Eating soup stretches your food dollars and is healthy to boot. Mixing in a pot of water whatever ingredients you have on hand is cheap and filling. It is possible soup has been around since the first pots could be placed over a fire. The word “soup” most likely derived from the bread one poured it over called “sop” or “sup”. Before that, soup was known variously as broth or pottage or even gruel (although now we think of gruel as being strictly a mashed cereal grain boiled in water).

Cultures came up with different approaches to soup depending on what was available locally. Borscht made from beets is from Russia. Bouillabaisse is a fish soup, from the port city of Marseille, France. Minestrone, made of fresh vegetables and beans, is from Italy. Scotch broth, made of mutton or lamb, root vegetables, and barley, is from Scotland. You will find there are soups specific to most locales.

There are two main classifications of soup: clear soups and thick soups. The French classifications of clear soups include bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified by their thickening agents. Purées are vegetable soups thickened with starch. Bisques are made from puréed shellfish or vegetables thickened with cream. Cream soups use a béchamel sauce for thickening. Veloutés are thickened with butter, cream, and eggs. Soups can also be thickened with rice, flour, grains, lentils, mashed potatoes or puréed carrots. Continue reading “Save Money by Eating Soup”