As a quick review, I started this thread of posts highlighting my favorite foods. As I chewed over the list of my favorite foods in my mind, I had to subdivide the universe of foods into smaller bites. My first bite was soups. What are soups? The typical definition of soup suggests that it is primarily a liquid form of food which begins with a stock prepared from meat, fish or vegetables to which other ingredients are added, often in the form of solid pieces. In the first post, I suggested that there were four groups of soups. The four categories of soup were: 1) Appetizer soups; 2) Meal soups; 3) Dessert soups; and 4) Cross-over soups. In this post, I will continue to feature some of my favorite appetizer soups. My menu of favorites will be in no particular order, because I enjoy all of them equally. In certain settings, some are more appropriate than others.
In these posts, I attempt to describe the soup and, if possible, name a particular restaurant where this soup is featured. In some cases, I must apologize because the restaurant is no longer open. Thus you won’t be able to necessarily enjoy the same delicious tastes that I did. I still recommend the soup and encourage you to try to find a restaurant that prepares the dish well. Now, would you like a soup to begin your dinner?
1. Lobster Bisque: A bisque is a creamy, smooth, highly-seasoned soup that has it basis in French country cuisine. Most of the time, the stock that is used is made from the broth of crustaceans. Since lobsters are considered the royalty of the crustaceans, lobster bisque is the creme de creme of bisques.
Since Maine is considered by some to be home to the best lobsters in the world, North Atlantic lobsters are often called Maine lobsters. Most fine restaurants in New England will serve their own version of Lobster Bisque. One of the best, both from my taste and many food critics, is served at the Atlantic Fish Company on Bolyston St in the Back Bay area of Boston, the home of many fine restaurants.
Outside of New England, the most exquisite lobster bisque that I ever tasted was from a Philadelphia restaurant that was renowned for its seafood soups and chowders. The Old Original Bookbinders Restaurant was opened in the 1890’s by a Dutch family named Bookbinders. During Its heyday in the 1950’s and 1960’s, it was the place to go in Philadelphia for fine seafood dining. After the 1970’s, it ran into serious financial problems, when it started to diversify, opening other locations in New Jersey and Virginia, and marketing canned versions of its featured soups and chowders to many national grocery chains. The Old Original Bookbinders is now closed. The other sites were sold off to satisfy creditors. The canned soups are still available in many grocery stores.
2. Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup: Philadelphia pepper pot soup is a hearty vegetable soup made with veal and beef tripe, heavily seasoned with pepper. The black cast iron pepper pot is as closely associated with the city of Philadelphia as the ceramic baked bean pot is associated with the city of Boston.
There are many legends associated with this hearty soup that assuredly originated in the Philadelphia area. One legend says that the Continental Army survived the harsh Valley Forge winter of 1777-1778 on this soup. Another legend is based upon an early 19th century painting of a street vendor selling pepper pot soup from a large black kettle at the Philadelphia Farmers’ Market. The Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) uses a replica of a pepper pot as its annual award of excellence. This was proposed by Bill Parker, Philadelphia PRSA chapter president in 1968 and head of Campbell Soup Communications. In making this proposal, he reportedly said, “Like Philly’s famous soup, we put everything we have into all of our public relations campaigns.”
Many restaurants from South Central Pennsylvania eastward to Philadelphia serve their own versions of Philadelphia pepper pot soup. One of my favorite is from the Cross Keys Diner, located on Route 30, at Cross Keys Corner near Hanover, PA.
3. Tomato Basil Soup: Tomato basil soup is a creamy, savory, tomato soup that is full of chunks of fresh tomatoes. Fresh ground basil adds a sweet, buttery, yet peppery taste with a very slight, delicate aroma of menthol. The Italian version is topped with Parmesan cheese to provide a nutty/fruity foil to the savory basil. The French version omits the cheese.
One of the best French versions of the soup that I have enjoyed was at La Madeleine Country French Cafe in New Orleans, LA. It was served with a small French baguette that was used to dunk in the soup. One of the best Italian versions can be found in the archetypal American chain grill, Applebee’s. The one problem that I have with the Applebee’s version is the weak Parmesan cheese that they grate on top of the soup. Even with the weak Parmesan cheese, Applebee’s uses an excellent variety of basil that combines very well with the tomatoes.
4. Butternut Squash Soup: It’s name “butternut” gives us an insight to its sweet and nutty taste. In terms of texture and growing season, Butternut squash is closer to pumpkin than its summer squash cousins. In fact, in Australia and New Zealand, it is known as butternut pumpkin. Since butternut squash needs cooler weather to ripen, butternut squash soup is a fall/winter soup.
Butternut squash soup is a lightly pureed mixture of butternut squash, sweet onions, chicken stock, and heavy cream. In addition to the nutty flavor from the squash, it is generously spiced with heavy spices such as nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, fennel, cumin and allspice. Various restaurants will garnish it differently.
Three of my favorites are the Gilmore Collection of restaurants in Grand Rapids Michigan which uses a dollop of sour cream; Ivor’s restaurants in Seattle, WA, which uses candied pecans and sweetened butter.floating on top of the soup; and Lake Elmo Inn in Lake Elmo, MN, which uses parmesan cheese and pumpernickel croutons.
5. Miso Soup (Misoshuri): MIsoshuri is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of a basic fish stock made from kelp and dried bonito (mackerel or tuna) flakes. The second main ingredient is a soft miso (fermented rice, barley or soy bean) paste. This combination is then laced with firm tofu, green onions and mushrooms.
It is a common menu item at almost every Japanese restaurant. Since the choices of mackerel, tuna, rice, barley or soy beans will change the taste, each combination is a little different. My favorite misoshuri is from the Mikado Sushi Restaurant in Grand Rapids, MI. Since the taste is a little heavier and hartier than most miso soups, I believe that they use soy beans and mackerel
6. She-Crab Soup: She-crab soup is a local delicacy of the tidewater region of the Carolina coastline. She-crab soup is a rich, heavy, gelatinous soup that is made from fish or crab stock, heavy cream, coarsely chopped vegetables, blue crab meat and the roe from blue crabs. Legend has it that it was created in 1909 on the occasion of a visit by President William Howard Taft to the home of R. Goodwyn Rhett, mayor of Charleston. Major Rhett asked his butler to “dress up” the usual, pale, bland crab soup that was normally served as an appetizer at the mayor’s residence. According to tradition, butler William Deas obliged by adding the orange crab roe to the soup to give it more color and more flavor.
It is a regional dish, because many states prohibit the harvesting of female crabs when they are carrying eggs sacs. These states are looking out for the sustainability of the crab population. So the canned she-crab soup that you can buy in grocery stores either comes from the Carolina’s or is made from crab roe imported from abroad. To get around the ban on harvesting crab roe, many restaurants have started serving faux she-crab soup. This soup is made with mackerel roe with blue lump crab added to give the soup its crabby flavor.
Many of the fine restaurants in Charleston still feature this soup as one of their primary appetizers. I was introduced to the delicacy at the elegant Circa 1886 in the heart of Charleston, SC. I very much liked this new sweet, but heavy taste that was quite different from the spicy crab soups to which I had become accustomed.
Stay tuned for the next round of appetizer soups. Until then, Bon Appetite.
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