chunky meat soups

This chapter has meat soups—beef, buffalo, lamb, pork, chicken, and so forth—with or without the addition of vegetables and/or dairy. The Chunky Vegetable Soups chapter has vegetable soups, with or without the addition of meat and/or dairy.

blackfoot bison and blackberry soup

The Blackfoot Nation is a confederation of three distinct Native American tribes—the Pikuni, the Kainai, and the Siksika. The Blackfoot were nomadic; they ranged from the northwest portion of the Great Plains, from the northern part of the Saskatchewan River of western Saskatchewan and southern Alberta in Canada to the Yellowstone River in central Montana, an area that includes the headwaters of the Missouri River. They followed the herds of buffalo, which was their primary food. They roasted buffalo, made it into pemmican (jerky), and boiled it in rawhide pouches filled with very hot stones. The spicebush berries (Lindera ­benzoin) called for in this recipe cannot be found in supermarkets, but they can be collected in the wild, even in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, where “Wildman” Steve Brill, author of The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook, finds them. (For the would-be foragers out there, you can identify them by looking at www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Spicebush.html.) Rendered buffalo suet can sometimes be found at farmers markets. Suet is simply the hard fat around the kidneys that is used to make tallow. You can use beef fat, sliced from any cut, in its place. I’ve called for salt and pepper, but that is not traditional among the Blackfoot, who did not know black peppercorns. I’ve adapted this soup from Patricia Solley’s An Exaltation of Soups: The Soul-Satisfying Story of Soup, As Told in More Than 100 Recipes and made it a little more manageable. A curiosity, it is nonetheless very good, but is not a soup you are likely to serve to a big dinner party. [ Makes 4 small servings ]

1¹⁄₂ tablespoons rendered buffalo suet or beef fat or bacon fat, cut into bite-size cubes if solid

1 pound buffalo or beef top round, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cups buffalo or beef broth

¹⁄₂ cup sliced spring onions or scallions

2¹⁄₂ cups (about ³⁄₄ pound) fresh blackberries or one 12-ounce bag frozen blackberries

¹⁄₄ teaspoon crushed spicebush berries or juniper berries

1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 teaspoons very finely chopped onions

1. In a large pot, melt the fat over medium-high heat, then cook the meat, stirring, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Pour in the broth, ⅓ cup of the ­onions, 2 cups of the blackberries, and the spicebush or juniper berries. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the meat is tender, about 45 minutes.

2. Season the soup with the honey, salt, and pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the remaining berries and chopped onions.

shchi

Before Peter the Great (1672–1725) popularized French cuisine, there was no word in the Russian language for soup. Although there were many soups, each was known by its own name; there was no general category called “soups.” One of these old soups was shchi or schi, a famous soup of Russia not well-known outside of the motherland. In the winter it is made with sauerkraut and in the summer with fresh cabbage, although it can have both at any time of year. Shchi is basically a dense sour soup of meat, fish, or mushroom broth with different smoked meats, sausages, pickles, and vegetables. The quantity of ingredients will determine the density of the soup. Cabbage, greens, sauerkraut, and other vegetables can all go into a shchi. Its sourness or piquancy is created by the amount of pickles, sauerkraut, ­vinegar, sour cream, tomatoes, or kvas (a sour but refreshing drink made from fermented wheat or rye) used, and most cooks believe the soup needs to sit for up to two days before serving to achieve that unique taste. Shchi is usually cooked in the oven, or at least on very low heat.

The history of shchi may reach back to the tenth century in pre-Christian times, about the time that cabbage was being introduced. Shchi is the title of a moralistic tale by the great Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev that inspects, with heartbreaking and ironic poignancy, the utter separation between master and serf in nineteenth-century Russia. There are many Russian­ proverbs that invoke shchi, such as “boil shchi to have guests in the house,” “people don’t go away from good shchi,” and “a good wife is not the one who speaks well, but who cooks shchi well.” When Russians call someone “a professor of sour shchi,” they mean he’s a fraud. As with borshch, shchi transcends class: it was eaten with meat by the czars, and by the serfs with cabbage and onion; it was the favorite soup made by that famous Communist klutz in the kitchen, Lenin, and in the Orthodox monasteries it was the principal meal. Shchi is served with sour cream and fresh bread. [ Makes 8 servings ]

2 pounds beef ribs

2 ounces beef suet (preferably) or unsalted butter (¹⁄₂ stick)

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 green cabbage (about 2 pounds), cored and shredded

5 teaspoons salt and more as desired

³⁄₄ pound boiling potatoes, peeled and cubed small

1 onion, chopped

1 small turnip, peeled and chopped

³⁄₄ pound tomatoes, cut in half, seeds squeezed out, and grated against the largest holes of a standing grater down to the peel

¹⁄₂ pound sauerkraut

1 small fresh parsley root or celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

¹⁄₄ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

2 bay leaves

1 cup sour cream for garnish

1. Place the beef in a large pot and cover with 2 quarts water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, skimming the surface of foam as it appears, until the beef is tender and almost falling off the bone, about 2¹⁄₂ hours. Add water as needed to keep the amount at 2 quarts.

2. Meanwhile, in a flame-proof casserole, melt half the beef suet over medium-high heat, then add the carrot, cabbage, and 3 teaspoons salt and cook, stirring, until the cabbage is wilted, about 10 minutes. Once the ribs have been cooking for 2¹⁄₂ hours, add the cabbage to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat again, then add the potatoes, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until ­almost tender, about 45 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in the same casserole, melt the remaining half of the beef suet over medium-high heat, then add the onion, turnip, tomatoes, sauerkraut, and parsley root and cook, stirring, until it looks soft, about 10 minutes.

4. Transfer the contents of the casserole to the soup pot, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low heat and cook until everything is tender, about 30 minutes. Season with the remaining salt, pepper, parsley, and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes. Serve the soup hot and garnish each bowl with a big dollop of sour cream.

Everything You Want to Know about Borshch

As far as its exact origin, the consensus leans toward the Ukraine. But it is a soup proudly claimed by Russians, Belorussians, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Eastern European Jews. It is eaten in all the countries that border these regions and is found as far afield as Anatolia, where it is called borç. There are a great many recipes and no one true recipe. Some people claim that Ukrainians don’t use beets; others add everything from catsup to beans. Generally, in the Ukraine, borshch contains many different ingredients—as many as twenty—and the combinations and proportions vary according to region, season, and family tradition. In the end, however, beet roots predominate.

Borscht, spelled with a “t,” became popular in New York by way of immigrating Eastern European Jews, who, as they settled into their new lives in America and had families, began to vacation at huge summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, entertained by comedians who called the whole area the Borscht Belt. Olga Timohina, the food editor of russianfoods.com, points out that in the Ukraine and Russia, borshch is in a class by itself. In Russia, nobody calls it soup; they call it borshch. Most commentaries suggest that borshch, one of the most popular dishes in Russia, appeared toward the end of the eighteenth century. The word “borshch” is said to derive from the word for hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), a lacto-fermented wild vegetable; it is thought that originally the soup was made with hogweed, which became old-fashioned as beets became more popular in the eighteenth century.

The soup with beets took the name barszcz, which had earlier been attributed to hogweed. One Polish historian, R. Ładowski, wrote in 1783 that “the vulgar people use hogweed to make a soup called Barszcz.” Although it contains meat, smoked sausages, vegetables, mushrooms, and other ingredients—including cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, and sorrel—it is one of its minor ingredients (in relative volume), the red beetroot, that gives the soup its famous blood-red color. (A white borshch without beets is still made in Poland.) It was also a soup that transcended class to become a true national dish. The rich would have theirs with meats, and the poor would have theirs with vegetables. It acquired a sour taste because of the use of vinegar or kvas. In earlier times the soup was eaten with pancakes or different porridges.

borshch

Borshch (borscht) is a famous soup throughout Eastern Europe, particularly in the Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and among the Jews of those lands. The tart flavor of a borshch usually comes from the beets, prepared for fermentation several days in advance of the soup-making. (Some cooks take a short cut and use pickle brine, vinegar, rhubarb juice, lemon juice, or beet kvas, a fermented beet juice that can be store-bought in many Slavic countries.) The blood-red color comes from the beet roots. Some recipes call for pork instead of beef; others make an entirely vegetable version. In the end, this recipe just tastes great. [ Makes 8 servings ]

1 pound beef shank or ribs

1 pound pork spareribs

¹⁄₂ pound beef marrow bone

1 pound beef soup bones (such as neck)

2¹⁄₂ quarts water

2 medium onions, chopped

2 carrots, 1 cut up, 1 grated

¹⁄₂ small celery root (celeriac), peeled and diced

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 large red beetroots, peeled and grated

2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

6 large garlic cloves, 1 chopped and 5 mashed in a mortar

¹⁄₂ pound smoked Polish kielbasa, diced

¹⁄₂ pound green cabbage, shredded

4 small boiling potatoes (such as Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into french fries

1 tablespoon salt or more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste

¹⁄₄ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh dill

3 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

¹⁄₂ cup sour cream

1. Place the beef, pork, marrow bone, and soup bones in a large pot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming the surface of foam as it ­appears, then reduce the heat to low. Add 1 onion, 1 cut-up carrot, and the celery root and continue to simmer over low heat until the meat is not quite falling off the bones, 2 hours. Remove the beef and pork from the soup, cut off all the meat from the bones, return the meat to the soup, and discard the bones. Remove the marrow from the marrow bones and return the marrow to the soup.

2. Meanwhile, in a pot, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, then add the grated beetroot, a ladleful of the beef broth, and the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, adding another 1 or 2 cups of broth to keep it from drying out. Add the vinegar and stir.

3. Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter over medium heat, then cook the remaining onion, the carrot, and 1 chopped garlic clove, covered, and stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.

4. Bring the beef broth to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the kielbasa, cabbage, and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic from the skillet and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the beetroots and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the mashed garlic and heat for a couple of minutes, then serve with the parsley, dill, scallions, and a dollop of sour cream as garnish.

Peeling Tomatoes

There are two methods for peeling tomatoes; the one you should use depends on how the tomatoes will be used. If they are to be whole or coarsely chopped, then plunge them into boiling water for one to two minutes, then remove them. Slit the peel with a paring knife, and it will pinch right off. If the recipe calls for finely chopped tomatoes or the tomatoes are meant to become saucy anyway, there is an easier method: cut each tomato in half, squeeze the seeds out, and grate the flesh against the largest holes of a box grater down to the peel.

georgian beef and apricot soup

This Georgian soup from the Trans-Caucasian area of the former Soviet Union is called yaini. It’s a soup known by the neighboring Armenians as well. The soup’s broth is an integral part of the final dish, so you can’t use a commercial broth. The flavors are wonderful, and the dried apricot provides that slight touch of sweetness that you can’t quite put your finger on. Everyone loves this soup. [ Makes 4 servings ]

1 pound beef chuck or brisket, in one piece

2 medium onions, quartered and ¹⁄₂ small onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, cut up

10 sprigs fresh parsley

10 sprigs cilantro (fresh coriander), plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro for garnish

10 sprigs fresh dill

2¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt and more to taste

¹⁄₄ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped

1 pound boiling potatoes (such as Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 ounces dried apricots, quartered

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot with 2 quarts of water to a boil over high heat and add the beef, quartered onions, carrots, parsley, cilantro, and dill. Skim the surface of foam as it appears and after it has reached a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 1 hour. Remove the beef, cut it into a dice, and return it to the pot. Simmer, partially covered, until tender, about 4 hours.

2. Remove the diced beef and set aside. Strain the broth. You should have 4 cups of broth. If you don’t, add water until you do. Season the broth with salt and set it aside.

3. In a heavy, flame-proof casserole, melt the butter over high heat. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the ­tomato and cook, stirring, until its liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Pour in the reserved broth, then add the reserved diced beef and the potatoes and apricots. Season with black pepper and more salt, if desired, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook, without stirring, until the ­potatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Correct the seasoning if necessary. Serve hot with the chopped cilantro sprinkled on top of each serving.

avgolemono meatball soup

The traditional Greek emulsion of eggs and lemon is known as avgolemono, and it is used not only in this soup but with fish soup and even stuffed grape leaves. It has a light, refreshing taste and yet is deeply satisfying. This soup is called youvarlakia avgolemono in Greek. The mixture of eggs and lemon, thought of as so typically Greek, is also known in Turkey and is probably a result of French culinary influence within the past hundred years. The only tricky part—and it’s not that tricky—is making sure that the egg doesn’t solidify from the heat, so always blend while whisking or stirring. You can use lamb in place of beef for the meatballs and mint instead of dill and olive oil instead of butter—they’ll all taste great. You can also make the soup with chicken breast. [ Makes 6 servings ]

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion, finely chopped

¹⁄₄ cup short grain rice

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour for dredging

5 cups beef broth

¹⁄₄ cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs

¹⁄₄ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion, rice, parsley, dill, olive oil, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Knead the mixture for a minute, with wet hands to prevent sticking, until well blended. Then form into meatballs about an inch in diameter. As you finish making the meatballs, roll them in a platter filled with some flour until coated on all sides and set aside in the refrigerator until needed, unless you are cooking right away.

2. In a pot, bring the broth and butter to a boil over high heat, add the meatballs a few at a time (so the broth stays at the boil), then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the rice is tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the lemon juice a little at a time, beating constantly. Add a ladleful of hot broth to the lemon and egg mixture, beating all the time. Now add the lemon and egg mixture to the meatball soup, stirring the whole time, and as soon as it’s added remove from the heat and serve.

The Ogbono Soup of Nigeria

This strangely black and mucilaginous soup is popular in Nigeria and a favorite among the Ibos in the east, who deem it incomplete without the addition of stockfish (usually air-dried cod). Ogbono soup, also spelled agbono or apon (and pronounced o-bo-no), is so-called for its use of ground ogbono seed as a thickener. Ogbono are the whole or crushed kernels or nuts of a plant called the bush mango or wild mango tree (Irvingia gabonensis or Irvingia wombolu), which is unrelated to the mango fruit and native to the tropical Atlantic coast region of Africa. In Cameroon and Gabon, ogbono goes by the names etima, odika, or dika. Ogbono may be the most powerful of all African soup thickeners; it is best to add it to the soup in small amounts, stirring to avoid creating lumps, until the desired consistency is obtained. Outside of Africa, ogbono is available in West African markets in packages, or through Internet sources such as www.asiamex.com. Another important addition to this soup are the fermented locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) paste balls called iru in Yoruba and ogili-igala in Ibo, but better known in other parts of West Africa as dawadawa or soumbala in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The soup is made with goat, beef shank, onion, smoked fish, stockfish, red palm oil, and an inhuman amount of chile, as well as the ingredients mentioned above. If you are interested in a recipe you can write the author through www.cliffordawright.com. Because of how piquant the soup is, it is usually served with the appropriately bland cassava fufu, a sticky paste made from pounded fermented cassava mixed with water.

spicy beef soup from indonesia

Known as rawon, this is a simple, highly flavored soup whose spice paste is traditionally made with a fruit unavailable to North Americans called kluwek (Pangium edule Reinw). It is the fruit of the kepayang tree. Kluwek, sometimes called black nut or football fruit, is a rare, seasonal, and expensive fruit-nut and the ingredient that gives the soup its black color; in fact, the soup is sometimes translated into English as “black soup.” I’ve used walnuts in its place. Soto rawon is popular enough that one can find commercial soup mix packets of rawon in Indonesian markets in cities such as Los Angeles. Bean sprouts are a typical garnish for the soup, but I prefer clover sprouts because the sprout is thinner and the texture more pleasant. You can find them in your supermarket. [ Makes 4 servings ]

For the spice paste

4 small shallots, very finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, very finely chopped

4 macadamia nuts or cashews, finely crushed

4 walnuts, shelled and crushed

2 fresh red finger-type chiles

For the soup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 bay leaves, preferably fresh

1 teaspoon grated lime zest or 4 kaffir lime leaves

³⁄₄-inch cube fresh ginger or galangal, lightly crushed

1 lemongrass stalk, outer leaf removed and crushed (bruised)

2 teaspoons salt or more if desired

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

³⁄₄ pound beef brisket, cut into ³⁄₄-inch cubes

8 cups water

¹⁄₄ pound clover sprouts, broccoli sprouts, or bean sprouts for garnish

Fresh basil leaves for garnish

1. Place the spice paste ingredients in a food processor and run until a paste is formed, scraping down the sides when necessary. (You may have to do this multiple times.) Transfer the spice paste to a smaller mini–food processor and continue processing into a finer paste, or alternatively, transfer to a mortar and pound with a pestle. If you don’t have either a mini-processor or mortar, continue even longer in the food processor while scraping down more often.

2. In a wok, heat the oil over high heat, then add the spice paste and cook, stirring quickly, until sizzling vigorously, about 2 minutes. Add the bay leaves, lime zest, ginger, lemongrass, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring quickly, for 1 minute. Add the beef cubes and cook, stirring, until they turn color, about 1 minute.

3. Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 6 cups water to a boil over high heat, then add the stir-fried ingredients, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the meat is tender and the flavor of the spices have permeated the soup, about 3 hours. At some point during the cooking time, add the remaining 2 cups water. Serve garnished with the sprouts and basil.

żurek

Żurek (pronounced jhoo-rek), or żur for short, is a sour Polish soup flavored with bacon and fermented rye juice called kwas, which gives the sour taste. The Russians also use kvas in their cooking. A modest version of the soup is made around Lent, but after fasting is done it becomes the rich soup represented in this recipe. The soup is made differently from region to region in Poland, but all recipes start with making fermented rye flour about five days in advance, as I ask you to do in this recipe. But it’s worth it. Sometimes, especially in restaurants, the soup will be served in an individual rye bread round that has been hollowed out, and you can eat the bread as well. The Polish smoked bacon called for is known as szalona and can be bought in Polish delis or on-line at www.polisheats.com or www.janeksfinefoods.com. [ Makes 6 servings ]

For the kwas (fermented rye juice)

3 ounces (¹⁄₂ cup) wholemeal rye flour

2¹⁄₂ cups boiling water

¹⁄₄ garlic clove, chopped

For the soup

6 cups vegetable broth

¹⁄₄ pound Polish szalona smoked bacon (preferably) or slab bacon, diced

1 cup finely chopped onion

4 ounces button (white) mushrooms, sliced

1¹⁄₄ cups sour cream

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

4 teaspoons salt or more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound boiling potatoes, peeled and diced

¹⁄₄ pound smoked kielbasa, diced

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish (optional)

1. To make the kwas: Several days before you plan to make the soup, place a large glass jar and its lid in a large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil over high heat, and boil for 5 minutes to sterilize the jar. Remove the jar and lid from the pot using tongs; do not touch with your hands. Add the rye flour to the jar and mix with a little of the boiling water to form a paste. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add the remaining water and the garlic. Cover the top with a section of muslin or several folds of cheesecloth and use a rubber band or string to secure it around the mouth of the jar. Let sit in a warm place to ferment for 4 to 5 days. Strain and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

2. To make the soup: In a large pot, bring the broth to a boil over high heat, then add the bacon and onion, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, 1³⁄₄ cups of the reserved fermented rye juice, the sour cream, and the garlic. Add the salt and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes and kielbasa, increase the heat to medium so the broth is bubbling gently, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. Stir in the horseradish, if using, and season with more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve hot.

About African Soups

So many African soups utilize plants unavailable to us that it is just not practical to offer a recipe. Furthermore, African soups are more like stews, and they mix everything under the sun, such as beef, fish, seeds, and vegetables. But I offer this egusi soup anyway, more as a curiosity than anything else. If you are inclined to experiment and explore a foreign cuisine—and shop via the Internet—this is an instructive recipe. This popular soup of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and their neighboring West African countries is adapted from a recipe by Dennis Deen-Sie Sawaneh, the author of the Sierra Leone Cookbook.

The soup gets its name from the egusi seeds that are its essential thickener. Egusi seeds are nothing but the seeds of a wild watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). They are sometimes mistakenly identified as the seeds of the colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis). One can use pumpkin seeds with equal taste authenticity in this recipe, as well as cultivated watermelon seeds.

Another essential ingredient is bitterleaf (Vernonia amygdalina), a plant whose young shoots and leaves are eaten as potherbs or in soups after first being washed to remove some bitterness. African cooks also use ukazi or afang leaves (Gnetum african), the shiny, dark green foliage of the creeping plant cultivated mostly in Calabar and Igbo land in southern Nigeria (these plants are used in much of the cooking of the region). Another plant’s leaves, utazi (Crongromena

ratifolia), are also used in this soup. Both ukazi and utazi leaves are bitter tasting pale green leaves used for flavoring Pepper Soup (page 73) and used very sparingly. All are substitutes for or used in addition to bitterleaf.

Every ingredient mentioned above, and in the ingredient list below, can be bought online at www.afrikan-food.com, www.jbafricanmarket.com, or www.asiamex.com, as can the very authentic red palm oil, a must for a true West African soup. It can be eaten with fufu or rice. [ Makes 6 servings ]

1 pound beef round or chuck, cut into ³⁄₄-inch cubes

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

¹⁄₂ pound salt cod or dried stockfish, soaked in water to cover for 24 hours, then drained

¹⁄₂ pound African dried or smoked fish or smoked canned oysters or smoked canned mussels

8 cups water or more as needed

1 fresh red finger-type chile

¹⁄₂ pound tomato, peeled and seeded

¹⁄₂ small onion

¹⁄₂ cup red palm oil

6 ounces ground shelled watermelon seeds (egusi) or pumpkin seeds

1 beef bouillon cube

¹⁄₂ pound fresh spinach, sorrel, or bitterleaf leaves, finely shredded or 1 small bag (about 15 grams) dried cut ukazi leaves

Salt to taste

1. Toss the beef cubes with some salt and pepper. Place the beef, whole piece of salt cod, and African smoked or dried fish (but not the canned oysters or mussels if using) in a large pot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cook until slightly tender, about 45 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon or skimmer and set aside. Remove and discard any bones or skin from the salt cod and African dried fish.

2. Place the chile, tomato, and onion in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. In a flame-proof casserole or large pot, heat the red palm oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef, salt cod, African dried fish, and the vegetables from the blender, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until tender and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Add the ground watermelon or pumpkin seeds, the beef bouillon cube, and the canned oysters or mussels if you have not used African dried fish, and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the fresh spinach or dried bitterleaf to the soup and cook for about 5 minutes if using spinach and 1 hour if using dried bitterleaf. Add some water if necessary to make it more liquid. Stir and taste for salt.

tofu, spinach, and ham soup

Although it doesn’t seem to be substantial, this soup from Shanghai can leave you quite satisfied. In place of the Chinese ham, I find Smithfield ham to be excellent, or use any similar cooked ham. The combination of the dried wood ear mushrooms and the fresh mushrooms is particularly pleasant. The dried wood ear mushrooms are not as hard to find as you would think; just look in your supermarket. [ Makes 4 servings ]

¹⁄₄ ounce (10 grams) dried wood ear mushrooms

2 tablespoons cornstarch

4 cups Chicken Broth for Asian Soups

2 ounces button (white) mushrooms, cut in half and thinly sliced

¹⁄₂ pound firm tofu, cut into ¹⁄₂-inch cubes

1 chicken bouillon cube, crushed in a mortar

¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces cooked ham (such as Smithfield), shredded or finely and thinly sliced

6 ounces baby spinach leaves or regular spinach leaves, cut very coarsely

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water to cover (about ³⁄₄ cup) until completely soft, 20 to 40 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid in a small bowl and stir the cornstarch into the mushroom liquid.

2. In a pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil over high heat. Add the button and wood ear mushrooms, tofu, bouillon cube, and pepper. After a minute, when the broth returns to a boil, add the ham, spinach, soy sauce, and mushroom liquid mixture. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Drizzle in the sesame oil and serve.

lamb trotter soup

In the early 1970s I was living in Switzerland, and on spring break friends and I drove to Istanbul and then to Athens. As we drove through Thessalonica early one morning, I learned how cold April can be in the Mediterranean. Many years later I rediscovered the lamb soup we ate then and loved so much. My now vague memory of the soup was jump-started by a recipe given to me by Nikos Stavroulakis, whose Cookbook of the Jews of Greece is a classic of culinary anthropology. This recipe from the Jews of Salonika (­Thessalonica) was made in the winter for stevedores. It is a purely proletarian dish served as an early morning meal by special shops in the harbor, where steaming cauldrons of patsas that had been cooking all night would fortify the workers before their long day. The patsas can be served for breakfast. This soup is perfect if you’ve roasted a leg of lamb the day before and have leftover meat still on the bone. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]

5 pounds lamb bones, with some meat on them (preferably leftover roast leg bone)

3 quarts water

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Juice from 2 lemons, plus extra for serving

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Finely chopped fresh parsley leaves or dill

Sliced or chopped garlic for garnish (optional)

1. Put the lamb bones in a large pot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat and once it is boiling furiously, remove the foam from the surface with a skimmer. Keep the water at a boil and add the thinly sliced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

2. Reduce the heat to very low, using a heat diffuser if your stove’s burner does not have a very low simmer control. Cover and place a heavy cleaver, pot, or some other heavy object on the lid to keep it tightly covered. Simmer overnight, about 12 hours.

3. Serve the soup in individual bowls with parsley or dill, more lemon juice, and sliced or chopped garlic, if desired.

spicy lamb trotter soup

There is a soup called harqma (sometimes transliterated as hergma) that is known and loved throughout the Maghrib, from Morocco to Tunisia. The name harqma actually ­refers to different dishes in different regions: a lamb tagine with wheat and chickpeas; a soup of butcher’s scraps; a ragoût of tripe, feet, and heart; and also this rich and hot soup from Tunisia. It is typically eaten during Ramadan, when soul-satisfying foods for breaking the fast after sunset are the norm. My recipe is based on the way I’ve had it in Tunis, adjusted a little. The recipe calls for lamb feet, which is what gives it such a magnificent flavor. You don’t have to eat them, of course—they’re for flavor, although I do pick at them, looking for scrumptious morsels. They can be ordered through a good butcher, but the best place to buy them are halal meat markets, which can now be found everywhere. [ Makes 6 servings ]

¹⁄₄ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 pounds lamb feet

2 pounds lamb shanks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons harīsa

2 quarts water

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. In a large stockpot or casserole, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the lamb feet and shanks with salt and pepper. Add the feet and shanks to the pan and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the harīsa; once it has melted and blended with the oil, add the water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until tender, about 2¹⁄₂ hours.

2. Strain the soup through a cone-shaped strainer (chinois), or any strainer you have, into a clean stockpot. Pull off and chop any meat from the shank and put it back into the broth. Discard the feet and bones.

3. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk in the lemon juice. Whisk a ladle of hot soup into the egg mixture. Once it is blended, whisk in another ladle of soup. Now whisk the entire egg mixture back into the soup. Strain again and discard all bits of gristly meat and fat. Return the soup to the stockpot and serve hot.

Harīsa

Harīsa is a chile and spice paste and the most important prepared condiment used in Tunisian and Algerian cooking. Although commercially made versions are available, you should make your own, as it’s easy and better. De arbol chiles is the name for the common dried red finger-type chiles you’ll find in the super­market. [ Makes 1 cup ]

¹⁄₄ pound dried guajillo chiles

1 ounce dried de arbol chiles

5 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground caraway seeds

¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground coriander seeds

1¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt

Extra-virgin olive oil for topping off

1. Soak the chiles in tepid water to cover until soft, about 1 hour. Drain and remove the stems and seeds. Place in a food processor with the garlic, water, and olive oil. Process until a purée, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides.

2. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the caraway, coriander, and salt. Store in a jar and top off with olive oil, covering the surface of the paste. The harīsa must always be covered with olive oil to prevent spoilage, so whenever you use some always make sure to top it off with a little olive oil. Properly stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for 6 months to a year.

turkmen boiled soup

Turkmenistan is a former Soviet republic that became independent with the break-up of the USSR. It is bounded to the south by Iran, to the west by the Caspian Sea, and to the north by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Most Turkmen soups are thick, main course ­affairs, just a hair soupier than a stew. There are two kinds of soups in Turkmen cuisine: fried soups and boiled soups. This one, called chektyrma, is a boiled soup. The recipe is adapted from one by Tanya Zilberter, a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology (Inmed) at Marseilles, France. [ Makes 4 servings ]

5 cups water

1 pound boneless lamb stew meat, cut into ¹⁄₂-inch cubes

2 medium onions, finely chopped

³⁄₄ pound tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 pound spinach, leaves only, washed well and chopped

2¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt

1¹⁄₂ teaspoons hot paprika

Pinch of saffron

3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

¹⁄₄ teaspoon dried mint

1. In a pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat, then add the lamb, reduce the heat to medium and boil gently, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until tender, about 1¹⁄₄ hours.

2. Add the onions and tomatoes and continue to boil over medium heat, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes. Add the spinach and cook for 8 minutes. Season with the salt, paprika, and saffron, and remove the pot from the heat. Add the garlic, parsley, and fresh and dried mint, stir to mix well, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

palóc soup

This soup, called palócleves in Hungarian, is named for the people inhabiting the north-central part of Hungary called the Palóc. The Palóc country extends from the Mátra to around the Rima and Sajó valleys, and from the Bükk Hills west to the marshes of the Ipoly, an area immediately south of the Slovak border. The Palóc speak a distinct Hungarian dialect, which is unusual in a country where there are no regional dialects. Some ethnologists think that they came from western Siberia and merged with the Magyar tribes that came to settle Hungary in the dim past. To this day many Palóc in the smaller villages still wear their ­native costumes, and if you’ve ever seen a Hungarian tourism brochure depicting gaily dressed “peasants” dancing, the photo is probably of the Palóc. One village, Hollókö, is a UNESCO World ­Heritage Site. This soup is traditionally made with mutton, but both lamb and beef are used too. This recipe is from János Mohácsi of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. [ Makes 4 to 6 servings ]

2 tablespoons pork lard (preferably) or unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 teaspoon hot paprika

1 pound boneless leg of lamb or beef stew meat, cut into small cubes

5 cups water

¹⁄₄ teaspoon caraway seeds

1 small bay leaf

1 tablespoon salt

¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste

1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 boiling potatoes (about ³⁄₄ pound), peeled and diced

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sour cream

1. In a pot, melt 1 tablespoon of the pork lard over medium-high heat, then add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and sprinkle with the paprika.

2. Add the meat, 1 cup of the water, the caraway seeds, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to the pot, cover, return to low heat, and braise, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 1 hour. Add the green beans and cook for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, the remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and the remaining 4 cups of water and simmer over medium-low heat, partially covered, until the potatoes are soft, 1 to 1¹⁄₄ hours.

3. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of lard over ­medium heat, then add the flour, stirring to form a roux, and cook for 1 minute. Add the sour cream and stir until blended. Turn this roux into the soup and stir to blend well. Serve hot.

uzbek meat soup with rice

This Uzbek soup called mastava always starts with frying the meat, followed by the addition of fresh tomatoes in the summer and tomato paste in the winter, so choose accordingly. The soup will be most flavorful if you use mutton, but given that mutton must be ordered and is not regularly sold in supermarkets, lamb will do just fine. (You can even use beef.) When cutting up the meat for the soup, don’t remove all the fat from the pieces; keep a little for flavor. As this is a thick and filling soup it need not accompany anything, although a green salad would be nice afterward. Mastava is one of the most common soups made in the Uzbek home.

This soup is well-known in Central Asia. In Afghanistan, the people, some of whom are Uzbeks, call it maushawa, and they eat it either as a starter or as a main meal. Theirs is made with meat qorma (stew meat) or meatballs (kofta) and tends to be spicy hot. They use dill as a seasoning herb and beans and chickpeas. In Tajikistan, they make theirs, called mastoba, with big pieces of mutton that are fried first with tomatoes and other vegetables. Then water is added, it is cooked for twenty minutes, and rice and the sour-milk product called katyk are added. [ Makes 4 servings ]

7 tablespoons vegetable or safflower seed oil

1 pound boneless leg of lamb or beef top round, cubed small

1 medium-large yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

4 plum tomatoes (about ³⁄₄ pound), peeled and chopped, or one 6-ounce can tomato paste

6 cups lamb broth, beef broth, or water

³⁄₄ cup long grain rice

3 potatoes (about ³⁄₄ pound), peeled and diced small

2¹⁄₂ teaspoons ground cumin

4 teaspoons salt or more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste

2 cups yogurt or sour cream

¹⁄₂ cup chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)

1. In a large flame-proof casserole or pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat, then cook the meat, stirring, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir.

2. Stir in the broth and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, then add the cumin, salt, and pepper and stir well. Continue cooking until the potatoes are tender, about another 5 minutes. Ladle into individual bowls and serve with a dollop of yogurt and the chopped cilantro as garnish.

tripe in broth

Lecce is a charming Baroque city in the Salento Peninsula of the southern Italian province of Apulia, otherwise known as the heel of the Italian boot. One of the sweetest places to sample typical Leccese cooking outside of the home is at the Trattoria Casareccia, where I first tasted this soup listed on the menu simply as trippa; I thought it just amazing. The kind of tripe used was not the common honeycomb tripe, which is the second stomach of a ruminant (a cud-chewing animal), but the flat and smooth first stomach called paunch, the famous gras-double of the French, called rumine in Italian. It was cooked so long it almost melted in my mouth—a phenomenon not usually associated with eating tripe. The cook had cut the cooked tripe into small pieces and stewed them a bit in a light broth of tomato purée and olive oil with zucchini and celery that had been chopped tiny, softened, and sprinkled with parsley. It was utterly delicious.

You will need to make this soup over three days—but it’s worth it if you love tripe. As you need to be around the kitchen to keep replenishing the water while the tripe is cooking it may be most convenient to make this over the weekend. I usually start on a Friday night, boil for about four hours, turn the heat off, then start boiling again the next morning around 6 am and boil for fourteen hours. I also usually make more than I need so I can keep cooked tripe in the freezer. If you don’t like tripe the effort is probably not worth it, but if you do, the reward is great. [ Makes 4 servings ]

2 pounds beef tripe

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

Salt to taste

¹⁄₂ cup dry white wine

Water as needed

¹⁄₂ cup tomato purée

¹⁄₄ cup finely diced zucchini

¹⁄₄ cup finely diced celery stalk

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Two days before you plan to serve, wash the tripe and cut off any fat. Place the tripe in a large stockpot, cover by many inches with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil until very tender, about 20 hours of boiling divided over two 10-hour days, replenishing the water whenever it has dropped by half. For its overnight rest, leave the tripe in its boiling water, covered; it will stay warm most of the night, then continue cooking in the morning. Remove the tripe, reserving 2 cups of the cooking water, let the tripe cool, then cut into strips. Let the reserved cooking water cool and once the fat has solidified on top, remove and discard it.

2. In a pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the garlic over medium-high heat, and as the garlic turns light golden, remove and discard. Add the tripe and salt and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook until bubbling, then add 3¹⁄₂ cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the tomato purée, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours, adding a little water if necessary.

3. Add the 2 cups of reserved cooking liquid and cook for 1 hour. Add the zucchini and celery, season with salt if necessary, and continue cooking for another hour. Sprinkle on the parsley, drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and serve.

Mageritsa—the Greek Easter Soup

Easter Sunday is the most important and meaningful holiday among the Greek Orthodox. On Saturday, Easter eve, the housewife would traditionally take this soup—resurrection soup—to be blessed by the priest. She might begin making the soup in the late afternoon, as many families prefer the late-night services. When they return from church the mageritsa (other transliterations exist) can be eaten, breaking the long fast following midnight services on Easter eve. This soup, with its dark colors and aroma, uses all parts of the lamb that have not been grilled.

It is interesting to observe the making of mageritsa—the braiding of the intestines, the washing and cutting up of organ meats, and so on. One starts by boiling the lamb’s head and feet for the broth. The brain is removed and used in this soup, while other parts are used for other dishes. The remaining lamb stock is seasoned with scallions, parsley, dill, and celery leaves, and then the heart, lungs, and liver, all cut into little bite-size pieces, are simmered, too. After a while, the intestines are braided and cut up, simmered with some rice and aniseed. The brains are returned to the broth and avgolemono is stirred in to finish the soup.

So why do I not provide a recipe for mageritsa? Because I am, like you, a home cook who doesn’t live in Greece and who doesn’t have special suppliers who can bring that lamb head, lung, heart, intestine, and stomach to my kitchen. One could make a mageritsa soup without all the “parts,” but then there would be nothing special about it; it would simply be lamb broth.

menudo

Menudo is a tripe soup popular in northern Mexico. Although menudo is found elsewhere in Mexico, it is usually associated with the state of Sonora, which borders the United States. Menudo is typically made for New Year’s Day and is a traditional cure-all for hangovers. Because tripe is one of the less desirable meats, and because it takes a very long time to cook, menudo has always been associated with poor people as well as with restaurants, because it can be made in very large batches, and their kitchens are going all the time. Menudo is very popular among Mexican-Americans, especially in southern California, New Mexico, and Texas, where it is offered as a breakfast item in restaurants at least once a week. This recipe uses precooked beef honeycomb tripe. Place the tripe in a large stockpot of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil until tender, which will take about twenty hours (you can do this in stages over two days). Replenish the water periodically. This parboiled tripe can now be frozen if you like. This recipe is based on my favorite menudo, which I had at Super Cocina restaurant in the City Heights section of San Diego, California. You might think the beef foot is optional, but do try to procure one because there’s a heck of a lot of flavor there. [ Makes 8 to 10 servings ]

3 large dried ancho chiles

2 pounds precooked beef honeycomb tripe (see the instructions in the Tripe in Broth recipe)

1 beef foot (about 4 pounds), split

1 large onion

4 large garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

¹⁄₄ teaspoon black peppercorns

4 teaspoons salt or more to taste

4 quarts water

One 29-ounce can Mexican-style hominy

1 teaspoon dried oregano

For the garnish

Corn or flour tortillas, warmed

Chopped serrano chiles

Finely chopped onion

Lemon wedges

Mexican hot sauce

1. In a cast-iron skillet without any fat, toast the dried ancho chiles over medium-high heat until blackened and some seeds are spilling out, about 5 minutes. ­Remove, let cool, and split open. Remove and discard the seeds and stem. Grind the remaining chile sections in a spice grinder or coffee mill until a powder.

2. Place the precooked tripe, beef foot, onion, garlic, peppercorns, salt, and chile powder in a large stockpot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the foot is tender, about 2¹⁄₂ hours.

3. Remove the beef foot from the pot and cut off the tender fleshy parts if there are any. Chop the meat coarsely and return to the pot. Discard the bony and gristly parts. Add the hominy and simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 3 more hours. Correct the salt and stir in the oregano. Serve hot with the garnishes.

Turkish Cure for Hangovers

İşkembe Çorbası is the famous tripe soup from Istanbul. Pronounced ish-kem-beh chor-bas-uh, it is a tripe soup like no tripe soup you can imagine. It has a long his­tory: We know that during the lifetime of the greatest Ottoman sultan, Süleyman I the Magnificent (1494–1566), the denizens of Istanbul could buy food for takeout—often for the midday meal— at a variety of shops about the city. One of the most popular cookshops was the işkembecı, the tripe merchant’s shop, where one could buy prepared takeout tripe soup. Today, many Istanbulu will have an işkembe çorbası late at night as they are returning home from a night out on the town. In fact, it is rarely made at home. Folklore has it that this soup is a comforting antidote for an anticipated hangover.

Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup

The common story of the origin of this soup is that George Washington instructed his cook to feed his soldiers, who were encamped at Valley Forge through the winter of 1777–78 after their defeat in the Battle of Germantown while the British enjoyed the comforts of Philadelphia. The cook only had some tripe and odds and ends and developed this soup. That story is surely apocryphal as there is plenty of evidence that pepper pot soup was popular in Philadelphia before the war. Philadelphia had a large population of free African-Americans, many of whom made a living as street vendors. They were depicted by a young German artist named John Lewis Krimmel, who had four paintings at the 1811 annual art exhibit of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. One of his paintings is called Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market. It was this painting of a black woman street vendor selling pepper pot soup to white customers that brought public attention to Krimmel as the first Philadelphia artist to approach street scenes as the subject of fine art. The year before, a book of woodcuts called The Cries of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1810) was published; in it there was an illustration of a black woman selling her pepper pot with the cry “pepper pot, smokin’ hot!” In this illustration all the customers are black. The illustration is quite charming; you can find it at www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h251.html

It seems most likely that pepper pot soup was an African-American soup, probably derived from the callaloo soup of the West Indies. The West Indian cooks loved hot and spicy food, so it’s likely that the soup from eighteenth-century Philadelphia had plenty of cracked black peppercorns in it and perhaps even the chile of the West Indies, the Scotch bonnet chile, a chile nearly identical to the habanero chile. Pepper pot soup, a thick, spicy soup made of vegetables and tripe, ox feet, or other cheap meats, was unique to Philadelphia. I do not believe it exists any longer, and I do not believe there is any restaurant that sells it. Although people from Philadelphia know of it, none seem to make it or know how to make it. (Interested readers can write the author via www.cliffordawright.com for an untested recipe.)

pepper soup

This simple Gambian soup is said to be a cure-all for the common cold. No kidding, I think it might be true! The spiciness from the chile alone will clear up your sinuses instantly. In Gambia, and Ghana too, they also add utazi, a bitter-tasting pale green leaf (Crongromena ratifolia) used very sparingly for flavoring pepper soups. For seasoning salt, any supermarket seasoning salt will do, but I think the best of them is Knorr’s Aromat, which incidentally is popular in West Africa. It is very nice to spoon in some cooked rice right before serving. This recipe is adapted from a Gambian couple named Ebrima and Kiki Touray, and they do call for a Knorr bouillon cube and seasoning salt. [ Makes 4 servings ]

1 pound chicken thighs on the bone, skin removed and each cut into 4 pieces

8 cups water

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon seasoning salt

¹⁄₂ teaspoon garlic salt

1 chicken bouillon cube

One 6-ounce can tomato paste

1. Place the chicken in a large pot, add the water, and bring to just below a boil over high heat, making sure the water never comes to a boil and is only shimmering on the surface. Cook for 10 minutes, then add the black pepper, cayenne, seasoning salt, garlic salt, and chicken bouillon cube. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until there are about 3 cups of broth left, about 1¹⁄₂ hours; at no time should the broth be boiling.

2. Add the tomato paste and stir it in until blended. Cook until the broth is fully blended and slightly thicker, about 10 minutes.

mulligatawny soup

This classic soup of the British Raj, the colonial regime of India from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, is considered an example of Anglo-Indian cooking, the British extrapolation of Indian dishes. Although popular in North America and Australia, the original soup was not as complex as it has become today in many recipes. After all, we are talking about British cooking here, and the British love of curry. Curry has become such a part of British cooking that today the English think of curry as English in the same way Americans think of pizza as American. The name of the soup derives from the Tamil words mulaga, which means “pepper,” and tanni, which means “water” or “broth.” Hence, a peppery broth. It likely is ­derived from a rasam. This recipe is adapted from the one described by Dr. ­William Kitchiner in The Cook’s Oracle, published in London in 1818. [ Makes 6 servings ]

1 pound chicken breast on the bone

¹⁄₂ pound chicken thigh on the bone

8 cups water

2 small onions, chopped

1 teaspoon powdered turmeric

³⁄₄ teaspoon ground ginger

¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground cumin

¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground coriander

¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground black mustard seeds

¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¹⁄₈ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 teaspoons salt or more to taste

1. Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with the water. Bring to just below a boil over high heat, never letting the water bubble, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1¹⁄₄ hours.

2. Add 1 chopped onion and the turmeric, ginger, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, black pepper, and cayenne and simmer until the meat is nearly falling off the bone, about 30 minutes.

3. Remove the chicken from the broth, reserving the broth in the pot, and when cool enough to handle, remove all the chicken meat, discarding the bones and skin. Chop the chicken into smaller than bite-size pieces.

4. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, then cook the remaining onion, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped chicken, season with up to 1 teaspoon salt, and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the contents of the skillet to the reserved broth and stir. Add 2 teaspoons salt or more to taste and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Czarina—Polish Duck Blood Soup

I’ve always wanted to make this but, darn, my supermarket was all out of duck’s blood. Seriously, I find this an intriguing soup, and I figured that since I love roasted duck and I do like blood sausage, why not duck blood soup? First, one must collect the blood of a freshly killed duck and stir in some vinegar, then seal the receptacle and refrigerate until ready to use. The stock is made with duck wings, neck, backbone, heart, and gizzard with about 2 quarts of cold water, which is brought to a boil and simmered with black peppercorns, cloves, allspice, bay leaf, and the standard soup greens. After it is strained it is simmered again with 2 cups of dried prunes, apples, pears, and raisins. Then it is thickened with the duck blood and some flour, heated a bit, and served with noodles or dumplings. Sounds good to me!

coconut chicken soup

This refreshing yet rich northern Thai soup is called tom kha gai. It is quite easy to prepare, and much of the flavor comes from the garnishes stirred with the soup after it is cooked: the fresh lime juice, the chiles, the cilantro leaves, and the nam prik pao, a roasted chile curry paste that can be bought in most supermarkets. The Thai red curry paste, fish sauce, and canned coconut milk called for in the ingredient list are all sold in the international aisle of your local supermarket, or you can try to get all the Thai ingredients called for through the fun, ­online Thai supermarkets at www.importfood.com and www.templeofthai.com. [ Makes 4 servings ]

One 14-ounce can coconut milk

6 thin slices fresh galangal or 4 slices fresh ginger

2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer portion removed, tender portion only, chopped and crushed in a mortar

5 fresh kaffir lime leaves, torn in half, or 1 tablespoon grated lime zest

³⁄₄ pound boneless and skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced

5 tablespoons Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce

2 tablespoons palm sugar or granulated sugar

¹⁄₂ cup fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste

¹⁄₄ cup coarsely chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)

25 fresh green bird’s-eye chiles or 15 fresh green Thai chiles or 8 green serrano chiles, crushed in a mortar with the pestle

1. In a wok or large pot, combine 1 cup of the coconut milk with the galangal, lemon­grass, and lime leaves and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, fish sauce, and sugar, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until the chicken is white and firm, about 4 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk and heat to just below boiling, about 3 minutes.

2. Divide the lime juice and curry paste into individual serving bowls and ladle the soup over them. Garnish each bowl with the cilantro and crushed chile peppers. Serve immediately.

Coriander and Cilantro

Just a note so there’s no confusion: fresh coriander and cilantro are the same thing. For some unknown reason “cilantro,” the Spanish word, has come to refer to the leaves of the coriander plant, while “coriander” is used to refer to the seeds, which are used as a spice. And how do we refer to the coriander plants’ roots? Well, we don’t have to worry about it unless Thai food becomes unbelievably popular in the American kitchen. Right now it’s “coriander roots,” but you’re not likely to find it anyway, unless you’ve got a plant in your garden.

turkey soup

On the fourth Friday and Saturday of every November, in countless homes in America, smart cooks are serving this all-American post-Thanksgiving soup. It begins with that beautiful roasted turkey carcass, which goes into a stockpot and is covered with water and made into a flavorful broth. At that point a variety of ingredients can go in. Leftover turkey of course, and any leftovers you think will make a nice soup. The basic idea is to try not to add new things, but only utilize leftovers. This particular turkey soup is the one we make, using leftover turkey meat (half dark meat and half white), cut-up leftover green beans with pine nuts, and sweet potatoes if there are any left. The amount of water you use depends on how much leftovers you have. The water should just barely cover all the ingredients in the pot. [ Makes 4 servings ]

¹⁄₂ leftover roasted turkey carcass, meat pulled off and diced (about ¹⁄₂ pound meat)

1 small onion, quartered

2 scallions, cut up

1 celery stalk, cut up

4 large garlic cloves

6 sprigs fresh parsley

6 sprigs cilantro (fresh coriander)

1 sprig fresh sage

10 black peppercorns

3 ounces cooked green beans

1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted in a skillet over medium heat until golden

¹⁄₄ cup finely shredded white cheddar cheese

1. Place the turkey carcass in a large stockpot with the onion, scallions, celery, garlic, parsley, cilantro, sage, and peppercorns. Cover with water, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 4 hours. Strain the broth and transfer into a clean pot.

2. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat, add the turkey meat, green beans, and pine nuts, and turn the heat off. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes, then serve with some cheese.

Note: If you do have leftover roast sweet potatoes, dice about 6 ounces and add them to the soup at the same time as the green beans.

cock-a-leekie

This classic Scottish capon and leek soup, also called cocky-leeky, is one I first began researching when I was responsible for several dishes for a Robert Burns party some years ago. Scotland’s best-loved bard is Robert Burns, and for two hundred years Burns Suppers have been held in his honor, the dinner usually starting with this soup. I ended up writing a recipe for and preparing a haggis instead, and we all had a rousing, ribald time. But here is the famous cock-a-leekie. There are several ideas about its origins. Patricia Solley’s An Exaltation of Soups, published in 2004, tells us that as early as 1598 the traveler Fynes ­Morrison recorded that it was served at a knight’s house with “boiling fowl” (meaning “cock”) and prunes. But a close look at the text reveals that it doesn’t mention leeks at all, just the chicken and prunes in broth. The British dramatist Samuel Foote mentions cock-a-leekie soup clearly in his play The Maid of Bath, which was published in 1771. It’s also reported that the late eighteenth-­century French statesman and gastronome Charles Maurice de Talleyrand recommended that the prunes should be cooked with the soup but removed before serving. Sir Walter Scott, in “St. Ronan’s Well,” also chimed in about the soup, exclaiming: “Such were the cock-a-leekie and the savoury minced collops . . . .” The Scots say the dish came about as a way of dispensing with the loser of a cockfight. Some say cock-a-leekie is just an adaptation of a fourteenth-century English dish called ma-leachi, “ma” meaning fowl, but I’ve not been able to verify that suggestion, as the word in Old English for chicken is either “henn” for a hen or “cocc” for a cock. The recipe calls for you to wrap the chicken in cheesecloth, which is only done to make its retrieval from the pot easier. If you can use a capon for this recipe, all the better. [ Makes 8 servings ]

One 4-pound chicken

10 leeks, split lengthwise, washed well, and cut into 1-inch slices, using the white and green parts of 5 and only the white part of the other 5

2 small onions, 1 quartered, 1 chopped

1 bouquet garni, tied in cheesecloth, consisting of 1 clove, 1 whole nutmeg, and 1 sprig fresh parsley

3 quarts water

12 prunes

2 tablespoons salt or more to taste

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper or more to taste

¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground allspice

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

1. Pull off the easily reachable pieces of fat from the opening to the chicken’s body cavity, then place the fat in a skillet and render over low heat so that you have at least ¹⁄₄ cup of fat. Remove from the heat.

2. Truss the chicken, then wrap it in cheesecloth and tie off with a long section of kitchen twine with which to pull up the chicken from the pot later. Place the chicken in a large stockpot with the 5 leeks with white and green parts, 1 quartered onion, and the bouquet garni, making sure the kitchen twine hangs over the edge of the pot so you can retrieve it once the chicken is cooked. Cover with the water and bring to a near boil over high heat. As the water begins to shimmer, reduce the heat to low and cook until the chicken is nearly falling apart, about 2 hours. Remove any foam with a skimmer as it appears.

3. Remove the chicken from the broth by lifting with the kitchen twine and set aside to cool. Remove and discard the cheesecloth and twine. Strain the broth through a strainer and return it to a large pot or stockpot.

4. Set the skillet with the rendered chicken fat over medium heat, then add the ­remaining chopped onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 5 leeks with white part only and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Transfer to the chicken broth.

5. Remove and discard the skin and bones of the chicken and shred or slice the chicken meat into smaller pieces. Place the cut-up chicken into the chicken broth with the prunes, salt, pepper, and allspice and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve hot with the parsley as garnish, if desired.

kurdish chicken and yogurt soup

This light-tasting and refreshing soup came to me by way of a mere description, but it sounded easy to make, and it is. This is a Kurdish soup called dowjic, and you will find its hint of lemon just delightful mixed with yogurt and gently poached chicken shredded like silk. The broth you make first will yield a quart more then you need for this recipe, so freeze it for later and you can make the Chilean Cabbage Soup some other time (page 88). [ Makes 6 servings ]

One 3-pound chicken, quartered

5 sprigs fresh parsley

1 celery stalk, quartered

¹⁄₂ carrot, halved lengthwise

One ¹⁄₂-inch-thick slice onion

1 cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

4 cloves

10 black peppercorns

3¹⁄₂ quarts water

¹⁄₂ cup medium grain rice

2 teaspoons salt or more to taste

1 pound (2 cups) plain whole yogurt

Juice from 1 lemon

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Lay a large swath of cheesecloth on a work surface before you. Lay the chicken quarters on the cheesecloth, then put the parsley, celery, carrot, onion, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves, and black peppercorns on top of or stuck in between the pieces of chicken. Fold the cheesecloth over to cover the chicken and tie off with kitchen twine in three places. Place in a stockpot and cover with the water. Bring to a near boil over high heat, making sure the water never boils but only shimmers on top at most, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the meat falls off the bone, about 2 hours.

2. Remove the chicken from the pot and discard the cheesecloth and seasoning ingredients. Discard the bones and skin of the chicken and shred the remaining meat with your hands or two forks and set aside. Strain the chicken broth into a large, clean pot. Remove 8 cups for this recipe and freeze the rest for another use.

3. In a large pot, bring the 8 cups chicken broth to a boil over high heat, then add the rice and 2 teaspoons salt and boil until tender, about 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer.

4. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the yogurt until smooth. Add the lemon juice and stir to blend, then add about a ladleful of the hot chicken broth to the yogurt mixture and stir it in, too. Once the rice is tender, stir the yogurt into the chicken broth until well blended. Stir in the reserved chicken and the basil and simmer just long enough so that everything is hot, about 5 minutes. Correct the salt and stir in the pepper. Serve hot.

Dilligrout Soup

There is no real recipe for dilligrout soup because we don’t really know the meaning of the word. It is a soup that commemorates the coronation of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, who crowned himself King of the English at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066 following his victory at the Battle of Hastings a few months before. A lavish banquet was prepared for the coronation by the royal cook, a man named Tezelin. Tezelin created a simple white soup called dilligrout. William was so pleased with the soup that he presented Tezelin with one of the two manors then extant at Addington during the time of the Domesday Book, our source for this story.

Dilligrout seems to have been related to a typical medieval European food known as blancmange (which means “white food”), a kind of chicken and almond pudding. This soup was likely made with pounded chicken and almond, sugar, and spices. As far as the derivation of the word goes, no one knows, but it does seem to be related to “grout,” an old form of grits or groats, which was a kind of coarse meal made from barley or rye; the word also refers to the malt used in beer making.

chicken tinola

In the Philippines, Chicken tinola is a kind of cross between a soup and a stew. Many Filipinos consider this the ultimate comfort food. You’ll probably agree. The dish usually utilizes chile leaves, which are both difficult to find (unless you’ve got your own chile plant) and a little bitter, so it’s perfectly authentic to replace them with bok choy, spinach, or lettuce leaves. Filipinos would normally leave the chicken on the bone in large chunks, but I like to remove the meat from the bone after it has poached. Serve hot with steamed rice and use any of the garnishes. Rice is eaten, always on the side, with nearly every Filipino meal. [ Makes 4 servings ]

10 cups water

1 cup medium grain rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 large garlic cloves, crushed

¹⁄₂ cup chopped onion

¹⁄₂-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips

2 pounds chicken breast and thigh on the bone, cut into 4 to 6 pieces

1 tablespoon Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce

1 small ripe papaya, peeled and sliced thin

1 teaspoon salt or more to taste

1 cup baby spinach leaves or bok choy

For the garnishes

Chopped scallions

Chopped fresh red chiles

Chopped fresh green chiles

Chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) leaves

Quartered limes

Thai chili sauce

1. In a pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat and add the rice. Cook the rice until tender, about 12 minutes. Strain the water into a bowl and reserve and set the rice aside, keeping it warm.

2. In another pot, heat the oil over high heat, then cook the garlic, stirring, until it starts to turn brown, about 1 minute. Add the onion and ginger and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the chicken pieces and fish sauce, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook, turning several times, until the chicken has turned color, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved rice water and simmer, without letting the water come to a boil, until the chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.

4. Add the papaya and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Just before removing from the heat, season with salt and add the spinach or bok choy leaves. Serve with the reserved rice on the side and some or all of the garnishes.

chicken and oyster mushroom soup

This chicken and mushroom soup is on many menus in Thai restaurants. It has a luscious taste and should be slightly salty, a bit sour, and as hot as you want it, although I’ve ­written the recipe so it’s a bit mild. One note though: you must use oyster mushrooms; other­wise, it will be a different dish. Coriander roots can only be found in Thai markets, but the rest of the ingredients can be found at the Thai online supermarket www.importfoods.com. [ Makes 4 servings ]

2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaf removed, chopped

3 shallots, chopped

2 cilantro (fresh coriander) roots (preferably), or six 1-inch pieces of cilantro stems, chopped

15 dried bird’s-eye chiles, crushed or 2 dried red finger-type chiles, crumbled

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups coconut milk

¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon palm sugar or granulated sugar

10 very thin slices galangal (about ¹⁄₂ ounce) or 5 very thin slices ginger

3 kaffir lime leaves or 1 teaspoon grated lime zest

¹⁄₄ pound boneless chicken breast, sliced ¹⁄₄ inch thick

3 ounces oyster mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) leaves

1. In a mortar, pound the lemongrass, shallots, cilantro roots, and half the chiles with the pestle until crushed but not a paste.

2. In a pot, bring the chicken broth and coconut milk to a boil over high heat, then ­season with salt and sugar. Add the galangal and lime leaves. When the broth returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, add the chicken and mushrooms, and simmer without the broth bubbling until the chicken is white and firm, about 8 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, stir together the fish sauce, lime juice, remaining chiles, and cilantro. Place this mixture in a soup tureen or individual soup bowls, then ladle the soup on top and serve.