Chase Away the Winter Blues with Soup

It's cold. We just made it through a bought of ice and resident in the and elsewehere need something to warm the bones.

It's no surprise — it is January. Time to hunker down indoors with a hot bowl of soup and celebrate January, National Soup Month. No matter the weather, or whether the soup is stock- or cream-based, a hot bowl of soup chases the winter chill.

And, because many soups can utilize leftovers and cheaper ingredients, they help stretch household dollars.

"To make a good soup, you have to start with a good soup bone," was mother’s advice, who got her soup bones from the local butcher, which then were free for the asking. The butcher would wrap those bones in white paper and mark them with a double X. The double X meant no charge. Too bad soup bones aren’t free today, but they’re still cheap.

And nothing makes a more favorable beef vegetable soup then a tray of beef short rib bones or oxtails. Either can make an excellent soup, especially one made from a family recipe.

Mother’s recipe for beef vegetable soup was never written down. It was a recipe one learned from watching. It began by placing a couple pounds of meaty beef bones in soup-pot filled with water seasoned with salt, pepper, chopped onion, garlic and a bay leaf, if there was any.

Oh, yes, what went into the soup depended on what could be scavenged from the pantry and icebox, a.k.a. the refrigerator.

The stock simmered for a couple of hours. Then, the bones were removed. If any beef was left on the bones, it was removed and returned to the pot while the bones were discarded or reserved for the dog.

To finish the soup, a can of tomato sauce or a bottle of catsup was added for color and taste along with anything mother found in the kitchen to make the vegetable mix. Perhaps a can of peas, leftover beans, a forgotten turnip or carrot and a handful of rice or noodles. The key to this soup was to use what was found, making it what I call a Found Soup.

There are alternatives for home cooks who don’t care to scavenge the kitchen for leftovers and simmer stock for hours. Good soup can be made in under an hour. Look around, there are countless recipes to choose from. Just give soup making a try.

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