It's soup season! Get cooking with these tips from Sohla El-Waylly

Soup can be a flexible, cozy meal that allows you to experiment in the kitchen. But to make a delicious one you need to get some fundamentals down first. Chef Sohla El-Waylly offers her best tips on everything from creating a yummy broth to ensuring you get your cook time right. This episode originally published Oct. 30, 2023. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here. Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekitLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:17Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:23Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody, it's Marielle. Do y'all remember the story Stone Soup? It's a European folk tale that starts with some hungry people and an empty pot. They put a stone at the bottom and decide to make a soup out of it. Then, little by little, other villagers walk by and add ingredients. You know, this one's got some carrots, another one has chicken, this one's got salt. Next thing you know, they've got a soup. Now, as far as folk tales go, this is actually a pretty realistic one.

• 0:50Speaker 02

  You don't have to really follow a strict formula when it comes to soup. That's why it's like one of those really fun things to start cooking with. And you, and it's all about like tasting all along the way and adjusting.

• 1:02Marielle Segarra?

  Sohla Elweli is a chef and the author of Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook. And she says you kind of can make a soup out of anything.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  You might be like, oh, is this, is this broccoli going to work with this wilted parsley? And then somehow you let it simmer for 20 minutes and it's like it was meant to be.

• 1:18Marielle Segarra?

  Sohla's a new mother, and she's been making a lot of soups lately. Because it's an easy thing to make, one-handed, with whatever you've got. Also, she says, soup is the perfect communal dish, especially on a chilly day.

• 1:29Speaker 02

  You know, like a big bubbling cauldron on fire and everyone's gathered around it. And soup kind of gives you that vibe. There's something about it that's just like cozy and comfy and it feels so primal, like just eating out of one pot. Especially because food gets so complicated these days. You know, soup isn't glamorous, it's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

• 1:51Marielle Segarra?

  On today's episode of Life Kit, how to make a great soup. We'll talk about broth, texture, key ingredients, how to blend a soup without scalding yourself, and we'll share a couple recipe ideas.

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• 3:18Marielle Segarra?

  What can make a good soup? What elements or qualities should it have?

• 3:24Speaker 02

  Well, I think that the most important part of a soup is the broth. That's like gonna provide the backbone of flavor. I mean, if you want to make a good soup, right? We're trying to make a good soup here. So you want to start with a really flavorful broth. I always keep chicken bone broth in my freezer so I can make soup at any time. But it doesn't have to be chicken. I think I like to think about broth in like three major categories. You've got your broth slash stocks, and you can make it with meaty bones, such as, you know, like a chicken broth made with wings, or chicken backs, or feet, or a beef broth made with knuckles and bones, or a fish broth made with the carcasses of lean white fish.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  Then you've got your veggie broth that you make with all of your simmered... Bits and ends and, you know, carrots, celery, that kind of thing. And then you have like your steeped broths, kind of like dashi made with kombu or bonito flakes or dried chitakis. And then, once you have one of those like very flavorful, intensely savory broths, you can really, you really can't go wrong from there.

• 4:36Marielle Segarra?

  On the broth front, should you have a broth ready to go in your fridge or freezer in liquid form? Or can you, can you make a broth on the spot just with water and some sort of like powder from the supermarket?

• 4:51Speaker 02

  You totally can make a broth on the spot. I love chicken bouillon. I think it's an amazing ingredient and it's like a lifesaver in a pinch. But when I'm organized, I do like to have some broth in the freezer all the time. Because it's just like, it can make any meal extra delicious and you, and you don't even have to try very hard.

• 5:12Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, so how do you actually start cooking the soup?

• 5:15Speaker 02

  You want to start by sweating some stuff. The, the, the term sweat just means you're going to cut up your veggies or your aromatics or whatever and let it kind of get tired in the hot fat. Everything's going to get a little translucent. You're going to, you're going to stir it around just in this pot with a little bit of fat and it's going to pull out all the, all the aromas. So in, in a recipe, that usually starts with like garlic and onion, where it tells you to cook until like wilted and translucent. That pulls out all those fat soluble flavors.

• 5:43Marielle Segarra?

  And the fat, when you say in the hot fat, like that, is that a olive oil or something else?

• 5:50Speaker 02

  It can be whatever fat you want it to be. It's another place to layer in some flavor. So use whatever you've got. If all you have is olive oil or like a neutral oil, go for it. But yeah, you have some bacon fat around or, I don't know, maybe you like rendered some chorizo and you have chorizo fat. You just need a little bit, like a couple tablespoons, enough to coat all those veggies to really get them melted down. But any fat will work.

• 6:15Marielle Segarra?

  And if you're cooking like, like my, my favorite soup has crumbled sausage in it, so I think they say put in the garlic and then put in, cut open the sausage and, and let it come out of the casing and like crumble it into the pan. And I guess that provides the fat.

• 6:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:31Marielle Segarra?

  That the veggies cook in.

• 6:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, you could, you can, you can like brown your meat and pull the fat out of it. And then if you don't want your meat to get like. Too overcooked, depending on the kind of meat. Like if you're using short rib or chicken thighs, they can really handle being simmered forever. So you can just put your chicken thighs in there, render it and then add everything and let it all cook together. But like with sausage, I would like get it nicely browned first and then pull it out and then cook everything in that sausage fat and then throw the sausage in at the end so it doesn't overcook. Every soup recipe is going to be a little different depending on the ingredients you're using. So it's really just thinking about like the core steps you need. And then you can like level it up. You know, if you're going to blend it, you can add a little cream, a little butter for some richness.

• 7:16Speaker 02

  Or if you want to layer in some like spice flavors, you can sizzle some spices in oil, drizzle that on top. You really can't like go wrong because there's always a way to fix it. If it's a little too salty, add some more broth. If it's a little too thick, add some water. There's like, you can constantly find your way back to delicious soup.

• 7:36Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah. When do you boil the soup? Should you boil the soup?

• 7:43Speaker 02

  So it depends on what part of the world you're in. So with a lot of Western cooking, French in particular, you never boil. It's like a gentle simmer. The goal is to go for like a clear broth, a clear soup, delicate flavors. But when we're talking Eastern, particularly like with like a ramen broth or you know, a lot of Chinese cuisine, even South Asian, you boil vigorously. And what that boiling does is emulsify everything together. So you end up with more of like a creamy, rich soup. So if you want something lighter and more clear, go for the really gentle simmer. But if you really want something rich, then go for a boil. There's no right or wrong answer. It's just like what vibe are you feeling?

• 8:25Marielle Segarra?

  So I imagine the answer to the next question might be similar, but how long should you be cooking your soups?

• 8:32Speaker 02

  It really just depends on what's in your soup. So if you're working with like quick cooking ingredients like spinach, shrimp, already cooked beans, then you know, it'll be fast. Keep it light, keep it fresh. A faster cooked soup is going to have like a lighter, fresher taste. But sometimes. Quick cooking ingredients like a lot of tender herbs like parsley and dill. You can simmer for a long time um to go for more of like an earthy flavor. You see that a lot with traditional Persian soups. There's this really delicious celery soup and it's like celery and celery leaves with a lot of dill that's simmered forever. And it takes it from this like really fresh, light, crisp thing into like this earthy vegetal vibe.

• 9:15Speaker 02

  So it's like, what kind of a soup are you are you feeling? What are you craving?

• 9:20Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah. Do you think there are categories of soup? Um, um, how would you define them?

• 9:26Speaker 02

  I just think about it as smooth and chunky, like peanut butter.

• 9:31Marielle Segarra?

  If you do want a creamy style soup, what can you use to get there? Both dairy and non-dairy ingredients?

• 9:41Speaker 02

  Depending on the vegetable, sometimes you don't need any dairy. Like you can make a really creamy tomato soup with just tomatoes that are like simmered in a broth or roasted even and then blended. If you really wanna like level it up and make it unctuous, then finish it with a little bit of cream or a little bit of coconut milk, um, a little bit of extra fat or yogurt, something like that. The key with the creamy soup is using a good blender. If when you go to like a restaurant and you have something like really smooth and velvety or like, oh, how do they do this? It's it's a good blender. So I know it can feel like a hassle to pour your soup into a blender, but a stick blender, like you know, the immersion one that you put right in the pot. I feel like it never quite gets you there.

• 10:26Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah. When your soup is larger than the size of the blender, how do you make sure that you blend it all? And then also, how do you make sure that it doesn't splash back in your face and and just uh? Scald you because that has happened.

• 10:44Speaker 02

  When you're blending hot liquids, there is a little danger involved. So you're gonna have to set yourself up. You're gonna have your pot of soup, your blender, and then another vessel where you're gonna land your final blended soup. And then ladle in some of your soup into the blender. You never want to go more than halfway. Especially when you're blending hot things, once it gets blended, it really wants to expand and it can explode. So it's important never to fill your blender up more than halfway. And you know how there's like a little top, like a little, little thing at the top of the blender that you can pull off?

• 11:18Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah.

• 11:19Speaker 02

  You want to remove that so the steam has somewhere to go. Otherwise, your lid can blow off and cover it with a towel instead. Make sure you start on low, go to high. So you're gonna have to work in batches. You're gonna have to get another pot dirty. It is like a really big commitment, but it will be so much better.

• 11:37Marielle Segarra?

  More Life Kit after the break.

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• 12:31Marielle Segarra?

  Are there any key ingredients that you think go well in basically any soup?

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Something that's starting with a base of alliums. Allium is like a broad family of vegetables that includes onions, leeks, shallots, garlic. And something about when you cook any allium in fat, it just adds this incredible savoriness and depth. And there's like a wide range of flavors you can pull out of it. So if you keep it kind of blonde, you get more of like the sharp oniony flavor. And then you can go as far as you want from there and take it like to deep caramel and get it very, very sweet. But it's this like really rich base to pretty much everything, but especially a soup. And it's particularly helpful to develop a base with alliums if you're not using like the best quality broth.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  Like, you know, if you're going with a bouillon, starting with some cooked down onions or shallots will really get you far.

• 13:28Marielle Segarra?

  Any other sort of like secret superhero ingredients for a soup? Like, our editor Megan was saying that putting a Parmesan rind in for certain soups can make it really rich.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, that is a really good move. And I was gonna say a pinch of MSG to add a little bit of savory depth. But the Parmesan rind, like, that's also what it's doing. Parmesan is a natural source of like a ton of MSG. So just like adding a little bit rounds it all out, gives you this like savory umami thing that makes you wanna keep eating more.

• 14:01Marielle Segarra?

  What do you think about toppings? I feel like we've been seeing a lot of that in recipes lately.

• 14:08Speaker 02

  I love toppings, especially, you know, if you're making a big batch of soup and having it over a couple of days, it can get a little boring, so you can jazz it up with a different topping. If you wanna go for something fresh, you can make like a little quick kind of salsa vibe with thinly shaved onion and a bunch of herbs and lemon and maybe like sumac. For maybe a little bit of richness, you could try browning some butter with some spices and drizzle that on top. A little bit of creaminess, you could do a dollop of sour cream or something like that. Or, you know, my favorite move, because leftover soup is something I eat when I'm really rushed for time and tired. Just go into the pantry and grab a handful of Fritos and throw them on top. Fritos on top of everything works.

• 14:53Marielle Segarra?

  Hmm. How much soup do you make at once?

• 14:57Speaker 02

  Soup is something that keeps really well, and it actually tastes better the next day. So I would like to make soup for like at least three days. So I would say for us, a quart is good for one night. So I would make like three or four quarts at a time, so we have some leftovers. Soup is great in the fridge for five days, or you can portion it, pop it in the freezer, and it's good for three months. And, you know, it reheats beautifully.

• 15:22Marielle Segarra?

  And once you take it out of the freezer, do you put it back in a saucepan or the microwave?

• 15:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, either one, whatever works best for you. You could do like the defrost mode, the microwave, or I usually just dip it in a little hot water so I can pop it out of the container, throw it into the pot with like a little splash of water just to like get a little steam going at the bottom. Go for like a low heat at first just to get everything melted and then once it's melted, bring it up to a boil. And then whenever you reheat soup, give it a taste and see if you need to re-season it with a bit of salt. And oftentimes, it can fall a little flat and you might need a little squeeze of lemon just to brighten everything up.

• 16:02Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, an adjacent question. How do you transport soups like to the office for lunch? Cause I have had soup spill in my tote bag and it's a disaster.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  I mean, I think the best thing is to get a big thermos. It'll stay hot and it's like gonna seal really tightly for you. I have this big thermos that like holds about a quart. I don't believe it was designed for soup, but I do use it for soup.

• 16:31Marielle Segarra?

  What's a good like fall spooky season soup?

• 16:34Speaker 02

  Well, I love honey nut squash. They are super concentrated and sweet in flavor. It's like, it's like they took a butternut and shrunk it down, but like it still has the same amount of flavor of the big guy. I love roasting that. All you gotta do is cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, slather it with some oil and salt and put it cut down on a sheet tray, pop it in the oven, let it roast at like 375 until it's totally tender and the skin kind of shrivels.

• 17:05Speaker 02

  And then, you know, you get your base going. You gotta get your flavor base going. So I like to do a little onion, apple, maybe some like Fresno chilies. Get that all wilted down in a little bit of olive oil. And then, once it's nice and fragrant, scoop out the flesh from the honey nut, throw that in there, top it off with a bunch of bone broth, let it simmer until everybody gets to know each other, then blend it, strain it, warm it back up. And then like for a little crunchy topping, I love just doing some pepitas.

• 17:35Marielle Segarra?

  Oh, hell yeah.

• 17:36Speaker 02

  Sizzle some pepitas in a little bit of like brown butter with a little maple and chili and pour that on top and it is a very tasty soup.

• 17:44Marielle Segarra?

  And if someone is, you know? Fairly competent at soup. They've been around the block once or twice. What would you challenge them to make? Whether it's like, try out this ingredient or try out this technique?

• 17:58Speaker 02

  A soup challenge?

• 17:59Marielle Segarra?

  Yes.

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Hmm. Why not try making a pho? The broth is really nuanced and it can be hard to get the balance of flavor right. Like, it needs just like a tiny bit of star anise.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  So I think focusing on getting that broth really nicely made. And then after that, it's really just about thinly shaving the beef and bringing it together. But the flavor is really complex, so I think a pho is a good way to go.

• 18:26Marielle Segarra?

  All right, Sohla, thank you so much. This was great, and I'm excited to make soups now.

• 18:31Speaker 02

  Awesome. Thank you for having me.

• 18:32Marielle Segarra?

  All right, it's recap time. Good soup starts with good broth. This is your flavor backbone. If you can, keep some kind of broth in your freezer. But also bouillon powder or cubes can work in a pinch. When you're making a soup, sweat some stuff in fat, like veggies or garlic. Now, the fat might be drippings from sausage or olive oil or whatever cooking fat you have on hand. If you're browning meat for the soup, you might scoop it out once it's brown and then put it back in towards the end so it doesn't get dry or overcooked. Some soups you're gonna boil, others you won't. It depends on the type. If you're blending a soup to make it smooth, a standing blender works better than a hand blender. And just remember to take out that little plastic piece on the lid

• 19:17Marielle Segarra?

  because if you don't, the steam builds up and the lid flies off and then there's hot soup everywhere. Soup is great for leftovers. Make it in a big pot and freeze them. And if you want to bring it to work or somewhere outside your house, try a thermos. Keeps it hot and keeps it from spilling. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We've got one about how to think through ingredient substitutions when you're cooking and another about meal prep. You can find those at npr.org/lifekit. And if you love Life Kit and want even more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/lifekitnewsletter. Also, we love hearing from you, so if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, email us at [email protected].

• 20:01Marielle Segarra?

  This episode of Life Kit was produced by the super Sylvie Douglas. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan and our digital editor is Malika Greed. Megan Cain is the supervising editor.

• 20:15Marielle Segarra?

  Matt Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Claire Marie Schneider, and Margaret Serino. Engineering support comes from Philip Edforce. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 20:45Speaker 00

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