"DailySoup" news and stories

As Bob reminded us last week, January is National Soup Month, so I thought it was only fitting to feature a soup cookbook. The Daily Soup Cookbook is written by the chefs who created the recipes at the Daily Soup chain of restaurants. Filled with over 200 soup recipes, the book is divided up by primary ingredient: corn, potato, bean, chili, nut and fruit (to name a few). They also offer suggestions for movies you should rent to eat soup by and musical recommendations to cook and eat soup by.

When it comes to soup, I tend not to follow recipes, instead striking out on my own with whatever ingredients I happen to have. However, when I eat soups made by others, or those prepared by stores or restaurants, I'm always blown away by the flavors and unique combinations that other people put together. The recipes contained in this book make me think that following a recipe might not be such a bad idea if they could get me soup at home that tasted as wonderful as some of the stuff I come across out there in the world.

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While I could eat soup on just about any day of the year, I have to admit that when the weather is cold, I have a bias for soups over other dishes. There are so many different types of soups to make and they usually require minimal hands-on time, so they are incredibly appealing when just don't feel like doing much because the weather is less than perfect. The Daily Soup Cookbook is a book of recipes from the Daily Soup, a New York restaurant that specializes in soups. The NY Times calls the restaurant the "antithesis of the so-called Soup Nazi experience," an attitude that is apparent even in print from the book's clear instructions and friendly voice. The recipes use high-quality ingredients and the techniques used are thoroughly explained in the beginning of the book, providing a solid foundation to the science of soup-making. And the quality of the soups, such as Mexican Tortilla Soup, Four Bean Vegetarian Chili, New England Lobster Chowder and Brazilian Chicken Stew, make the experience of making them even more pleasurable.

The only thing that might stop some soup-lovers from picking up this book is that fact that most all the recipes call for using homemade stocks, which improve the taste but are not typically required of the home chef who might rely on canned stock more often than not. Honestly, you can make the substitution and still get good results, but if there was ever a time to start making stocks this is it because they are quite simple, straightforward and really take the soups to a new level.

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