12 Tips For Tasty Homemade Soup

1. Keep soup slowly simmering for hours rather than at a boil. This helps draw out the most flavor.
2. Use dried herbs rather than fresh since they hold their flavor during long cooking periods. If you wish to use fresh, add the herbs at the end of cooking time.
3. Add salt toward the end of cooking time rather than at the beginning, you’ll lose flavor the longer it cooks.
4. Try incorporating mashed potatoes in your soup to make it nice and creamy, you can also use as a thickener.
5. Bulk up light soups with beans, rice, barley, potatoes, lentils, pasta.
6. Too much salt? Easy fix: toss in a peeled potato (cubed in 4) and cook in the soup for about 20 minutes. The potato will draw much of the salt from the soup.
7. If adding pasta to your soup, cook it separately first so there’s not as much starch added to the soup, add last. This is a great way to use up leftover pasta.
8. Fat not only adds unnecessary calories, it also dulls the flavor of the soup. After soup has finished cooking, remove as much of the fat as possible by cooling the soup, refrigerate it then remove the fat hardened along the surface. If you want to enjoy your soup as soon as it’s done cooking, remove from heat and allow to sit for a few minutes then spoon off the fat collected at the top.
9. To avoid mushy veggies, add the longest cooking vegetables first, then the ones that take less time. Quick cooking veggies like peas and corn don’t need to be added until near the end.
10. Flavor kickers like red pepper flakes and garlic are a nice addition to many soups. If your soup needs a little “something”, one of these might just do the trick.
11. Do you envy broth soups with a rich, clear color? Tip: strain through a few layers of clean cheesecloth first to get a clear broth.
12. Although fresh ingredients are best for tasty soup, get into the habit of keeping “soup bits” on hand. Keep a container in the freezer to add leftover bits of cooked meat and another for leftover veggies. This is the ultimate frugal way to make soup, just add to stock and you have an easy homemade soup.

Tips from an old cookbook:
Clear Soups: Lemon slices, chopped parsley, thin avocado slices, cooked vegetable cutouts; sieved hard-cooked egg or sliced stuffed olives.

Cream Soups: Salted whipped cream, shredded toasted almonds, minced chives, toast croutons, riced pimiento.

<--- Bean Soups: Sour Cream (or, as my mother-in-law refers to it . . . . "food of the gods")

Chowders & Meat Soups: Chopped parsley or bacon.

Did you know: Most homemade soups taste BETTER the second day! When refrigerated overnight, the ingredients have a chance to incorporate their flavors more richly into the soup.

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source: http://tipnut.com/homemade-soup/