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Meaty Soups
These are all stick-to-the-ribs sorts of soups that are a whole meal when served with crispy bread and a tossed salad to add additional crunch, because the vegetables in the soups are all soft. In this chapter, you’ll find recipes from a number of different cuisines, ranging from Vietnamese and Chinese to Mexican and Spanish. Because these soups are made with meats many have rather long cooking times. But they all freeze well, so it makes sense to do a whole batch and have them around for winter “dinner insurance.”
The Benefits of Browning
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Dry food well. Moisture causes splatters, which messes up the stove, and can burn the cook.
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Preheat the pan. You have to wait until the fat is very hot, or the food will not brown.
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Don’t crowd the pan. For food to brown it needs room for the steam to escape that’s created when the cold food hits the hot pan.
All meats not coated with flour can be browned under the broiler as well as in a pan. Flour needs the fat in the pan to cook it properly. But you want to preheat the broiler for at least 10 or 15 minutes to create the brown crust.
For red meats like beef, browning is the initial step to a delicious dish; it’s an optional step for poultry and pork, and totally unnecessary for fish and seafood. What browning accomplishes is called the Maillard reaction, named for an early-twentieth century chemist, Louis Camille Maillard, who discovered it. A chemical reaction that takes place on the surface of meats creating the development of flavor, it takes place when food reaches 285ºF, and that can only be done in a hot pan before cooking. Otherwise, the temperature of the meat only reaches 212ºF, which is the simmering temperature of the soup. Browning seals in juices as it makes foods more visually appealing, too. Here are some tips for browning foods to be braised: 189
