Vinegar in soup: the secret ingredient of soup
Step aside, chicken pasta and tomato soup! We try modern soups with one common ingredient: vinegar. Tasty and unique, With these recipes, you’ll be able to add vinegar to your soup for years to come.
Below is an excerpt Wild vinegar By Pascal Baudar. It has been adapted for apply on the Internet.
Adding vinegar to soup
For some this may sound a bit strange and unusual, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipesand there is a good reason for this.
If you think about it, vinegar is actually a flavor enhancer (umami). That’s why it is so often used in cooking, sauces and salad dressings. It’s similar with soups.
Good examples are the classic Chinese sweet, heated and sour soups and sauces, but you’ll find vinegar used in recipes from many other countries and cultures as well.
So a substantial YES to vinegars in soups! Honestly, this was a modern idea to me before working on this book, but now I often add vinegar to wild food soups.
In this book, I want to share a very, very uncomplicated vinegar soup recipe that anyone can make. It allows me to make a comforting soup in minutes using plants from every hike. The secret code for this broth is 1.1.1.
1.1.1. Soups
Straightforward soup broth consists of:
- 1 cup (240 ml) broth or water (boiling)
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vinegar (piquant is best!)
That’s all. Of course, it’s much better with a good soup (plant-based or not), but even water works.
If you only have water, you can add a teaspoon of blended herbs and fresh onion/garlic to the bowl, but water alone will still be fine.
Vinegar in soup: artistic possibilities
You have plenty of artistic options. The vinegar can be homemade and piquant (e.g. Tabasco), but what you pour into the bowl will also be endlessly artistic.
Take a hike, choose your favorite wild foods and apply them together with your usual savory ingredients such as garlic, onion, chili peppers and so on.
For the soup noticeable in the photo, I used fermented burdock roots, pickled radish pods, nettle pasta, chopped black mustard leaves, sliced red onion, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) of Italian herbs.
I like to cut wild greens into petite strips (chiffonade) to make even the tough leaves edible.
Perfect recipes for collectors
Seriously, try it. . . . I think you’ll like it. It’s perfect for foragers who can harvest a variety of piquant plants to make something quick and delicious, but of course it also works with store-bought ingredients.
If you’re a fermenter, you can add some of your favorite savory ferments, like I did with fermented burdock roots.
Oh… and seaweed! Seaweed with sliced red onion and tofu. . . so good!
If it’s too salty for you, reduce the amount of soy sauce. And try a good piquant vinegar or vinegar-based heated sauce like Tabasco. Such a nice balance. If using Tabasco, make it half regular apple cider vinegar and half Tabasco, otherwise it may be too piquant.
The following 2 recipes are examples showing versatility.
RECIPE: Mixed seasonal soup with wild vegetables and mushrooms
Thanks to this type of soup (1.1.1.), you can easily take advantage of the season in your surroundings. In Southern California, I always found wild vegetables that I could apply any time of year, such as watercress, chickpeas, wild mustard leaves, miner’s lettuce, and so on.
Even in winter, I managed to apply juvenile mustard or wild radish sprouts.
I apply commercial Baby Bella mushrooms in this recipe. If you apply foraged mushrooms, be sure to cook them first. Some wild mushrooms, such as morels, can be toxic if eaten raw or not fully cooked.
Ingredients for 1 gigantic bowl (240 ml)
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) broth or water
- 1/4 onion, slice
- 2 tablespoons (7 g) chopped wild greens 11⁄2 tablespoons (23 ml) soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (23 ml) of your choice of homemade vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 petite Bella mushroom, sliced
- 1 dried chili pepper
- 1/2 clove of garlic, chopped
Procedure
- Place the pot with the broth over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, put all the remaining ingredients into a bowl. If you apply wild mushrooms, remember to cook them first.
- Pour boiling broth over the ingredients and wait 5-6 minutes before serving. If you want the soup to be very toasty, you can place a plate on top of the bowl.
This type of soup is prepared quickly and easilywhich was perfect for my classes. We managed to go on a wild food walk, collect wild greens and cook soup on the spot.
RECIPE: Wild radish root soup
This is another example of the versatility of 1.1.1 soup. You are not constrained to using ordinary wild vegetables and mushrooms.
You can add all kinds of savory or nutritious ingredients, such as roots, seeds and grains, edible flowers, and even insects.
I used to have a petite mealworm “farm” in my apartment and sometimes I added dried mealworms to soups as a source of protein and a nutty flavor.
The Brassica family has many edible roots. I personally used it wild radish, black mustard and Mediterranean mustard roots make such a soup.
Remember that timing is vital because many wild brassica roots become tough and fibrous over time. You can create other soups from this basic recipe by adding ingredients from your own terroir.
Ingredients for 1 gigantic bowl (240 ml)
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) broth or water 1/4 onion, sliced
- 2 to 3 wild radish pods
- 3 to 4 petite and tender wild radish or mustard roots
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons (23 ml) soy sauce
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons (23 ml) of your choice of homemade vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 jalapeno, sliced
- 1/2 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) of wild oat grains (I cooked them well in advance and froze them)
- 1 teaspoon (1.9 g) sliced black mustard stalks
Procedure
- Place the pot with the broth over high heat and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, put all the remaining ingredients into a bowl.
- Pour boiling water over the ingredients and wait 5-6 minutes before serving. If you want the soup to be very toasty, you can place a plate on top of the bowl.