Glorious Soups!

January is National Soup Month

I loathe thin soups. 

Can't understand for the life of me why people would eat a consomme for example..? 

Why not just drink the stuff, rather than keep licking your lips as it dribbles down off the spoon?  Now, chunky soups are a different matter.  Anything reminiscent of a thick stew does the trick for me.

I've always wondered what's the difference between a stew and a soup? 

At what point does a soup metamorphosize into a stew?

As January is National Soup Month, Keri and I thought it appropriate to pay tribute to a number of our favorite soups, sharing both the recipes we like to make at home and those we consume at Reading Terminal Market.

Kicking off with Keri's contribution... 

Keri's chicken noodle soup is the stuff of legends.  Her chicken soup has alleged medicinal powers and is especially efficacious in exorcising coughs and colds -- her husband calls it "the golden elixir of health."  I think that she's probably a white witch.  That would explain both the healing powers of her soup and why her cakes rise higher than anyone else's... 

For other suggestions about how to knock a nasty cold on the head, see another of Philly Food Lovers' posts:  T'is the Season...  for a hot ginger recipe that our Indian friends Farah and Pia both swear by.

Last year we featured an historic soup which elicited a number of reactions - good and bad - at the Forgotten Food Festival in Reading Terminal Market. 

Pepperpot Soup is often refered to as "the soup that won the Revolutionary War." 

But according to one of our readers, this claim is "bogus".  He posted his version of the 'truth':  "Of course, the whole Valley Forge story, while entertaining, is entirely bogus. Pepperpot came to Philly by way of the West Indies long before that cold winter in 1777-8. The earliest recipes call for turtle instead of tripe. In any case, it's still delicious!"

Thanks for setting the record straight, Sir. 

We also chased the Market's own Jack McDavid to get our hands on his version of Pumpkin Soup, which was featured on FOX Philly.  His soup included a most unusual mystery ingredient.  You'll have to read the post to find out what this was ;)

The things you do for live TV
...Jack McDavid of the Down Home Diner cuts up a pumpkin outside FOX Philly's HQ

Over the next week, Keri and I will be researching soups from both North and South of the Mason Dixie Line.  One of the things I love about writing a blog is that it forces me to step outside my comfort zone and try new recipes that wouldn't normally be on my radar. 

I'm sure it's dead easy but my task this week is to rustle up a clam chowder.  I'm going to make the cream version because it's my son's favorite.  My husband on the other hand prefers the lighter tomato-based version. 

So which one do you prefer?