How do you make a really good Vegetable Beef Soup?

Is it the beef?  Or the spices ?  What makes a really good Vegetable Soup?

Can I suggest vegetables and beef would be a good start!

I'll bet it's the spices in the broth, and how they are simmered together (and for how long). I always used to love the canned beef soup with barley, not sure how that impacts the flavor, but it was good to me!

Years ago, I had a friend that had a cookbook that suggested adding a cup of coffee.

I have never tried that though it is supposed to be good.  At least it would give the soup a nice brown broth.

Browning the meat first (like, really getting a good crust on it) makes all the difference.  Even getting the vegetables a little brown (especially onions) will do a lot for broth.  Also, a good dark roux can help, too.

Some of my secret ingredients are cloves and grape juice/ grape molasses/ balsamic vinegar.  And miso.  I usually use home-canned beef broth, vegetable stock, or even chicken bone broth in a pinch; otherwise, I go heavier on the onions and add more miso and mushroom (usually shiitake powder)

Long cook times (1h+ stovetop or 6h+ crock pot) make the beef better, even if it's been pressure cooked beforehand.  I prefer leaner cuts of meat; something with more intramuscular fat probably doesn't benefit as much and might even reach a point where it toughens up again--I don't know because I only buy round roasts/ London Broil for soup, and only when it's a big holiday sale ($1.99-$2.99/ lb).

I like my beef soups hearty rather than light, so I go for harder, denser vegetables that keep their shape, like potatoes, carrots, green peas, lima beans, green beans, and mushrooms.  I avoid greens and stuff like squash because they just dissolve (sometimes I purposely use beans that dissolve to thicken it up).  Dehydrated squash in cubes or slices holds up, but it doesn't add much flavor or a enjoyable texture; fermented, dried, and rehydrated mustard greens are okay, but they take the soup in a clearly defined direction and it makes it harder to keep adding and adjusting as you go.

I just asked my mom, who always made quicker and lighter beef soups; she used ground beef more than any kind of stew meat or recycled roast beef.  No broth, but 2-3 bouillon cubes and a can of hand-squished whole tomatoes.  Frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans), plus potato cut in tiny cubes.  Salt, black pepper, and maybe some dried parsley.  I haven't had her soup in like 20 years (after moving back home I took over the bulk of the cooking), but I remember loving it as a kid (especially the corn, that really made it).

Anne Miller wrote:Is it the beef?  Or the spices ?  What makes a really good Vegetable Soup?

Many different aspects, really.
When I make beef-vegetable soup for dinner, I start it early in the morning. My go-to cut is a chuck roast, which I cut into bite-sized pieces.
These get placed in a large crock pot, layered with thinly sliced onions and a bit of minced celery. Each layer is lightly sprinkled with salt.

Once I've layered all the meat and these veg, I mix homemade bone broth with tomato juice in a 50/50 blend, which I put into a blender with some fresh parsley, thyme, summer savory, and a splash of apple cider vinegar.
This gets poured into the crock pot, and I use a wooden spoon handle to move everything around so the liquid saturates down into the meat and vegetables.
I turn the heat on high, and once it starts to boil merrily, I turn the heat down to medium and let it cook for 7-8 hours, stirring occasionally.

While this is simmering, I roast a tray of peeled and chopped carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, and onions. These are drizzled with olive oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and Herbes de Provence, then roasted at 375F for about an hour until they're fork-tender. Then I remove them from the oven and transfer them into the crock pot along with a few cloves of minced garlic.

I add more beef bone broth until everything is covered well, i.e. more like a soup than a stew, and then I make a roux and add that in to thicken up the broth a bit. I then adjust the seasonings to taste, which normally involves adding some hot chili paste like gochujang for a bit of heat, and usually some extra salt, garlic powder, etc. Once the flavours taste right, I heat it back up to near boiling again, add a handful of finely chopped spinach, and serve hot, with some crusty bread on the side.

Anne Miller wrote:Is it the beef?  Or the spices ?  What makes a really good Vegetable Soup?

I start with beef stew meat: It is cheap but since you are cooking it long and slow, it will all fall apart very nicely and be very tender. Potatoes, carrots, onions, celery [but not too much celery]. and Parsnip: this is the vegetable that sweetens the meal.
Salt and black pepper to taste. Beef bouillon if you must, but if you do your beef slow and low, that's not needed.
If I suspect that the meat is going to be really tough, I add a couple of glasses of cooking wine. burgundy if I have it, otherwise, do you know that you can make fantastic cooking wine with beet juice?
I no longer buy cooking wine, but whenever I can beets, I reserve the juice, and have it 'work' for me with a slice of bread that I covered with yeast, upside down. Let it work for a while, decant, filter and cork. The color looks like a red stained glass window and you will be amazed at the taste: None of that earthy taste. Yummy! and you have saved yourself a lot of money.

I like to add a good two cups of cut collard greens (about 1” square) and fresh mushrooms ❤️

We use leftover smoked beef roast, which is good no matter what else you add.

I start by searing off the beef - or using leftover beef, which would already be seared, or smoked (my preference). Either way, the meat is heated &/or seared, & removed from the pot, then the onions go in, to lightly caramelize. Next up is an appropriate quantity of rich beef bone broth. Then carrots, potatoes, garlic, and the meat goes back in when the veggies are almost ready. Salt & pepper, to taste, and sometimes, a little steak sauce - just a couple tablespoons. It boosts the 'umami' flavors.

A great start that I use is to liquify two to three large, yellow onions in the pressure cooker, add some water and salt/pepper, then cook a chopped up chuck roast in that liquid onion. After that base of meat and broth, all the veggies go in to cook (without the pressure)

I would start with the best meat you can get.  Get a cut with a bone in it or a joint.  Give that a few days in the crock pot or a few hours in the pressure cooker.
That will be a base for the broth.   The bone marrow and joint gelatin will give body to the soup.  
Then I would take fresh meat and cube it into bite size pieces.   Give these a few hours in a marinade, then gently brown in a skillet with butter, onion and garlic.
Put the meat in the soup and cook up lots more onions and garlic in the skillet with more butter.  Chop veggies that hold their shape.  Carrots, celeriac, parsnips and sun-chokes are great.

Cook it all together and eat some.  Refrigerate the leftovers.  It will get better after it sits in the fridge.  

I like to use my uncle’s recipe, or I guess guide. I use a slow cooker when possible and I fill it with carrot ends, celery ends and the core, onion  skins and the parts I cut off as well as all the bones. If I make beef ribs, I strip the meat and put everything else back in. I then cook it for a week and keep adding water back in. Towards the end I let the water level get lower. I then filter this and then I’ll add beef shank cut up as well as bone marrow bones. I cook this for two hours with added Celtic sea salt. I take out the marrow to eat on toast and then add the vegetables for another hour of boiling and it is done.

Very strong beef flavor and really thick with gelatin.

If I’m traveling and don’t have a slow cooker. I boil the pot a few times a day and then turn off and keep it covered. I shoot for a week, but sometimes only cook it for three days.

Jason

I use my duck stock , my home canned tomatoes, homegrown Bay leaves, celery carrots , cabbage, potatoes ,hot peppers, herb mix of thyme, rosemary, oregano salt pepper, a flavorful beef like ribeye or chick ..simmer long and slow .

How about the old 1960s housewife quick and delicious beef stew/soup trick?

1 - 2 packets of Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix does wonders for the flavor of a beef soup/stew.

That mix is fairly "clean" of food additives but if your particular about that you could probably simulate the spice mix by looking up the dressing mix on Amazon and finding a seller who has posted the ingredients.