When does soup stop being soup?
Asked by
rebbel (
35553
)
August 25th, 2021
Could we, in a way, call all fluid food soup?
Are frosties with milk soup?
Are croutons in boiling water soup?
Is chocolate milk soup?
Gazpacho?
Where is the line between soup and non-soup?
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95 Answers
I think the base liquid has to be stock or broth.
Absolute Viscosity has to figure in there somewhere. I’d draw the line in the 10 to 30 cP. range. Above that you are making stew, gravy, or chili.
List of fluids and their viscosity.
It stops being a soup, when it becomes solid enough that you can flip over the pot, and nothing falls out.
@YARNLADY I disagree with you about stock being a necessary ingredient. I made gazpacho the other day which is clearly a soup but it has no stock or broth in it. There are fruit soups that don’t either.
When it involves boiling.
Esle, it is Gazpacho
Soup becomes stew when you need a fork to eat it.
When there’s more chewing than slurping?
Following the previous two answers, soup is a food that you eat with a spoon that is not a dessert.
@janbb
So egg fried rice is a soup?
@ragingloli I don’t eat that with a spoon but I take your point.
@janbb Esle is Else’s twin sister
@LuckyGuy is correct, in my opinion.
Mmmmm, now I want soup dumplings.
Gazpacho is just a smoothie you serve in a bowl.
@janbb Chunky gazpachos are just poorly bended smoothies, served in bowls.
@janbb Just being a little silly this morning.
@janbb were you thinking of a full argument or were you thinking of taking a course?
From the NY Times Cooking:
“More of a drink than a soup, served in frosted glasses or chilled tumblers, gazpacho is perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and lunch all at the same time.”
When you finish the last spoonful
When cold, Tomato juice is just tomato juice.
But when hot, it suddenly turns into tomato soup.
Re: the great gazpacho debate
My gazpacho is never chunky. I puree the entire batch to a thick-ish liquid. And, I don’t use tomato juice, just fresh tomatoes and other vegetables.
Who knows. In some cases, “soup” is more a part of the name of a dish than it is something that can be quantified. I don’t like trying to get so granular on these definitions. Intuition and tradition behind the classification of dishes more than some technical, scientific definition. Like with the term “berry”. The original and common definition of “berry” is a small fruit. Then botanists decided to give it a technical definition that excludes most of what we call berries and includes things like bananas and watermelon. It’s like…okay, I guess you can now have people snobbily say “you actually think a raspberry is a berry, wow, what an idiot”. I find more usage in common definitions than I do in “technical” ones sometimes.
Sorry for being unhelpful, but this is what I think. :)
A real or imaginary liquid substance with higher viscosity than water that is consumed literally or metaphorically.
I would also consider stew a subset of soup. Is that incorrect?
I confused my grandkids when I served them grilled cheese and tomato soup. Only I put the soup in coffee cups. Convinced I was serving them a second drink they wouldn’t touch it!
Your grandkids have weird hang-ups, Dutch. :P
@raum Stew is not a subset of soup. As noted above, stew is eaten (not drank or slurped) with a fork.
Next he will tell us that broth is eaten with chopsticks.
@ragingloli No – you eat the soup dumplings with chop sticks and then pick up the bowl and…..slurp!
@zenvelo I eat stew with a spoon.
Apparently I am a utensil heathen.
Interestingly, my Filipino other in-laws use a spoon as a knife. I assume that’s cultural.
@janbb haha, yes you must have a bowl as the soup dumplings are often hotter than the surface of the sun!
Mmmmmm. I have chowder in my pantry.
@janbb Yeah, makes sense that there would be a cultural factor. Though that’s a pretty blunt knife.
@kneesox Anything with a liquid, I’m probably going to bust out a spoon.
Can we all come together under the spork banner?
Sporks are for backpacking, camping and lunch boxes, not for soup.
@raum It IS fun to say, if not to use….haha!
isn’t that a song by Joni Mitchell – Court and Spork?
@janbb
(J. Roberts)
What’s better than pork? (Shout) Spork! Spork!
What’s better than Zork? (Shout) Spork! Spork!
What’s better than spam and better than jam?
Spork, Spork, Spork!!!!
Spork is a spoon, with part of a fork.
But it’s neither a spoon, not even a fork.
It’s a spork! It’s a spork! It’s a spork!
What’s the utensil with which you can’t eat?
What’s not very good for cutting red meat?
What’s got personality that can’t be beat?
Spork, Spork, Spork!!!!
It replaces your spoon and your fork.
But it’s useless as a spoon, and as a fork.
It’s a spork! It’s a spork! It’s a spork!
What’s better than Tork? (Shout) Spork! Spork!
What’s better than Mork? (Shout) Spork! Spork!
What’s better than ham and better than glam?
Spork, Spork, Spork!!!!
Looks like a spoon, with prongs of a fork.
Eating with it makes you look like a dork.
It’s a spork! It’s a spork! It’s a spork!
https://youtu.be/WeC2e6_g94o
@KNOWITALL Haha! Not the one I was thinking of but pretty darned clever!
Yeah, but chowder isn’t soup, right?
Give that spork some torque and it oughta work.
Chowder is definitely soup in my humble opinion. Chili is more iffy.
Never. Soup is eternal.
Cereal is soup, so is everything else you mentioned. I think the only constants are liquid and chutzpah.
This may be the question that breaks the internet!
And don’t forget Stone Soup.
When my daughter was in 1st grade the teacher promised to have the class make stone soup if they were good.
My daughter was so excited about that!
Then the teacher canceled it because kids were being “bad.” (My daughter was never one of the “bad” ones.)
My daughter was just devastated. I promised her we’d make stone soup at home the next day, which was a Saturday.
She came banging in the room early the next morning saying “For the stone soup I found some lettuce and some cheese and some.pickles and some refried beans! Let’s go!”
I groggily got up to go see. Well she had a big slab of dirty rock from the back patio in the crackpot for starters…
So we went shopping.
Then I found a clean rock from my rock collection and I washed it well. And we made stone soup.
It had chunks of stew meat, potatoes, carrots but NO onions. This was her stone soup and she didn’t like onions.
So we used forks and spoons to eat it.
@Dutchess_III Group punishment teaches kids way too soon to expect injustice. Following the rules does them no good if someone else decides to break them and all of them are held responsible. You can sit quietly and eat your lunch in an orderly way and still get sent out to pick up trash on the playground instead of recess if there’s a midsbehaving jerk at your table and they don’t care about peer pressure.
I like your stone soup story. The old folktale is exactly about a community coming together in just the way that group punishment defeats.
Good question. I think at a certain thickness it stops being soup and starts being stew, chili, etc. I like very brothy soup, not a lot of stuff in it.
I consider Ramen to be soup, but sometimes it more noodles, protein and veggies than broth. Is it still soup then?
My husband’s mom makes the best Frijoles Charros, and I call it soup. Hers is thinner than what I have had in restaurants. The restaurant version that I have had I don’t like at all. When I call it soup my husband always corrects me. I think every American would call what she serves soup, but I guess maybe Mexicans would not. I don’t see how it’s much different than black bean soup, it’s similar consistency.
When the soup becomes, in effect, sludge.
@JLeslie Fijoles Charros is a soup:.
“Frijoles Charros (Mexican Charro Beans) is a traditional, hearty, and delicious pinto bean soup”.
Ramen is a soup. Neither of them is a stew.
My mom used to make Clam Chowder (a soup) but also Oyster Stew.
@zenvelo My Mexican husband always corrects me, but I don’t doubt some Mexicans might call it soup like me. I googled and some recipes refer to it as a side dish. Here is the menu of a place that had the beans on the side. It was in a small bowl and not soupy at all. https://superica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/LD210705.pdf See down near the bottom of the second page it’s a side for carnitas de puerco.
@JLeslie It is sopa:
“Básicamente los Frijoles Charros son una sopa donde los frijoles pintos se sumergen en un caldo lleno de sabor proporcionado por diferentes tipos de carnes mezcladas como lo son las salchichas, el chorizo, el jamón y el tocino”
Is curry a soup, a stew or a sauce?
@zenvelo Why do campers get all the fun?
Spork!
Spork!
Spork!
@KNOWITALL Next time I use a spork, I’m going to hum that song and blow a raspberry in @zenvelo ‘s general direction.
@raum Curry is a method. It is definitely not a soup, and it is not a stew, since most curries are not cooked slowly in liquid. (I can make my chicken curry start to finish in a half hour)
@zenvelo Mmmmm, one of my favorites.
So let’s get down to brass tacks, which curry brand do you use?
I use my Japanese ‘Golden Curry’ brand usually, but I have an off brand for back-up curry emergencies….haha!
@raum haha, it doesn’t flow really well but it is funny!
@KNOWITALL I use a coconut curry sauce available at Whole Foods for my chicken curry. I add Morton and Basset brand Madraas Curry Powder to augment it with some depth.
I also love curry powder sprinkled on deviled eggs. And an excellent lunch is chicken salad with curry spread on toasted cinnamon raisin bread.
Does Currywurst count as soup?
@ragingloli Only if you eat it with a spoon out of your Pilsner.
@zenvelo Being a method doesn’t make it mutually exclusive. Stew is also a method.
I’d say that curry could be a soup, a stew, a sauce, a seasoning and a method.
@raum And let’s not forget it can also be a verb! Oh – the versatility of curry!
@raum Oh yes!
Now I want some curry for lunch!
Or do I want to put some curry in my lunch?
Or do I want to curry my lunch?
@raum If you curry favor with me or curry my horse, I will make you some for lunch!
@janbb I shall curry favor by stewing a stew of [looks up what penguins like] krill. :D
I don’t even know what curry is…
You never had Indian food?
@Dutchess_III Most people around the Midwest that enjoy curry, that I know, usually go for Asian Massaman curry. It’s made with coconut milk and a bit of brown sugar.
@zenvelo As a matter of fact, I think I’ll make some this weekend with jasmine rice while my husband is at deer camp sighting. And I will contemplate the curry devilled eggs and chicken salad, thanks!
@KNOWITALL When I make coconut chicken curry, I also add some diced sweet potato as I let it simmer. And I add chopped baby bok choy for a couple minutes right before serving.
I too serve it over jasmine rice.
@zenvelo Sounds delicious! I’ll try that, but usually the dogs get the sweet potatoes in this house, as their treats (once cooled overnight and sliced.) I make a mean sweet potato pie though!
I use green beans, maybe some red potato, carrot slices, cabbage and honestly I usually make it all veggies unless it’s for my mom, she enjoys the chicken. I took her a big pot of rice and curry chicken for her birthday earlier this month actually.
No. I’ve never had Indian food Raggy.
@KNOWITALL You’re making me hungry! I really hope you brought enough for everyone?!?!
@gorillapaws I think we should all party at zen’s house and we can all bring our own curry dishes!
Honestly I had a half a fried egg sandwich all day and I’m starving too.
Do you or your partner cook? What’s your favorite dishes?
Mmmm. Scrambled egg sammich sounds good!
@Dutchess_III Ugh, don’t get me started. My friends make fun of me because I love eggs, they’re the perfect food! haha!
My dogs got the other half.
@KNOWITALL We both do. My wife has developed some pretty solid baking skills. I’ve probably got the edge on her with cooking though. One of my favorites is a slow braised pork shoulder stew with tomatoes, chickpeas, red onions, green olives, paprika, and lemon juice/zest + Italian parsley to finish.
Sounds delicious. I have four cans of chickpeas and no idea what to do with them besides make hummus. I can’t believe you have a recipe for green olives, sounds amazing, I love them!
Did you ever tell us what state you lived in or am I just blanking out?
Nice to talk to you about something other than politics! :D
@KNOWITALL I’m in Virginia. What I make is a riff on this. Pork shoulder is actually really affordable too, so it’s a lot of food for a good price—and it’s delicious.
“Nice to talk to you about something other than politics! :D”
;)
Mmm sounds great!
I know ya’ll have heard about Kansas City bbq? Come on now, don’t break my heart haha!
Even the wood is highly-prized, since it affects the taste.
@KNOWITALL I might have to break your heart… For me it’s Carolina-style 100%. Something along these lines. Sweet, spicy and tangy all at once. Don’t get me wrong though, I will never turn down BBQ in any style.
@gorillapaws. You didn’t break my heart, you made me laugh. TN and Kentucky are my family origins, and the vinegar is my FAVORITE sauce!!
Haha!
Curry tomorrow everybody, about 1pm. And I will use sweet potatoes this time @zenvelo. Already hit the store. :)
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That’s the perfect answer to stop this thread.
Thank you all!
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