The other day I was making dinner and started chopping vegetables. I grabbed an onion, a few celery stalks and a couple big carrots and started chopping (if you read my stuff often, you know where this is going). My wife asked, “What are you making?" I responded with, “I don’t know, but it’s gonna be delicious."

Delicious it was.

After throwing together my mirepoix (a basic French base of aromatic vegetables), I scanned the fridge for whatever else made sense and decided I was making soup for dinner. After some white wine, high-quality bouillon, three eggs and a bit of beef fat, we had some of the best soup I’ve had in a while (though that may be because I haven’t had soup at all in a while).

The point is if you know the basic principles, whipping together a good soup isn’t hard at all! You don’t need a complex recipe, you don’t need Betty Crocker’s signature soup mix (on sale now at your local grocer), and you don’t need anyone’s permission to make something incredible.

What Makes a Good Soup?

How many people do you know that insist they hate soup because it’s not a real meal? You’ve probably met several. Some of them have probably made it an explicit part of their personality, so if you ever mention soup they have to complain about how non-food it is.

Well… they’re not entirely to blame. Chances are they’ve had too many experiences with bad soup. To avoid that, let’s make them a good one.

A good soup will always have the following qualities (and yes, I mean always. A soup missing a single element will be subpar every single time):

• Aroma:
Throwing some chicken into boiling water and seasoning it with salt doesn’t make a good soup. The main appeal of soup is the mouthwatering scent of a bunch of aromatic ingredients all mingling.


• Viscosity:
Soup is not water, and water is not soup. Soup isn’t cream or milk. Soup is soup and needs to feel like soup. A good soup has a bunch of nutrients in it, including large-molecule components like gelatin and small-molecule components like salt. All of these should come together to make the soup richer than a mere bowl of water. This creates mouthfeel, which is a big deal.


• Complexity:
No soup should be all one flavor. Chicken soup should be very much chickeny, but if it’s not also something else (lemony, tomatoey, earthy, etc), you and everyone else will get bored of it very quickly.


• Balance:
Not too salty, not too sweet or sour, not too much of anything. It’s okay to let an ingredient of the soup really sing, but not to the extent that it overshadows the whole orchestra.

With all that in mind, here are five steps to nailing an easy, awesome soup.

One: Aroma is Everything

The aroma of a soup is akin to the foundation of a house. If there’s no foundation to your house, no one will want to eat it.

Wait.

What I mean is if your foundation is weak, the whole structure will fall. If your soup has a poor aroma, it won’t be appetizing. It won’t have that what-is-THAT-smell factor, and it won’t be satisfying to eat. You need an aromatic base to your soup.

How do I get an aromatic base, you ask? Simple, just start with mirepoix. Mirepoix (pronounced “mere pwah") is a mixture of aromatic vegetables (onion, carrot, and celery) that, when cooked, make some incredible scents. Mirepoix comes in tons of varieties that aren’t all called mirepoix, but I usually stick with the classical French word. Every major cuisine has its own version of mirepoix, including several variations in regions of the United States. If you’re looking for a rabbit hole to dive down for the next little while, mirepoix is instantly rewarding and super informative.

What exactly does mirepoix accomplish?

Flavor Development: Mirepoix provides a foundational flavor profile that enhances the overall taste of the soup. Their aromatic compounds infuse into the broth, creating a rich and savory base.

Depth and Complexity: The aroma from the mirepoix adds layers of depth and complexity to the soup. It makes the flavor three dimensional.

Appetizing Qualities: Aromatic soups entice the senses even before tasting. The aroma wafting from a well-prepared soup stimulates the appetite.

Balancing Flavors: The mirepoix balances the flavors in the soup. The sweetness from carrots, the savory notes from onions, and the freshness from celery work together harmoniously. It forms the backbone upon which other ingredients can build.

Two: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Check this one off your bingo cards, I’m talking about it again. Just be grateful I’m not going on another rant about thermometers. These are all important elements of a soup, and I’ll address them separately.

Salt: Salt components of your soup separately. Don’t just pour salt into your broth and call it good. Instead, salt your mirepoix as it cooks, then salt your chicken before you sear it, then add extra salt to the broth as needed.

Fat: Fat releases flavor and is also a vehicle for helping your body absorb certain vitamins. You need it. And it’s also delicious. Start certain components of your soup cooking in fat. For example, mirepoix should be sauteed in butter, but you can be creative and use other fats.

Acid: Acid is probably the most overlooked component of a dish. It adds brightness and complexity to your soup and prevents it from cloying your palate. This is also one of those components you’ll want to layer in by adding multiple sources of acidity. The soup I made last night had white wine, worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and lemon.

Heat: As you cook your mirepoix, it softens and releases aroma. As you simmer the broth, it reduces and gains viscosity. I always start my soups very hot and then reduce the heat. I rip the heat to get a good sear, then drop the heat low once I’ve added the stock and brought it to a boil.

Three: Let it Cook

I brought this up already in the paragraph about heat, but let’s dig into it a little more. Here are some tips:

1. Rip the heat up high to get a good sear. This is something I do when I’m cooking with meat or
   


2. Turn the heat down low to gently cook the broth and appropriately reduce the stock. If you’re cooking with tomato, you’ll even notice bits of paste sticking to the side of the pan that you can scrape down the sides and make the soup even more thick.
   


3. Consider adding gelatin to your stocks. Ideally, you’ll have a pre-made stock that you spent several hours on to get some good gelatin on your lonesome. However, I always keep packets of unflavored gelatin for when I’m in a bind. Dump in ½ to a whole packet of gelatin, and the soup will develop some gorgeous, incredible mouthfeel.
   

Four: Divide and Conquer

Do not—and I repeat—DO NOT just throw everything into a pot of boiling water and call it good.

“I hate soup!" said the moron. “The chicken comes out all rubbery and none of it has flavor!"

Then Matthew slapped him, hard.

Anyway, story over, here’s the point: when making soup, you cook it in stages. And not only do you cook it in stages, you cook some components separately and then combine them later.

Cook in stages: Start with your aromatic base (see step one). Once that stuff is singing, add your meat. Once you’ve gotten a good sear on that meat, add the stock. Once the stock is boiling, drop the heat to a low simmer and add all your other herbs, spices and miscellaneous components (except for the gentle ingredients). Once the soup has reduced a good amount and achieved that incredible viscosity, remove it from the heat and add your citrus juices, gentle herbs like parsley, and eggs.

Do you see how it’s a process? Start on high heat with some components, finish on low heat with other components. Give each stage of the process its due. The soup will pay you back in dividends.

Cook in parts: Sometimes, cooking in stages isn’t enough. Classic East Asian noodle dishes cook the noodles separately from the rest of the soup, then you add the noodles back in once the rest of the soup is done cooking. Some incredible chicken soup dishes don’t add the chicken until the very end—after they’ve roasted and seared it in a separate pan.

Think about each component and figure out how you want it to be, then set out to achieve it. Don’t just throw it all in a pot and hope for the best.

Five: Give it Some Zip

In other words, add some freshness to the soup after it’s done cooking. Consider fresh garnishes like parsley, cilantro, or green onions. Add in lemon juice or some other “late-stage" acidic ingredient, which will have a different flavor to it than the acids you’ve been cooking. Stir in eggs, either vigorously beaten to create a creamy soup like in Greek avgolemono soup, or gently broken to create some beautiful egg ribbons like in Chinese egg drop soup.

That’s it! You ready? No? Still nervous? Not to worry, I’ve got a set of training wheels below. And you can always reach out if you have questions.