10 Secrets Of The Perfect Soup

Ivan Red Jr. Author: Ivan Red Jr. Time for reading: ~3 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022
10 Secrets Of The Perfect Soup

There are hundreds of thousands of different soup recipes. Shchi, borscht, solyanka, cold soups and okroshka are the basis of Slavic cuisine.

There are hundreds of thousands of different soup recipes. Shchi, borscht, solyanka, cold soups and okroshka are the basis of Slavic cuisine. Every family has their favorite soups, and many housewives have signature recipes and little secrets on how to cook the most delicious soup for their loved ones. But we think it's important to constantly learn something new, and here are 10 life hacks on how to make the perfect soup that you may not have known about.   

1. The basis of the perfect soup is a properly prepared broth.

To make it right, you need to take good meat or fish. A bone must be present. Dip the meat (fish) only in cold water. The meat will give all the juice - and the broth will turn out to be rich. And that's exactly what we need, right?

 

2. Clear broth

It is equally important for a delicious soup that the broth is clear. It is very simple to achieve this, it is necessary to remove the foam and excess fat, and it is better to do this at the moment of boiling the broth. When the broth boils, reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer it for several hours in a state of barely noticeable boiling. If you still missed the moment and did not remove the excess in time, pour in a glass of very cold water or add ice. The foams will rise up again and you can easily collect them. 

 

3. Order of ingredients

All vegetables need to be put into the broth at a time - depending on how much this or that vegetable is cooked. Sour ingredients should be added to the soup only when the potatoes are at least half cooked. If you add them too soon, the potatoes will become hard and tasteless. We put noodles, rice and buckwheat at the very last moment, 2-3 minutes before the end of cooking - noodles, and 7-10 minutes before the end of cooking we put cereals. Otherwise, these ingredients will boil and the soup will turn into porridge. 

4. When to salt

Each soup needs to be salted differently. It depends on what served as the basis for the broth. Fish soup is salted at the beginning, meat soup at the end, and mushroom and vegetable soup when the ingredients become soft. All other spices are placed 3-5 minutes before the soup is ready. Bay leaves must be removed from the soup 10 minutes after laying, otherwise it will add bitterness and an unpleasant aftertaste to the soup. 

 

5. Cutting vegetables

All vegetables in the soup should be cut only with a sharp knife. If the blade is dull, then the knife crushes the food and they lose juice. All this affects the taste and quality of the soup. A little secret: to make the soup tastier, at the end of cooking, for 10-15 minutes, pour in half a glass of vegetable juice (carrot or tomato). 

6. Desired color

To give the soup a beautiful golden color, you need to cut the carrots, onions and roots in half and fry on one side until golden brown. Vegetables need to be fried in a dry frying pan, and then added to the broth. 

 

7. Thick soup

If you want to thicken the soup with flour, first fry it in a pan with butter. The flour should be light brown in color with a characteristic nutty smell. Once this happens, it's time to add it to the soup. If the flour is not fried, it will give an unpleasant taste of dampness, and the dish itself will be spoiled. 

8. Add Cheese

If you are cooking soup with meat broth, put a piece of dry cheese (such as Parmesan) in it 20 minutes before the end of cooking. This technique will give the soup a pleasant, slightly unusual, refined taste. 

 

9. Add greenery

If you add dried herbs to the soup, then put it in advance. It should take at least an hour to prepare. Fresh herbs are added to the soup just before serving. Be sure to add greens, it will fill the soup with aroma and add brightness to the taste. 

10. Soup needs to "rest"

Let the soup brew a little, about 15-20 minutes, and only then serve it to the table. Pampushkas or croutons with garlic and cheese are ideal for some soups. They perfectly complement and enhance the taste of first courses. 

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