Soup Making Rules Revisited Update

Here are my soup and stock making rules. Other cooks may have their own biases, these are mine.

1. Use bones --- I make the stock using bones with meat, fat, and skin. I use beef shortribs or a smoked ham hock or a whole chicken. I don't skim the fat off, because it is delicious and healthy. I don't use canned or store bought broths or stocks, even those from specialty shops making their own (many reasons including BPA and other contaminants in the food or the cans, too much processing, too much salt, too much celery in the base, odd tasting herbs and spices, old ingredients, several days old, lack of flavour). For fish or seafood soups, I make the stock from prawn shells or fish bones.  You can freeze stock for the next soup.

2. Don't make a mish mash --- I use only the items specified for the particular kind of soup. I don't empty the frig into the pot. I use only the 4 to 6 specific ingredients called for traditionally. I don't make soup out of leftovers. I don't make turkey soup after the holidays.

3. Use fresh vegetables --- I use fresh vegetables (never canned, rarely frozen). Part of the reason for making soups is to take advantage of seasonal produce and use a lot of fresh herbs. I don't peel potatoes or carrots or tomatoes as a lot of the best nutrients are in the skin or right next to it. I use fresh or frozen tomatoes. As Loris notes, it is a good idea to freeze tomatoes in the summer time.

4.Use fresh herbs --- I use fresh herbs and sometimes frozen. I freeze some fresh herbs from the garden for use in soups all winter (dill, summer savoury). I don't use dried herbs other than bay leaf. I also use peppercorns and allspice.

5. Don't use barley or rice or pasta --- I use dried beans or split peas (never canned) or potatoes but never rice or barley. Rice, pasta, and barley taste like bland fillers or Campbell Soup to me.

6. Don't use the same herbs --- I don't use a mire pois (finely diced and sauted carrot, onion, and celery) as the base for every soup as the French do. I also don't make the same bouquet garni (fresh herbs) for every soup. I use specific herbs for each soup, otherwise they all taste the same. I don't use garlic unless a soup traditionally calls for it as a defining ingredient. That being said, I do sometimes use a mire pois or a standard bouquet garni.

7. Don't cream or puree --- Generally, I don't thicken, cream or puree soups. I like the chunky rustic soups and I prefer to add milk or cream on the side. I just use the delicious stock as the soup base. After a year of eating pureed and strained foods when my dad was sick, I have completely changed my mind on this. Changing my tune - Now I agree that some soups are great pureed with a hand mixer, and indeed, that texture changes the taste, almost making the soup a different soup.

8. Added --- Use a light hand with tomatoes --- I use tomatoes more as a flavouring than an ingredient. Overwhelming a soup with tomatoes is easily done, but to get a lovely tomatoey flavour, just use a few tomatoes.