Soup-making jellies: is this a terrible idea?

No, it should be pretty good. I make soup with canned/boxed broth all the time.

Add a little parsley and basil.

Should be fine. I also use canned broth in a lot of my soups. If you feel it is too salty, you could always water it down and rely on the veggies to add more flavor to the broth itself. Sounds like it will be tasty, though.

I use Bay Leaf in my beef soup/stews.

If you have red wine add it ten or fifteen minutes before you serve.

Should come out pretty good, just have some confidence.

Soup is never a problem, because in the end so much of it is mostly water and salt.

So if you screw up a little and it’s too watery – add some salt. If too salty – add water (as @TheOnlyNeffie mentioned).

The only thing to do with soup is to dip a spoon in now and then to check in on it.

I rarely ever make my own stock, I know I should, but it just seems like too much trouble. I use prepared stock in most all of my cooking adventures.

I think you are about to become known around your house as a wizard of home-made soupery. I might skip the butter or just finely chop the spinach and throw it in raw.

I recall hearing a renowned French chef on the radio recently extolling the virtues of bouillon cubes. I don’t remember the details, but rest assured, using canned stock is not slumming.

It sounds delicious. What time shall I be there? (I’ll even bring dessert!)

Oh, thank you for so much encouragement! This gives me confidence. Should I let it simmer for a while or just get it hot?

I was going to chop up a little bit of leftover pot roast and add it, but my husband polished it off.

Parsley and bay leaf: check.

@jaytkay, I think you missed the part about the vegetables being left from last night. Too late to omit the butter. The spinach went in at the last minute and I just let it melt down and called it done, so it was practically raw. Oh, yeah, there’s tarragon on them too.

Sounds great and I would let it simmer.

What time should I be there? :)

You will want to simmer it until the barley is cooked, which could be about 20 minutes.

Sounds very good.

Cool! We are now approaching a recipe. Does it go like this?

1. Heat four 14.5-oz. cans of beef broth to boiling.
2. Add bay leaf and some chopped parsley.
3. Add barley (how much? a quarter cup?) and simmer 20 minutes or until tender.
4. Add previously cooked vegetables, return to a boil, and serve.

Or should those steps be in a different order?

You’re got it!

Barley is like rice. It expands a lot after cooking so plan of having double the dry amount you put in when it is done.

Sounds good to me! If it’s too salty, add some potato that will absorb excess salt.

The barley should reduce any saltiness.

@Jeruba: I would pre-cook ¼ c. barley in a separate little saucepan. It can expand to the point of turning your soup into wallpaper paste.

Then bring broth to simmer and heave everything in. Add cooked barley at the end, just before serving.

To balance the saltiness of the broth, add a peeled raw white potato. It will absorb some of the salt. Discard (don’t eat).

Soup is very forgiving.

I suppose the dinner is hostory now. How did it turn out?

For future reference, we make lots of soups sort of Mulligan Stew style like that, throwing in leftovers and some grain. We get the low sodium broth, because neither my ife nor I like heavily salted foods. But the low salt varieties are fine.

I just had to say that whenever I cook barley, it takes at least an hour. Maybe you have a different kind?!?

After-action report:

I did everything as described, except that I added a fifth can of broth, this one vegetable, to four cans of beef broth.

• This was a good way to use up those leftover braised vegetables.
• The broth was just fine as a base, and the vegetables, cooked as they had been and then chopped, made it taste really nice.
• I should have used more barley. A quarter cup of pearl barley simply disappeared unless you went looking for it.
• A half hour would probably have been better than 20 minutes for the barley. It was a bit too chewy still. Or perhaps 40 minutes? I was surprised because I often used to toss a small handful of pearl barley into the pot when I was boiling rice for 15 minutes, and it just added a bit of chewiness and texture. It wasn’t underdone. This was definitely underdone.
• I added about a quarter cup of frozen corn, and that was good. I could have added more vegetables: a cubed potato (parboiled), a few peas, maybe some celery.
• It really would have been best if I’d had a little bit of meat to add to it. Maybe I shouldn’t have shied away from that half chicken breast left from last night. If it had absorbed enough of the dark brown broth, couldn’t it have passed for beef?

Thank you all, each and every helper, for your advice and encouragement.

My favorite is to take frozen stir-fried vegetables (peppers, squash, onion, type) and soften them in a little olive oil. Add a bag of fresh spinach, and cook until wilted, add a little garlic. Then add two boxes of chicken broth, and a can or two of cannellini (Italian beans), rinsed. A little basil, and pepper, and it’s good to go.

Also, sautee diced carrots, diced celery and diced onion in a little olive oil. Cover and cook on low until soft, about 30 minutes. Add 2 boxes of chicken broth and a little thyme and parsley, and simmer cover ed for 20 minutes. Serve over cooked cheese ravioli. (Cook ravioli separately and rinse.) With a little pepper, quite delicious. If you have leftover chicken meat it can be added.

Thats not a bad idea at all. I make soup jelly all the same. It is actually very delicious. It also tastes good with a little pit of barley or chopped peppers.

@cRazelyCrazed What is soup jelly? Do you put gelatin in your soup? Please explain and provide a recipe if possible It sounds interesting. By the way, welcome to Fluther.

@ETpro Sorry for the very late response! Soup jelly is basically small and gelatin like and comes in a small package. If you drop it into a hot boiling pot of water you will have instant soup broth, and all you have to do is add vegetables and any other optional ingredients. By the way, thanks for the welcome!

I prefer stock to broth.

@cRazelyCrazed, I think ‘Jellies’ was used to refer to the members of Fluther :)

@Hain_roo That’s why I asked. [Shiver]. :-)

^^^ I figured (handing ETpro a blanket), but she may not have :)