Souptastic Recipes For All (New Covent Garden Soup Company's Book of Soups)

Name: xalala

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Product:	New Covent Garden Soup Company's Book of Soups
Date:	27/02/05 (1466 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty recipes, and lots of them

Disadvantages: Some very strange recipes too!, Black text on green paper

Soup must be one of those things that anyone can make - after all, it's incredibly simple, just put a variety of vegetables in some water, add some stock, boil until cooked and blend until as smooth or as lumpy as you prefer. So what's the point of an entire recipe book for soup, you might wonder.

This book is brought to you by the people behind the incredibly successful New Covent Garden Soup Co., and is full of their own recipes (that are sold at a large premium in your local supermarket). The company itself began back in 1987, but this cookbook came out somewhat later, in 1996. Containing 120 recipes from all sorts of sources, including those sent in by members of the public, or submitted as competition entries, the book is split up into several chapters - but all contain soup.

First, there's an introduction and some mini-chapters that includes tricks of the trade (basically, make sure your ingredients are fresh and of good quality) and hiccups - what can go wrong with your soup and what, if anything, can be done to correct it. Hiccups include over seasoning, under or over cooking, using spices, and thickening soups. Following the hiccups is a short chapter specifically looking at stocks - vagetable, chicken, fish, beef, or game. Obviously you can make any of the recipes by using stock cubes or Marigold bouillon powder, but if you have the time (and the inclination) to make the stock as a base, then it does add to the flavour, and is quite simple to do.

The main chapters cover first "Wonderful" soup, swiftly followed by Unusual, Reviving, Fancy, Plain, Chilled, Warming, Exotic, Seasonal and Sweet. None of the chapter titles give you much of an idea of what might be in them, so in my experience the best thing to do is broadly speaking ignore what chapter a recipe appears in and just browse. If you are looking for a specific soup, then by far the easiest way to find it is by checking the index right at the back of the book. This lists all the individual soups within the book and also lists soups under the main ingredient if it has a foreign title (for example fish: soupe de poissons, or tomato: pappa al pomodoro).

The recipes are laid out fairly well, on either white or (fairly dark) green coloured paper - the colour of the paper alternates by chapter. The problem with that, is that black coloured type is used throughout, and black on dark green is fairly difficult to read - you definitely need very good light, and probably good eyesight too. I've gone as far as copying out the recipes I particularly like if they are written on the green paper.

The font used throughout looks like someone's handwriting, which makes it feel like you're following an old family recipe that's been handed down for generations. Obviously, you're not! Each recipe has a short introduction, giving its history - either who contributed it or where the inspiration came from.

As well as the basic ingredients needed, each recipe also contains a suggestion for garnishing the finished soup, for that extra professional finish. Although the garnish isn't necessary (and to be honest, I rarely bother with it unless I happen to have the recommended item in the cupboard anyway) it is a nice touch and finishes the recipe off nicely.

The method in each recipe isn't always easy to read while you're actively cooking, since often it's written out as free text rather than a series of bullet point type instructions. The size of the writing also varies depending on how complicated the recipe is - that's good in a way, since it means that all the recipes are one page long, and you never need to turn a page half way through following the instructions. However, it does make it slightly harder to read without getting mixed up.

The preparation and cooking time is given as one time, rather than split into seperate time periods, which would have been useful. Also given is the number of servings you should get from a recipe, which in my experience is fairly accurate.

One thing that I do really like about this book is the space laid out specifically for cooks to make notes about each recipe, at the back (just before the index). Every time I see it, I think I should make use of it, but the fact remains that I never have. The reason for that, I think, is that the space for notes is not right next to the recipe that I'm using, but in a seperate part of the book.

On the whole I like this recipe book, and some soups from it I go back to time and time again. Others I have made once and then adapted to my own recipe - which for me is definitely a sign of a good cookery book.

Although I've mentioned lots and lots of small niggles in this review, that's really all they are - niggles. There's no getting away from the fact that this entire book is a celebration of all things soup, and contains plenty of fantastic tasting and easy to make recipes, enough for an entire meal. Definitely recommended!

The book is available for £10.49 plus p&p from Amazon at the time of writing, or in any good bookshop. Full cover price is £14.99.

ISBN: 075220503X.

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Sample recipes:
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Carrot & Coriander Soup (the first one in the book)

PREPARATION AND COOKING TIME: 40 minutes
SERVES: 6

25g (1oz) butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
550g (1 1/4lb) carrots, of which 450g (1lb) roughly chopped and 110g (4oz) coarsely grated
1 litre (1 3/4 pints) vegetable stock (see page 6)
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
150ml (1/4 pint) single cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper

TO GARNISH:
150ml (1/4 pint) yoghurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic gently until soft in a covered saucepan, without colouring. Add the roughly chopped carrots, stock and nutmeg. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. Cool a little, then puree in a liquidiser. Return the soup to a clean saucepan and stir in the grated carrots, coriander and cream. Taste for seasoning. Serve garnished with a swirl of yoghurt and a sprinkling of chopped fresh coriander.


Gooseberry Soup (the last recipe in the book)

PREPARATION AND COOKING TIME: 20 minutes
SERVES: 6

900g (2 lb) under-ripe gooseberries, or if unavailable use gooseberries preserved in syrup or frozen gooseberries
pinch of salt
4 level dessertspoons sugar or to taste
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons plain flour
275ml (1/2 pint) milk
150ml (1/4 pint) soured cream

Put the gooseberries into a large saucepan. Add a dash of water, the salt, sugar and lemon rind, cover and sinner gently until the gooseberries are tender. Cool a little, then puree in a liquidiser with the flour and pass through a sieve. Return to a clean saucepan, stir in the milk and soured cream, adding a little more milk if necessary to achieve the right consistency. Cover and simmer very gently for 5 minutes. Serve well chilled.

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