Melissa Clark on Making the Best Soups at Home

The Ultimate Red Lentil Soup

• 💡 Melissa Clark's red lentil soup is the most popular recipe on New York Times Cooking due to its simplicity, flavor, and minimal chopping.
• 🎯 Inspired by a Turkish lentil soup, it offers a lighter, brothier texture with a bright, sourness from lemon, defying traditional expectations.
• ✅ This recipe is praised for being warming and easy to make, making it a go-to for home cooks.

Quick Weeknight Soup Solutions

• ⏱️ Miso soup is recommended for busy weeknights due to miso paste's inherent flavor, serving as an instant broth.
• 🍜 Versatile additions to miso soup include baby spinach, eggs, mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, or coleslaw mix for a satisfying meal.
• 🍲 Having miso paste readily available offers instant freedom for creating quick and varied soups throughout the week.

Innovative Soups from Other Dishes

• 🍝 Pesto pasta can be transformed into a soup by adding pesto to a broth, enhancing it with basil, garlic, and brightness, especially in winter.
• 🥣 Orzo is highlighted as an excellent soup pasta because its small size allows it to shed starch, thickening the broth, and it's easy to eat.
• 🥘 A creamy spinach artichoke chicken soup is mentioned as a successful transformation of a popular dip into a warming soup.

Broth, Stock, and Bone Broth Explained

• 🧪 The definitions of broth, stock, and bone broth can overlap, but generally, broth and stock are similar, made by simmering ingredients like vegetables and bones for flavor.
• 🦴 Bone broth is a specific type that requires simmering bones with an acidic ingredient (like vinegar) for a longer period to dissolve collagen and extract nutrients.
• 💎 This process results in a thicker, nutrient-rich liquid with higher protein content compared to regular broth or stock.

Creative "Clean Out the Fridge" Soups

• 🥕 A potato leek soup base is a favorite for a "clean out the fridge" soup, using leeks for sweetness.
• 🍲 Random root vegetables, like turnips, kohlrabi, parsnips, potatoes, and celery, can be added to this base.
• ✨ A spicy oil drizzle made with toasted cumin seeds, garlic, and chili flakes can add a contrasting kick to sweet, soothing soups before serving.

Defining Chili and Other Debates

• 🌶️ Chili is debated as a soup, with the speaker suggesting it's inherently a stew, though it can be considered a soup if enough broth is added.
• 🍲 Other debated food classifications include whether a hot dog is a sandwich or brownies are cookies.

Expert's Winter Soup Recommendations

• ❄️ For cold weather, kimchi jjigae (a Korean stew with kimchi) is recommended, with variations including pork ribs or tofu.
• 🥬 The dish offers a combination of soft cabbage, spicy kimchi flavor, and texture, often served over rice for a hearty meal.