato, turtle, and spinach soups and minestrone (1/2 teaspoon per 4 servings)

　　

Step 4

bay leaf: vegetable and tomato soups and minestrone

　　

Step 5

chervil: tomato and spinach soups

　　

Step 6

cumin: a dash in creamed chicken, fish, and pea soups

　　

Step 7

juniper berries: use about 1 per serving in vegetable, beef, lamb, and oxtail soups

　　

Step 8

mace: 1 or 2 blades (or pinches, if it’s ground) in 4 cups of consommé stock

　　

Step 9

marjoram: spinach, clam, turtle, and onion soups (1/2 teaspoon per 4 servings)

　　

Step 10

oregano: tomato, bean, corn, and pea soups

　　

Step 11

paprika (hot): in modest quantities for tomato, bean, and pea soups

　　

Step 12

rosemary: chicken, pea, spinach, potato, and fish soups

　　

Step 13

sage: creamed soups and chowders

　　

Step 14

savory: fish, consommé, lentil, bean, tomato, and vegetable soups

　　

Step 15

sesame seed: creamed soups (sprinkle on before serving)

　　

Step 16

tarragon: tomato, vegetable, and seafood soups

　　

Step 17

thyme: chicken, onion, potato, tomato, and seafood soups, gumbo, and borscht (stir in 1/2 teaspoon 10 minutes before serving)

　　

Step 18

Also consider leaving the soup alone and putting something interesting in the bowls, such as flavored croutons, a dollop of sour cream, crème fraîche (see creme fraiche), decorative swirls of tomato paste, sherry, or curry powder. See also Not Enough.

　　

Bouillon Cloudy

Step 19

Add eggshells. Please remove them before serving. Or add egg whites. To remove them (if you want to), strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or colander.

　　

Fatty or greasy

Step 20

If you have the time, refrigerate the soup. The fat will solidify on the top. Remove it and reheat the soup.

　　

Step 21

You can float a grease collector on the top. Lettuce leaves, blotting paper, and paper towels all make good grease collectors.

　　

Step 22

Another fast technique is to make a “grease magnet” by wrapping a few ice cubes in a terry cloth towel. Run this over the surface of the soup and the fat will cling to it. A ladleful of ice cubes will have the same effect

　　

Light

Step 23

Commercial soup colorings are available, but some people think they have a telltale aroma. Depending on the kind of soup, you can darken it using tomato skins, tomato paste, soy sauce (taste to make sure you’re not oversalting it, though), or even food coloring. In fact, if you’re overly concerned about your soup being too light, you may want to keep a supply of brown icing color, which is available as a gel or a paste in stores that stock a good selection of baking supplies.

　　

Step 24

You can also try adding a tablespoon of caramelized sugar. This works well with soups that feature cabbage. If you think you’ve overdone it and can detect a sweet taste, add a tablespoon or two of vinegar. The result will be a much more complex and interestingly flavored soup.

　　

Not enough

Step 25

Rather than adding more liquid, consider making it spicier, thus servable in smaller portions. Use, for example, hot sauce or taco sauce in tomato- or chicken-based soups; aioli (garlic mayonnaise) in fishy soups; or curry powder in many soups. Also consider making it richer for the same reason, adding, for instance, a roux and heavy cream.

　　

Salty

Step 26

The surest solution is to increase the quantity of the liquid without increasing the quantity of the salt. But if this isn’t practical, try one of the following techniques:

　　

Step 27

Add tomatoes. If it is the right kind of soup, add a can of tomatoes. They are sufficiently bland to use up a lot of the saltiness.

　　

Step 28

Add a few pinches of brown sugar. It won’t desalt the soup, but it may help cover up the salty taste without sweetening the soup.

　　

Step 29

Add a squeeze of lemon juice, which can counteract saltiness.

　　

Step 30

Use potatoes. Add a thinly sliced raw potato to the soup, leaving it in until the slices become translucent. The potato may absorb some of the salt from the liquid.

　　

Step 31

There are skeptics who ask, “If it is possible to remove the salt from liquid easily, why aren’t we desalting the oceans?” To this we reply, “Because it would require 488,391,000,000,000 tons of sliced potatoes.”

　　

Too much

Step 32

Contrary to almost everyone else’s opinion, leftover soup can be kept quite a long time without freezing it, if you’re willing to work at it. Almost any soup will keep in a covered pot in the refrigerator for a week. If you have a great soup that you want to keep for longer but don’t want to freeze, take it out of the refrigerator and heat it to boiling every couple of days; it will last even longer. But if it’s really that great, why aren’t you eating it?

　　

Too thin

Step 33

First, see the section on sauces, Too Thin for several useful hints. Thickeners peculiar to soups include these:

　　

Step 34

Mashed potatoes or potato flakes (which also have a tendency to absorb seasonings, so check for taste after adding).

　　

Step 35

Some of the soup’s own ingredients (e.g., vegetables, beans, or lentils) ground up in a blender or food processor. (These should be additional ingredients, but in a pinch may be filched from the soup.)

　　

Step 36

A mixture of 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/4 cup sherry, stirred in shortly before serving.

　　

Step 37

For each original cup of liquid, 1 teaspoon barley or rice or 2 teaspoons flour (first dissolved in enough cold water to make a runny mixture, then stirred into the soup) stirred in during the last hour of cooking.

　　

Step 38

One egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon cream or sherry, mixed with a small amount of hot soup, and then stirred into the rest just before serving.

　　

Step 39

Stale bread (especially if you can float a heaping tablespoon of Parmesan cheese on top, too).

　　

Step 40

For long-cooking soups, a handful of oatmeal or barley flakes.

　　

Step 41

For pea and bean soups, 1 teaspoon vinegar. (It will thicken the soup without affecting the taste.)

　　How to Repair Food, Third Edition