Vegetable Beef Soup Like Great-Grandma Vera Mae's Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What seasonings are good in vegetable soup? ›

The best cut of meat for beef soup is either a chuck roast, chuck shoulder, chuck-eye roast or top chuck – with chuck roast being my personal favorite. These are the most tender cuts. Despite what the name suggests, stew meat is not your best choice in a beef soup recipe!

A squeeze of citrus, a dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of cream, a dusting of cheese or a good chile powder, a sprinkling of some herbs or croutons — all can take a perfectly fine soup into the realm of the delectable. Even a spiral of good olive oil to finish and some coarse sea salt can do wonders.

Add flour or cornflour

Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.

Dried herbs and seasonings: homemade seasoned salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and dried bay leaves lend flavor to the soup. Stock: I much prefer chicken stock over vegetable stock in terms of flavor, though if you want to keep this soup vegetarian, feel free to use vegetable broth or stock instead.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

Add ingredients like mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce, miso, or seaweed to enhance the flavor of your soup. Use fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil or thyme to add fresh flavor to your soup.

What do I do if my vegetable beef soup tastes bland? The best way to ensure a flavorful soup is to brown the beef and onions in the beginning. If the soup tastes bland at the end of cooking, add more spices and herbs. After adding, allow the soup to cook a little longer so the flavors to meld together.

What's the secret to a good soup? ›

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says.

Stews are generally thicker than soups, being made up primarily of larger, solid chunks of ingredients. In other words, stews are thicker and chunkier—and always have solid ingredients. Generally speaking, if there is so much liquid that the ingredients are fully submerged, it's a soup.

As a result, stock is usually a healthier product, delivering a richer mouth feel and deeper flavor than broth. Stock is a versatile culinary tool that can deliver taste to any number of dishes. Darker in color and more concentrated in flavor than broth, it's ideal for use in soups, rice, sauces and more.

Some suggestions that I use: 1) add a rind of Parmesan cheese while the soup is bubbling for some additional saltiness. The rind will disintegrate while it simmers, 2) add some diced apple for natural sweetness and texture, 3) add some diced parsnips.

Potatoes naturally thicken this pureed vegetable soup and give it an ultra creamy texture. If you accidentally added too much water to your soup, you can thicken it back up with a cornstarch slurry.

Fresh lemon juice squeezed into the soup at the very end wakens up the broth. The soup won't taste lemony, just brightened and lively. Fresh herbs and fat from a dollop of prepared pesto stirred into each bowl before serving is a real treat. I like my Vegan Pesto recipe, or Gotham Greens vegan pesto.

It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.