Main ingredients that make up stocks.

Stocks are prepared with a few basic ingredients including bones, mirepoix, herbs
and spices, and sometimes tomatoes or wine.

Bones

 Start with high quality ingredients.

 Use bones from younger animals, because they have more cartilage that is rendered into
gelatin, giving the stock better viscosity.
 Cut the bones small, about 3”, to extract the most flavors in the shortest cooking time.
 A combination of meaty and marrow bones gives the stock a rich flavor and body.
 Meat trimmings are okay, as long as they are fresh and trimmed of excess fat.
 Use lean fish bones with a neutral flavor; fatty fish (salmon and tuna for example) have a
strong, distinctive flavor that is too assertive for most applications.
 When using fish bones, remove the gills, which tend to have an off-flavor.
Mirepoix and Sachet D’epieces
 A proper balance of mirepoix vegetables, herbs, and spices, is
essential to round out the flavor.
 The mirepoix can be added at the beginning or end of the
preparation process, depending on whether it is a white or brown
stock. In a white stock, the mirepoix is added at the end of the
process for a fresher flavor. In a brown stock, the mirepoix is often
roasted with the bones.
 Use a dominant vegetable to create an essence (mushrooms,
tomato, fennel, etc.).
 Vegetable trimmings are okay to use as long as they are fresh, and
used in balance with the other ingredients.
 Avoid turning the stockpot into a catch-all for leftovers that should
be composted or thrown out.
  Parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and crushed peppercorns are the
standard seasoning. Other herbs and spices are incorporated
depending on the desired results.
 Because stocks are basic mise en place preparations, salt is usually
not added directly to them, but instead added to later preparations.

Liquid
 Water is the common liquid used in stock preparation. To create a
clear stock, always start with cold water
 A cold remouillage (second wetting of the stock pot) can be
substituted for the water to enhance the flavor of the stock

What is soup?
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot, that is made by
combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water

What are Thin Soups?

Thin soups are delicate soups with no thickening agent in them.
Contrary to perception, thin soups can be full of bold and distinct flavours. Good thin soups
never taste watery.
Thin soups can be further split into more categories, including clear, broth, bouillon and chunky.

Types of Thin Soups

Clear Soups

Clear soups are a type of thin soup. Clear soups are also called passed soups, as any chunks of
ingredients are taken out of the soup, and you are left with a liquid soup. Consommé, a French
clarified meat or fish broth, is a classic version of a clear soup.
Clear soup can offer a wide range of nutritional benefits while keeping your digestive tract clear.
This is why clear soup is so popular in hospitals or as food when you’re feeling under the
weather.

Broth and Bouillon

Broth, or bouillon, is a common clear soup. Broths come in a variety of flavours, including
chicken, turkey, beef, vegetable and mushroom.
Bouillon can also come in a powdered form, and stock cubes are a famous example of a
powdered broth or bouillon base.
Many cooks and writers treat bouillon and broth interchangeably. This is understandable because
they are essentially the same thing: a soup made from water in which bones, meat, fish or
vegetables have been simmered.
Leave broth to simmer for long enough and the gelatine begins to thicken it, creating an intensely
flavourful stock.
Consommé

A consommé is made by adding a mixture of ground meats, together with mirepoix (a

combination of carrots, celery, and onion), tomatoes, and egg whites into either bouillon or
stock.
The secret to making a high-quality consommé is in the simmering. Simmering and stirring bring
impurities to the surface, which are further drawn out due to the presence of acid from the
tomatoes.
Eventually, the solids begin to congeal at the surface of the liquid, forming a “raft”, which is
caused by the proteins in the egg whites. The resulting concoction is a clear liquid that has either
a rich amber or yellow colour. It is carefully passed through a filter to ensure its purity and then
the fat is skimmed from the surface.
Chunky Soups

Chunky soups are stock based with the vegetables, meat or combination of both left in. A
minestrone is a famous example of a chunky soup, and the Jewish Matzah ball soup is another
way to create a tasty soup.
You can also call a chunky soup an unpassed soup, as the soup has not been strained of any
chunks before serving.
What are Thick Soups?
Thick soups are soups that are thickened using flour, corn-starch, cream, vegetables, gelatines
and other ingredients. Depending on how you thicken a soup, you can get different textures and
flavours.
For example, a potage of boiled meat and vegetables results in a thick, mushy soup. Conversely,
a bisque is thickened with rice, which creates a smoother soup.

Types of Thick Soups

Bisque

A bisque is a creamy, thick soup that includes shellfish. Bisque is a method of extracting flavour
from imperfect crabs, lobsters and shrimp that are traditionally not good enough to send to
market.
In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup.
Bisques are thickened with rice, which can either be strained out, leaving behind the starch or
pureed during the final stages.

Cream Soups
Cream soups come in a variety of flavours and are the main type of soup found in our
Campbell’s Condensed Soup cans. Cream soups are traditionally a basic roux, thinned with
cream or milk and combined with a broth of your preferred ingredient.
Typical flavours include cream of tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken
soup. The addition of cream creates a thick and satisfying soup that is filling and flavoursome.

Condensed Soup
Condensed soups were created by Campbell’s back in 1897 by Dr John T Dorrance and have
been a staple on shelves ever since.
It’s what we’re most known for, and across the world, cupboards are stocked with our condensed
cream soups, and used as a standalone flavour, or as an ingredient in another recipe.
Condensed soups are made to be diluted with a can full of water, and the flavour and cream is
packed into the smaller tin. This makes them much better for cupboard storage, while resulting in
a tasty and rich soup.

Velouté Soups
A velouté soup is different from a cream soup, as the base of a velouté is a roux, rather than
water. Velouté soups can be either meat or vegetable based, and when eaten, are a velvety
texture, lending to the name velouté which translates from the French to mean ‘velvety’.
Just before serving a velouté, a cream and egg yolk mixture is added to the soup, which is why
you won’t ever see a canned velouté. Once the cream and egg yolk mixture are added, the soup
must be eaten and can’t be boiled or reheated at risk of curdling.

Chowders
A chowder is most commonly associated with New England, and originating in America, with
corn chowder and clam chowders being two of the most popular types.
Normally milky thanks to heavy creams or milks added, with unpureed seafood such as clams or
clam juice also added.
They’re thickened with crackers or ships biscuits. Chowders quickly became popular seafaring
food, as it was simple to prepare and surprisingly good despite the often lack of ingredients at
hand.
Potage

Potage is a Medieval soup from Northern France. To make potage, you take a variety of
vegetables that you grow together in your garden add some meat and then boil it all together with
water to form a thick mush.
Similar to potage is pottage. Pottage is an ancient thick soup made by boiling vegetables and
grains. It was typically boiled for several hours until the entire mixture took on a homogeneous
texture and flavour. It was intended to break down complex starches and to ensure the food was
safe for consumption.
Pureed Soups

Probably the most commonly handmade type of thick soup, pureed soups are made by boiling
vegetables together with a stock base, and then when soft enough, blending together to make a
puree. While these can be cream-based, most pureed soups are often formed from a base of a
stock cube, water, onions and a chosen vegetable, such as carrot or parsnip.