Baby, it’s cold outside, and one of the best things for warming up on a cold day is a bowl of hot soup. For many people this means grabbing a can from the pantry, but there are plenty of good reasons to make your own soup from scratch. I promise it’s not hard! All of my children knew how to make cream soups from scratch by their early teens. And it’s not time consuming. Depending upon what kind you make, it will only take 5 to 15 minutes more than heating up a can of soup.
What’s so bad about canned soup?
First of all, soup cans are lined with bisphenol-A, which is usually called BPA. It is an endocrine disruptor, which means it messes with the hormones in your body. So, if your pancreas, thyroid, or ovaries are not performing optimally, it could be because of all the BPA and other endocrine disruptors you are consuming or absorbing through your skin every day. In addition to that, canned soups also contain non-nutritive food additives that are made from GMOs, which have been associated with a long list of negative health outcomes. To top it off, there is usually very little nutrition in canned soup because of the high heat required for canning, which also destroys the fiber. And they are often high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
How to make cream soup
In culinary school, future chefs are not given a finite number of recipes to use. They are taught how to do the basics, such as a cream soup base, and then how to personalize and expand upon them. You don’t need a dozen soup recipes. Using my cream soup base, you can make a dozen different cream soups, chowders, and cheese soups. I’ve listed a few variations below the recipe, but don’t be limited by that. The only thing you need to remember is that if you add liquid, you should reduce the milk by an equal amount. For example, I once made a chili con queso soup. I added a cup of cheddar cheese and a 12 ounce jar of salsa, so I reduced the amount of milk by 12 ounces. Really, your imagination is your only limitation.
Cream Soup Base
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 4 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- white wine (if desired)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a pot over low heat so you don’t scorch it.
- Whisk the flour into the melted butter and continue to stir until all lumps have disappeared.
- Add the milk, turn up the heat to medium, and continue stirring until the mixture bubbles.
- Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper.
- Add a splash of white wine, if you like.
Notes
This is pretty awesome. I have done it many times for Shrimp and corn soup, crawfish and corn soup and not realized I was essentially making a cream soup base. I use several cream of”X” soups for various recipes, so now I will try this out myself.
Sounds like a great pantry item- can it be frozen?
I’ve never tried to freeze it because I’ve heard that fat-flour combos tend to separate after being frozen. Maybe you could use an immersion blender to mix it up again, but I’m just guessing on that. Since this takes five minutes to make, I don’t think it’s worth the freezer space.
You can make a batch of the butter and flour mix (roux) and just keep it in the fridge until you need to use it. That is what we did when l worked in food service
Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely try it with chicken rice and onions – also mushrooms. Great idea. I have plenty of chicken in the freezer.
Have you ever substituted goat milk? We are all lactose intolerant over here
All we use is goat milk because we raise goats. Goat and cow milk can be swapped out in any recipe. There is no difference between them when it comes to cooking. Nigerian dwarf milk has higher butterfat (6.5% vs 3.5% in other goat and cow milk, except Nubian and Jersey and a couple of other heritage cow breeds, which are 4.5%), so if a recipe calls for milk and cream, you wouldn’t need the cream if you had Nigerian dwarf milk.
However, if you are truly lactose intolerant, you would not be able to consume goat milk, sheep milk, etc, because it all has lactose in it. ALL mammal milk has lactose in it. Lactose is simply milk sugar. If you react to cow milk but not goat milk, then you are probably allergic to the protein in cow milk. It is the protein that is different from different milks, meats, and eggs, so someone who is allergic to beef may be able to eat chicken or someone who is allergic to chicken eggs may be able to eat duck eggs.
Is there any way to can the base recipe for later? Then add the additional ingredients when opening the canned base?
Yes, you would have to pressure can it, but I have never done that and don’t have instructions for doing it safely.