Start by assembling the ingredients needed for the basic soup. You'll need about 1/3 cup (70 g) flour, 4 ounces (110 g) butter, 1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock, 4 ounces (110 g) diced onions (about 1/2 large yellow onion), 2 oz. (55 g) celery, 2 oz. (55 g) leeks, 7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk (not pictured). You'll also need to have 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper for finishing the recipe.
Start by washing the leeks. Often, mud and dirt will get trapped in the layers of the leek, so special care should be taken to wash them thoroughly. The easiest way to do this is simply to break the leeks apart under running water and use your fingers to help wash the dirt away. The celery should also be rinsed and deveined.
Chop off the green tops, leaving the base of the leeks to make a total of about 2 ounces. Dice the leeks, celery, and onion. This combination of vegetables is often called a white mirepoix (while a "normal" mirepoix substituting carrots for the leeks).
Melt the butter in a 3-1/2 quart or larger pot over low heat.
Add the onions, celery, and leeks to the melted butter and turn the heat up to medium-low. Stir the white mirepoix as it sweats until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
Add the flour to the mixture and continue to stir and cook over medium-low heat. Cook for about twelve minutes.
The flour mixture should have taken on a slightly yellowed appearance at this point.
While stirring, slowly pour the chicken broth into the pot. After all the broth has been incorporated into the flour mixture, keep stirring until there are no more lumps.
Now, slowly add milk to the pot. To keep from forming lumps, you'll want to pour a little milk at a time. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup milk into the pot and stir until it's been fully integrated into the flour. Repeat with 1/2 cup milk at a time until four cups of milk have been stirred in. At that point, it should be fine to pour in the last three cups of milk without lumps forming.
Bring the soup to a full boil, then simmer for 45 minutes (until smooth and thickened).In the meantime, prepare the ingredients for the final part of the recipe: 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, and 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream. Lemon juice, salt, and pepper will be used for seasoning as well.
Wash the mushrooms.
Cut all the mushrooms into a fine dice. It's important to get the mushrooms cubes to be as uniform as possible so they will cook evenly. It also makes the final soup more attractive.
Set the mushrooms aside as the soup simmers.Related Articles
Add the 1/4 teaspoon tarragon to the soup and stir in.
Add all the diced mushrooms to the soup and stir until evenly mixed.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. For my ingredients, I found that 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon table salt, and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper was just right.Cream of Mushroom Soup (makes about 3 quarts, approx. 10 servings)
| 4 ounces (110 g) butter | melt | sweat 6 min. | stir in and cook 12 min. | gradually stir in | stir in 1/2 cup at a time until 4 cups | stir in rest of milk | bring to boil | simmer 45 min. | fold in, simmer 10 min. | stir in, remove from heat | season to taste |
| 4 ounces (110 g) diced onions | wash and dice | ||||||||||
| 2 oz. (55 g) celery | |||||||||||
| 2 oz. (55 g) leeks | |||||||||||
| 1/3 cup (70 g) flour | |||||||||||
| 1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock | |||||||||||
| 7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk | |||||||||||
| 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms | dice | ||||||||||
| 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon | |||||||||||
| 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream | |||||||||||
| lemon juice | |||||||||||
| salt | |||||||||||
| pepper | |||||||||||
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your comment made me think of soymilk, which i've been working on using as dairy substitute for several recipes. fresh strong soymilk is good, but can't also be simmered for very long, as it tends to get grainy. neither will it thicken.
some people(who are avoiding the fat in creams) use mashed or milled boiled potatoes to thicken soups. this might work better if you want to avoid dairy.
or, you can opt for a clear mushroom soup. :) which is actually very good for you and it's a staple in many asian-oriental cuisines. you can even use Mr. Chu's recipe with just minor adjustments. Let me know if i can help.
kayenne
Omarkj, mushroom barley soup is a hearty alternative to a cream based soup. I usually saute up a mix of whatever mushrooms are looking good at the store and some shallots with olive oil until everything is caramelized. Add some barley and saute until it smells nutty. Follow up with some chicken or vegetable stock, thyme, and bay leaf, simmering until the barley is tender. Sometimes I add carrots and parsnips or some parsley and chervil, depends on my mood. Healthier than the cream based, but I love a cream based soup from time to time.
As a side note, evaporated milk sometimes is a decent, though not as tasty substitute for cream. It will give some of the same consistency while maintaining most of the same flavor.
I agree with earlier comment that coconut milk would probably overpower the mushroom flavour. Not to mention that it would probably be a lot "heavier" with coconut milk than with milk, even whole milk!
I agree with earlier comment that coconut milk would probably overpower the mushroom flavour. Not to mention that it would probably be a lot "heavier" with coconut milk than with milk, even whole milk!
Shoot. I knew I forgot something in the article. It makes about 3 quarts (10 sizable servings).
Using a wire whisk to incorporate the milk will help to avoid lumps forming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This recipe would probably still be delicious if you simply replaced all or some of the milk with stock and reduced or omitted the cream. Just one cup of milk and a dash of cream, in combination with the thickening effect of the flour, would give a convincingly creamy taste.
Some other suggestions:
Roasted cashewnuts, puréed with water until very smooth, make an excellent replacement for milk in soups.
To replace the cream, you could try liquidizing silken tofu with a dash of vegetable oil. Be careful not to allow the soup to come to the boil after you have added the tofu, as it may"split".
my penny thought
enjoy!
I assume you're using Internet Explorer since it didn't print. IE has always had a lot of difficulty printing tables in webpages. I haven't tried IE 7 yet, but I'm hoping they'll fix this.
I made a PDF of the recipe card (from Firefox) for you to download and print: here
This statement really confused me -- I thought to deveine must be some American term for a particular type of celery perparation with which I was not familiar.
A quick search on Google lead me to the French word déveine meaning rotten luck, which confused me even more!
It suddenly struck me that the word was in fact de-vein, as in to remove the tough veins from the celery.
Doh!
Thanks,
kharrison
HINT: this is also a good idea for those of you with gas burners who want a very low simmer; the cast iron gives off an even heat that prevents the hot spots that happen when you place a pan directly on the gas burner.
If you're looking to reduce the fat content, and cut out the cream, you might find (I haven't tried it) the the following trick works: to skim milk, add non-fat powdered milk until you have the consistency of cream. This is how they make non-fat "cream" for coffee, which you can also buy directly.
I've generally had good success using soy milk in place of regular milk (I have a lot of vegan friends), and I agree with the suggestion of pureed cashew for the cream. Pureed pine nuts also work amazingly well.
One other substitution comment: for those gluten-free cooks, potato or tapioca flour ought to work in place of the regular flour. I'd probably go potato, since I like the potato flavor in soup, but tapioca is plainer. I don't know, though, how to reduce the carbs. You can probably just leave it out, and have a thinner soup. I use xanthan for gluten-free baking, but haven't tried it in other contexts. Arrowroot is much more powerful than flour as a thickener, but breaks down upon boiling.
I wonder if those brown button mushroom will give a stronger mushroom taste...
Thanks for the recipe.
thx.
I blanched some cremini for a couple minutes in fully simmering water, then removed them and allowed them to cool for a minute so I could handle them. Then I took one and used a paring knife to cut the grooves. Just hold the knife over the mushroom cap and angle it 45 degrees. Then press the knife genlty down onto the cap so it cuts in (I don't use a slicing motion for this). Then I pull out the knife and angle it -45 degrees and press in removing a sliver of the mushroom cap. I repeated two more times to form a six pointed star.
It suddenly struck me that the word was in fact de-vein, as in to remove the tough veins from the celery.
Doh!
Many errors, of a truth, consist merely in the application of the
wrong names of things--Spinoza
The soup is great and the recipe format is so simple and concise. So enjoy.
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
Haha, good point. I'll clarify my statement in the article. :)
This recipe has 7 cups whole milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream... am I missing something?
I hope I didn't confuse you. Thanks for your time
The problem is that this actually makes soup. The cans are (usually) condensed, so you'll have to take that into account. I don't have a can handy right now so I don't know how much liquid to subtract from the recipe.
As to debbie downer:
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
As the author lives in California, I don't think any claim was made with regards to understanding the taste or consistency of canned soup within the global marketplace. One may infer that this was a reference to Campbell's Soup. Perhaps you and your neighbors in France can look elsewhere for finding close to home canned-like recipes. Instead why don't you offer some constructive additions to a "Mushroom Soup Recipe" post or not bother next time.
hahah but anyways - your soup looks amazing- the pictures and instructions are brilliant!
substitute broccoli - or kale - or celery - or asparagus or . . .
the leeks are a flavoring addition of the onion family - if you don't like them, certainly you can substitute or omit to suite your own tastes.
if no one ever experimented, we'd all still be eating fresh apples . . . <g>
not a problem.
make the recipe as directed.
simmer the soup for 10-20 hours on a ultra low flame until the water evaporates out and the soup reaches the consistency you want.
alternately, put the hotplate and soup pan in your kitchen vacuum chamber, draw it down to 26" vacuum - that will speed up the process.
Good recipe otherwise!!
Looks nice but as a vegetarian of 10 years whose diet relies on mushrooms (and indeed mushroom soups) as an important staple, I was disappointed to see the chicken broth in this recipe. I'm of the (biased) opinion that meatless soups should have a vegetarian broth--either vegetable broth, or much better yet for this type of soup, a mushroom broth which will add depth of flavor and a great earthiness. I will also add that there is a whole world of flavor outside of the white button mushroom. You needn't go looking for exotic or expensive shrooms (though kudos if you do), but try using half white button and half easily-obtainable crimini ("baby bella")--again...depth and earthiness. I usually use the white buttons for filler and others for flavor, especially if I'm making a "quick" mushroom soup to be served right away. Very tasty!
As with the last comment, I don't puree but I do sautee the mushrooms.
In this post, you have mentioned how you tried out various recipes before you zeroed in on this particular one. I am really interested in knowing the quantities of ingredients you used in testing recipes. Do you start out with ingredient quantities same as in the recipe you've mentioned above? Or do you start small and then amp it up once you know you are going in a good direction? If you do indeed start small and then build up, is there some sort of a thumb rule for increasing ingredient quantities accordingly? I know this is a very general question, but I'd be interested in what your thoughts are on this topic.
Thanks and hope you guys are settling down great in Austin.
Mithun
I try to use the same quantity of ingredients in the original recipe.
I was just wondering what a vacuum chamber was...is it similar to a pressure cooker? it sounds interesting.:)
it's the opposite of a pressure cooker - a closed chamber where the interior pressure is reduced below normal atmospheric pressure.
at lower air pressure liquids will boil - turn from liquid to vapor - at a lower temperature, or faster at the same temperature.
the extreme example is "freeze drying" - ala (some) instant coffee - a frozen liquid is put under vacuum. the frozen water 'sublimes' - leaving just the solids. sublimes' means goes from a solid state (i.e. ice) to a vapor state without going thru a liquid phase.
I've made this soup today and it was very good. As I hadn't leek I used cabbage heart instead, and it was just fine. I have also pureed the soup, but added some un-pureed mushrooms at the end...
It may be a bit difficult (only at first) because it does get very thick, but the end result is the same. Just reduce the heat a bit to prevent scorching. After you've done it a couple of times, it becomes very easy.
Freezing is tricky. Creams typically don't do well frozen because they separate. You could experiment and try a small amount. Some say a blender mixes it up well, but that's not very helpful if you have mushrooms in there. You don't want mush, you want the rooms with it too. :D
If you absolutely must freeze, then I'd just eliminate the cream and add that only when ready to use it. You'll have to do a little math to figure it out (e.g., whether you're doing condensed or the full soup). Also if you plan on using mushrooms, add those into the soup, let it simmer a few minutes, then freeze.
It's all about just rearranging the recipe according to what you want to do with it.
Oh and 1 condensed can of Campbell's is 1 1/4 cups undiluted. That may be helpful for any recipe.
Good luck! :)
Anyway... hemp milk does make for one of the best substitutions for milk I've ever tried. I was going to suggest almond milk, for it's mild flavor, but it's mouth feel is pretty thin and I've never tried reducing it much beyond scalding. IF you can find sunflower seed butter that isn't too salty or sweetened, that also adds a nice toasty flavor that works well with strongly flavored mushrooms. Say... making this with shitake and baby bella. Though you'd probably want to change the
flavor base at that point.
As for vegetarians being disappointed... well, the sad truth is, the overwhelming majority of the folks in the food world are omnivores.
You can protest this trend by substituting EVERY instance of meat or meat based products with vegetarian products... and make it taste wonderful. I'm serious. I was one for five years. Working out your frustration in the kitchen is frankly a lot more satisfying than harassing those who think their canines are useful for something. This means you can shame them (without rebuke!) with your awesome re-worked recipes, and make those vegetarian bashers eat their words about tasteless and "weak" food. Hey... if the Brahmans in India can do it... why not here?
I mean... Butter. Milk. Cream. Why pick on the chicken broth? That would be the easiest to replace. If you don't want to make your own, Pacifica does an amazing organic mushroom broth that would sing in this recipe.
Also, the fats in coconut are pretty good for you as long as you don't cook them too much. I am on a restricted fat diet, and my dietitian mentioned unprocessed coconut as one of the good fats... as long as it wasn't overheated.
Anyway.
Then there are the canned coconut milk types mostly used for Thai and East Asian and Indian cuisines. These might work, though you want to make sure they aren't sweetened. Mushrooms and coconut go very well together, actually. One of my favorite cram sauces involves mushrooms fried up with coconut milk as the only thickener. Great on Kangaroo Steaks. Thank you, Australia!
My concern for using type number two is that the coconut solids might separate over time. This wouldn't store well.
Then there is the third type, which is a coconut milk which is formulated and marketed specifically to allergy sufferers. It's fat to liquid ratio are normalized to roughly that of whole milk. Personally, I think it's richer... not quite as rich as half and half... but pretty close.
While it is identifiably coconut milk, it does not scream the coconut flavor or come off sweet. It helps to buy the unsweetened variety, but even the sweetened type could be used for savory purposes, or even for non-coconut flavors.
I am going to make t this recipe using the hemp milk as the milk base,
then adding the coconut milk last as one does the cream for finishing. This way, the coconut milk gets heated but not boiled, and presumably stays reasonably healthy. Also, I know for a fact that hemp milk and coconut milk together taste great. I make milk-free eggnog for the holidays out of this duo. However, this mix by itself would also be good flavor-wise for savory applications as well.
I will also be using tapioca flour for the wheat. I don't like making this many changes from the original recipe without testing first, but I want to be able to eat the results. :)
IF the coconut milk is not rich enough for my purposes, I'll use an old Thai trick and put in come finely blended macadamia nuts. I'd use candlenuts if I had them, but hey, I live in the US.
I'll report back here if people are interested once I get results.
I bought my system for parcelling up roasts, like ham that doesn't freeze well, so I could store them safely in the fridge instead. Wouldn't that work for a cream soup or sauce?
I bought my system for parcelling up roasts, like ham that doesn't freeze well, so I could store them safely in the fridge instead. Wouldn't that work for a cream soup or sauce?
In a word: no. Do the vacuum sealing thing for frozen foodstuffs which can't endure freezer burn. A ham or roast in the fridge ain't gonna last very much longer shrink wrapped in FudSaver than it would in newspaper, though it will look much prettier when it gives you ptomaine.
Only exception I can think of is for a dry grated cheese, like Parmesan; and then you need to use a mason jar and a lid -- and the optional, additional attachment.
Low cost vacuum sealers work by sucking air out of special bags with ridges on one side which act as air channels. The problem with this technique is that air pressure outside of the bag will try to squeeze everything out of the bag that can be squeezed out through the plastic channels... including all liquids. The only way to use a FoodSaver or equivalent vacuum sealer is to vacuum seal them in special FoodSaver containers or in mason jars with the mason jar attachment. That will help extend the life of the soup in the fridge by a few weeks if everything was sterilized.
I like to sweat the onion/leek mixture in butter and olive oil, and add either diced celeriac or potato. After 15-20 minutes sweating, add the stock of choice and boil/pressure cook until all tender. Meanwhile, finely chop mushrooms and sweat in a little butter and olive oil. Combine the two and blend/liquidise. No flour, because the celeriac or potato absorbs the fat. Add creme fraiche or cream to taste, or indeed some coarsely chopped mushroom as done here. Chopped parsley is also good at the end.