Autumn graced us just about a month ago, and if you are in the northern hemisphere, temperatures have started to drop. Frost and freeze warnings have begun, and we need to bring those beloved plants inside, lest we lose them. As it gets colder, we naturally want more warmth in our lives – from our favorite cozy sweaters and woolen socks to hot teas and spices. And soup. Soup is so easy to make; it is a real “fast food” once you’ve got the building blocks available and you know the process. It is warming and can be deeply nourishing – even healing over time – and it can be an inexpensive meal for your family. Soup is good food – “…mmm, mmm good”!
Making Soup a Fast Food in Your House
The basis of all soup is a good stock or broth. When you make stock and keep a few quarts in your freezer, you can have a soup on the table in an hour or less. That is really quick, compared with other homemade meals!
Make Stock or Broth (or both!) and Freeze it
There are short cooked meat stocks and long cooked bone broths. They both have their benefits. If you don’t have any digestive issues or brain function issues (brain fog, depression, ADD, etc.) that are the result of a leaky gut, you can do both—make meat stock and then save those bones to make bone broth. If you do have any symptoms of leaky gut, skip the bone broth. You can learn more about this in my article, The Dark Side of Bone Broth. (For more information about leaky gut- what it is and how to heal it with diet, see www.gaps.me and my book, The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet.) Both meat stock and bone broth will be full of healing gelatin and are the foundation of a nourishing soup. Recipes below.
Basic Method: Making a Clear Soup
1. Sauté aromatics (garlic, onions, chiles or ginger—any vegetables or herbs that will lend flavor and aroma) in healthy fat, such as pastured butter or ghee, beef or lamb tallow, duck fat, coconut oil or lard, depending on the flavor of the soup. (Tallow and unrefined coconut oil will lend a stronger flavor, the others listed will not.) Sauté on medium – low heat until the onions are soft. To ensure you do not burn the garlic, add it after the onions are well on their way to being soft and translucent.
2. Add vegetables and sauté until soft. If you are going to eat this as a clear soup, you may wish to cut the vegetables to a uniform size- bite size or smaller. Alternatively, you can use already cooked vegetables. (Using cooked vegetables will decrease your cooking time; all you will need to do is warm them through for a few minutes.)
3. Add stock or broth. Bring to a boil, skim, and discard scum. Lower the temperature to a simmer. If you would like rice in your soup, add uncooked brown rice at this point, and cook about 40 minutes with lid on. If you do not add rice, put the lid on and simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. Add any cooked meat (ex., chicken) or cooked beans (learn how to soak and cook them here) after vegetables are done. Heat to warm through, about 10 minutes.
Making a Pureed Soup
Pureed soup is so easy! Follow steps 1-3 above. Then puree the soup with hand blender or in a blender in batches until you reach desired consistency.
Making a Creamed Soup
Make a pureed soup, above. When soup is just warm to the touch, add about a cup or so of crème fraiche, cultured cream, yogurt, coconut milk or coconut cream. Stir through.
So, you see that if you know the method of making a clear soup, you will be able to make pureed and cream soups with ease! Be sure to serve with sea salt or fish sauce for minerals, and healthy fat for their absorption.
Bonus! Spices to Balance in Autumn
During autumn, we can use spices to help keep us in balance. They are “warming” spices and herbs: garlic and onions, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, curry spice, cayenne, and turmeric. Add them to your soup—use them in step one, above. Autumn vegetables are carrot, sweet potato, yam, mustard green, squash, potato, mushrooms, dark green leafy vegetables (kale), eggplants, peppers.
Recipes for Stock and Broth: The Foundation of Nourishing Soup
As always, use the best quality ingredients you can find – organic and pastured – to make a nutritious stock or broth. If you need help sourcing clean food, contact your local Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader. If you would like to learn more about the differences between meat stock and bone broth, when to make them and why, see my book, The Complete Cooking Techniques for the GAPS Diet, or Meat Stock and Bone Broth.
Making Meat Stock
Making meat stock requires “meaty bones”- bones with meat and a joint or connective tissue. Examples of meaty bones are shanks, short ribs, meaty neck bones, meaty soup bones if you are using beef, lamb, pork, or game, and a whole chicken, thighs, legs, or leg quarters, necks, wings, backs or a combination if using poultry. Meat Stock is quick and easy, and is often eaten as a “one pot meal”.
Meat Stock – Poultry, Beef, Lamb, Bison, Pork
Makes about 2 quarts of stock, serves about 4 for a meal
Ingredients
2-3 pounds of pastured chicken or turkey thighs or quarters or a whole pastured chicken, cut up, or 2-3 pounds grass-fed beef, bison or lamb shanks or meaty neck bones
3-4 carrots, coarsely chopped
one small onion, quartered
handful of black peppercorns (for flavor, will not eat—tie in spice bag if you prefer)
1-2 teaspoon high mineral salt
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary or thyme (tie in cheesecloth if prefer- optional)
water to cover by 2 inches (this is usually no more than 2-3 quarts at the most)
Instructions
Place everything in a 5–6 quart Dutch oven. Bring to a boil on the stove. Skim and discard the scum. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover with lid. Cook on the stove at a low simmer for the times below.
Alternatively, bring to a boil on the stove, skim and discard the scum, and then place in the oven at 350°F and cook for the time below.
For poultry: 1.5-3 hours, or cook in a crock pot on high for 1 hour and then low for 6-8 hours
For beef or bison: 4-6 hours, or cook in a crock pot on high for 2 hours and then low for 8-10 hours for beef or bison
For lamb: 4 hours on the stove, or cook in a crock pot on high for 2 hours and then 6-8 hours on low Eat the meat and the vegetables. Drink the stock, or strain for soup-making!
Making Bone Broth
The key to bone broth is “boney bones” – bones with little to no meat, a lot of water, and a long cooking time. You will strain the liquid when it is done, and discard everything else.
Beef, Bison, Lamb, Pork Bone Broth or Bone Stock
Makes about 4 quarts
Ingredients
boney bones, for gelatin—about 4 pounds of joints—knuckles and necks meaty bones, such as ribs, for color and flavor—about 3 pounds
4 quarts of pure water
3 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, coarsely chopped 3 onions, coarsely chopped 1⁄4 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Roast meaty bones on a parchment lined sheet pan or other pan in the oven at 350°F/177°C until browned, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, place boney bones in a large, heavy stock pot for 1 hour. The vinegar will act on the bones and help to draw out the calcium and the gelatin for a rich stock. When the meaty bones are browned, add to the pot, along with any accumulated juices.
Add the vegetables to the pot.
Bring the pot to a boil; skim the scum, and lower to a simmer. The broth should be still on the surface and “rolling” underneath. Roll the stock for 24-72 hours, and then strain.
Bring to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator. Bone broth should gel when cooled.
Chicken Bone Broth
Makes about 4 quarts
Ingredients
2 chicken carcasses (about 4 pounds of bones) OR 3-4 pounds chicken wings or backs cut up, OR a 3-4 pound stewing hen
4 chicken feet (optional) 4 quarts of pure water
3 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
If desired, you may brown the stewing hen or wings if using in a 350°F/177°C oven for about 30 minutes. (This will concentrate flavor and give the broth a nice, rich color.)
Place all ingredients in a heavy stock pot and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Bring the pot to a boil, skim and discard the scum, and lower to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 6-24 hours.
Strain. Bring to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator. Broth should gel when cooled.
Wishing you lots of bowls of warming, nourishing soup this autumn and for the days to come!
Monica Corrado, MA, CNC, CGP is a teaching chef, Certified Nutrition Consultant, and Certified GAPS Practitioner who is passionate about illuminating the connection between food and well-being. A member of the Honorary Board of the Weston A. Price Foundation for almost 20 years, Monica is a dynamic teacher, speaker, consultant, and author who lives to share the tools, knowledge and inspiration to cook nourishing, traditional food. Monica is also The GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome™) Chef”, and teaches cooking for the GAPS diet for Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s GAPS Training team.
www.simplybeingwell.com
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Meat Stock – Poultry, Beef, Lamb, Bison, Pork
Source: Monica Corrado
Course: Soup
Yield: 2 quarts
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds pastured chicken or turkey thighs or quarters or a whole pastured chicken, cut up, or 2-3 pounds grass-fed beef, biso
- 3-4 carrots coarsely chopped
- 1 small onion quartered
- handful black peppercorns (for flavor, will not eat—tie in spice bag if you prefer)
- 1-2 teaspoon high mineral salt
- 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary or thyme, (tie in cheesecloth if prefer- optional)
- water to cover by 2 inches (this is usually no more than 2-3 quarts at the most)
Directions
- Place everything in a 5–6 quart Dutch oven. Bring to a boil on the stove. Skim and discard the scum. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover with lid. Cook on the stove at a low simmer for the times below.
- Alternatively, bring to a boil on the stove, skim and discard the scum, and then place in the oven at 350°F and cook for the time below.
- For poultry: 1.5-3 hours, or cook in a crock pot on high for 1 hour and then low for 6-8 hours
- For beef or bison: 4-6 hours, or cook in a crock pot on high for 2 hours and then low for 8-10 hours for beef or bison
- For lamb: 4 hours on the stove, or cook in a crock pot on high for 2 hours and then 6-8 hours on low Eat the meat and the vegetables. Drink the stock, or strain for soup-making!
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Beef, Bison, Lamb, Pork Bone Broth or Bone Stock
Source: Monica Corrado
Course: Soup
Yield: 4 quarts
Serves:
Ingredients
- boney bones for gelatin—about 4 pounds of joints—knuckles and necks meaty bones, such as ribs, for color and fla
- 4 quarts pure water
- 3 celery ribs coarsely chopped
- 3 carrots coarsely chopped 3 onions, coarsely chopped 1⁄4 cup apple cider vinegar
Directions
- Roast meaty bones on a parchment lined sheet pan or other pan in the oven at 350°F/177°C until browned, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place boney bones in a large, heavy stock pot for 1 hour. The vinegar will act on the bones and help to draw out the calcium and the gelatin for a rich stock. When the meaty bones are browned, add to the pot, along with any accumulated juices.
- Add the vegetables to the pot.
- Bring the pot to a boil; skim the scum, and lower to a simmer. The broth should be still on the surface and “rolling” underneath. Roll the stock for 24-72 hours, and then strain.
- Bring to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator. Bone broth should gel when cooled.
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Chicken Bone Broth
Source: Monica Corrado
Course: Soup
Yield: 4 quarts
Serves:
Ingredients
- 2 chicken carcasses (about 4 pounds of bones) or 3-4 pounds chicken wings or backs cut up, OR a 3-4 pound stewing hen
- 4 chicken feet (optional) 4 quarts of pure water
- 3 celery ribs coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots coarsely chopped
- 1 onion coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Directions
- If desired, you may brown the stewing hen or wings if using in a 350°F/177°C oven for about 30 minutes. (This will concentrate flavor and give the broth a nice, rich color.)
- Place all ingredients in a heavy stock pot and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Bring the pot to a boil, skim and discard the scum, and lower to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 6-24 hours.
- Strain. Bring to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator. Broth should gel when cooled.
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