Free and frugal soup

I'm pretty sure that's the stuff.    I can't remember now what we must have always had it with, maybe baked beans....

Your description of the cranberry sauce is hilarious.

Yup, that's the stuff, the very brand, we always had the kind with raisins.  It's actually quite good with soup, or at least I remember it so.  

My dad lived through the dust bowl and the great depression. Most men didn't have jobs so they were bums.
They traveled around the country as bums and got whatever work they could. He said a dollar a day and a bowl of soup
was the wage and that was sun up to sun down. The bums would live in camps and each would ask people who had gardens
and/or jobs for hand outs. All the bums would bring whatever they could get and throw it in pot of water on wood fire.
They called this Mulligan Stew. If you've ever been hungry and poor, Mulligan Stew tastes pretty good.

If you've ever went for a while without eating, a pot of plain beans tastes better than steak.

ronie dee wrote:My dad lived through the dust bowl and the great depression. Most men didn't have jobs so they were bums.
They traveled around the country as bums and got whatever work they could. He said a dollar a day and a bowl of soup
was the wage and that was sun up to sun down. The bums would live in camps and each would ask people who had gardens
and/or jobs for hand outs. All the bums would bring whatever they could get and throw it in pot of water on wood fire.
They called this Mulligan Stew. If you've ever been hungry and poor, Mulligan Stew tastes pretty good.

If you've ever went for a while without eating, a pot of plain beans tastes better than steak.

I now live in the dust bowl, people are still resourceful here.

If you don't eat meat protein for awhile and do so, especially when you're short of calories for a month or two or more, you will get sick if you eat meat. I have done that in the past when totally broke and pretty much starving; and got reminded of it recently. I behave...

Soup is the best thing in the world though for warming you up, and recycling any stray calories you can glean from scraps, leftovers, and gleanings.

This thread has given me an idea how to get rid of the last of my tomatoes!  I am so tired of tomatoes and just hadn't been able to think of how to get rid of them.

I think tomorrow I will either roast them or put them in the pressure cooker and maybe make a bisque type soup or throw in potatoes and carrots  what ever I feel like tomorrow!

Great topic!

What a great idea!

We are gonna have loads of leftovers after the feast.  Any inspiration on holiday leftover soup that would be extra tasty on dark winter nights?

Ray Bunbury wrote:What a great idea!

We are gonna have loads of leftovers after the feast.  Any inspiration on holiday leftover soup that would be extra tasty on dark winter nights?

I tend to start on it before the feast, as when I roast a turkey we don't eat certain parts. I will get like a 25# (11kg) bird so as to have lots of leftovers, and start my big stockpot right away. I trim off the wings and tail, and the giblets, neck, etc go in with herbs and maybe a few veggies to start the broth for the dressing making. Always make the dressing outside the turkey as that gives me more control on how done the dressing is and keeping the bird breast moist. It will simmer for about three hours until I am ready to make dressing and put it in the weird old casserole I have that fits in the oven with the big roaster. Then I can add more stuff from freezer (scraps and veggie bits saved for a big batch of soup) and continue to cook it while we feast. Then bones, gnaws, ribs and backbone area get harvested, I cut the rest of the meat off the breast, and it all gets put in the pot too. It makes the house smell wonderful, aids in humidity and warmth, and when finally done, absolutely wonderful soup, with various bone bits and such able to cook down and join in.

When starting the broth I use sage, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. Use a little cheesecloth bag so you can fish them out again easily. This also works with ham, or toss the ham bone in after even if it is turkey mostly.... add your veggies later in the cooking cycle so they don't turn to mush, and yes you can use peelings. Barley is a good long slow cooking filler, too. Only thing, if you add tomato anything wait until everything else is as done as you want it then finish out the cooking. Tomato tends to stop legume tenderizing and you will hate the hard little lumps they will remain otherwise.

Serves lots. You can freeze it after, too for a warmup and dress it further later.

The store had chicken legs for 59 cents a pound so I bought a package.  I roasted them in the oven and had a few meals.  Today I cut the meat off the ones that were left.  Threw all the bone is a stockpot and cooked all day.  Now I am making rice in the broth and will fix chicken and rice for supper.  The rest of the broth will be for gumbo.

Mmmm, holiday leftover soup.

My first, holiday leftover soup was chickpeas, potatoes, yams, rice, and onions of course.  But that was a bit bland, so we tossed in some bacon, tomatoes and a bunch of leftovers including chutney.  It ended up that the potatoes, yams and rice, overcooked and disintegrated, making the soup into a very thick pottage.  DELICIOUS.

The chicken bones got tossed in the slow cooker with the drippings.  Started on high for two hours, then left overnight on low.  I love how frugal the slow cooker is.  It's on par with the pressure cooker for saving money on electricity.  That's strained and in the fridge now.  The thing is, there is SO MUCH POTTAGE, we won't get to the chicken soup soon enough.  There isn't really enough broth to get the pressure canner out... maybe the freezer?  The pottage is perfect as it is, so it doesn't need chicken broth added to it.  Maybe I will get the pressure canner out after all.  

In our house leftover soup is called garbage soup because we make it out of what people would normally throw into the garbage. And yes that does include gnawed bones! I keep an old pickle jar in the freezer and add stems from herbs, the end of celery, carrot bits and peels, onion ends etc. Brown all very well including the bones, then cover with cold water, a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, salt,pepper and bay leaves. Cook until everything looks mushy, then strain. Best broth ever. To make soup, I start over with a clean pan and saute onions and whatever else I have carrots celery. Then I add meat, veggies from the fridge and or freezer , cover with a delicious broth and Heat. Add leftover rice leftover noodles or cook fresh. I keep the starch out so if I have a lot of soup, I will pressure can leftovers 4 easy meals.

I had never thought of using the slow cooker for making soup stock! I haven't had it very long, and don't use it very much. But I will now. I have a propane stove, and if I leave it on all day, well, it uses a lot of propane. I like the steam it makes in the house - especially now when the wood stove makes it so dry in here - but TM doesn't think it's good because it steams up the windows - (not sure why that's not good, but what do I know.)

Great idea!

Oh! And I call it Fridge Soup. Every leftover in the fridge goes into the soup!

The slow cooker is a lifesaver after a feast.  I set it up as I'm clearing up after dinner, that way I don't have to freeze or fridge the bones.  Right in the pot.  

You can often find people giving away roosters.  Put them in a pressure cooker once you have cleaned them and they make THE most wonderful and frugal soup.

I would NOT brown!

Casie Becker wrote: Just put a little cooking oil in the bottom of the pan and stir the vegetables around until they start to change color. It's called caramelizing when you do it to onions, but most vegetables can get just a little searing on the edges. If I were to guess, the higher heat lets some chemical reactions happen that can't happen in water and it adds to the complexity of the flavors and helps get a visually appealing darker color to the broth.

Lisa Petrillo wrote: Brown all very well including the bones,

The change of chemistry is not healthy, as there is a reaction between the sugars and the proteins, I think called glycation. Whatever the name, not good but for the taste. I never even change the color of an egg by frying it, for the same reason.

Color is about chemistry.

You can do it with some oil before, but I would not reach any caramel smell nor change of colour.

Well, if browning my food leads to a shorter life, I'm just going to have a shorter, sweeter life.

I can not imagine avoiding browning foods.  It's the basis of so many recipes!  I don't want steamed cauliflower, I want roasted cauliflower.  It's so good!

Now, I've heard that compounds formed in (blackened) meats on the grill are toxic, but I've never heard that the browning process produces toxins.  I'm not saying it doesn't, it could, but I don't think the risk is worth limiting myself to bland foods.  I think it's more important to avoid plastics and sugar and poisons.  Everybody has their own level of acceptable risk.

Julia, the point for me is only about advising people for browning, without saying the truth about nutrition. and it is not toxin as usually thought, but a real chemical change. They dared to warn about the worse, when black, but the damage starts much before black, and is for all food, not only meat!!! Potatoes are also supposed to have very high protein quality, and are sensitive to browning too. Egg is another big one.

For me it does not mean bland food at all.
1) You can stir fry with more oil and get less brown color, and it is good to taste. The richness of the food also comes from its qualilty and flavour, and browning uniformies the taste quite more than wok style frying!
2) The art of spice uses...

And steamed coliflour does not taste good to me either, I like it only raw and finely cut, to appreciate the crunch and the sulfur spicy taste! It is only a flower bud!

Last, a soup is made to cook what could not be eaten otherwise, and is not meant more for extracting and drinking than eating the whole fiber and empty stuff.
A soup is about food saving, and in my own opinion browning is food wasting. Free to do it, but I like people to know what they do... On one side you extract more nutrients like minerals, and on the other side you lower the quality of the food.

I do cook onions in coconut oil or ghee, but I stay there stirring and get to the point they are transparent, not start to change to brown at all, and it is tasty. Then I add water at the right moment.

About proteins: they are super sensitive to heat, and amino acids are a universe.... Their use in the body, their way to transform and join other molecules is just enormous! In a sustainable world, proteins are quite energyvore and not so easy to produce, and I do not want to waste their quality.

Julia Winter wrote:I don't think the risk is worth limiting myself
 I think it's more important to avoid plastics and sugar and poisons.  
Everybody has their own level of acceptable risk.

As this depends on the level of informations...:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycation

Until recently, it was thought that exogenous glycations and AGEs were negligible contributors to inflammation and disease states, but recent work has shown that they are important.

Exogenous glycations and advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are formed when sugars are cooked with proteins or fats.
These compounds are absorbed by the body during digestion with about 10% efficiency.
Browning reactions (usually Maillard type reactions) are evidence of pre-formed glycations.

And you do not find proteins without any sugar... as meat even contains glycogen. Then if you cook beans, they have all, and any protein with veggies, veggies have sugars.
Thus cooking without browning is safer, and alternatives to give taste are a good option! As I said, you can even cook in oil without browning.
Baking is a big cause of browning of course, and American recipes, I have noted for long, use ovens a lot. I live without oven and do not miss it! It uses a lot of energy. I do not even like burning wood, as I prefer carbon in the soil than in the air... Afterall, aren't we in the frugality forum?

Maillard reaction involves amino acids, whereas caramelization is simply the pyrolysis of certain sugars.
In making silage, excess heat causes the Maillard reaction to occur, which reduces the amount of energy and protein available to the animals who feed on it.

I personnaly do not want to reduce the nutritious content of my food.
And about taste, raw simply tastes "more", and when you cook, you have to enhance flavour. Of course cooking help us eat what is unedible raw, and can sterilize when necessary. That is why wok style can be interesting, raw inside but safe veggies in countries where they have molds and bacterias developping quick.

Just got about 5 lbs of pigs feet free from butcher/slaughterhouse.  I make a delicious and very very cheap pork and bean soup with them. You can also get pigs heads free or very cheap.  Also makes very cheap soups or headcheese.

This is my favourite time of year for frugal soups. I cook them on my woodstove so even energy to cook them is free.  I also throw the bones, after the dog has had a chance to knaw on them,  into the fire to reduce landfill.
I then spread ash and bone char on garden for extra mineral boost for next year's brassicas which will go into next year's frugal soups. I like to think of it as the circle of soup. .

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Great recipes. Thanks for sharing. Here's the recipe for the soup that I made last night

After the meat was well browned, about 1/4 cup of masa harina....

Masa harina? Really intrigued? What is that?

The stew looks amazing! Love venison!

Mick Lowe wrote:Masa harina? Really intrigued? What is that?

Masa harina is a sublime gift from the ancestors.

On night several years ago my in-laws came over, and staid for a long time.  I needed to go to the store, so it was slim pickings.  I cut up a couple of chicken breast,  cooked in my largest fry pan and started throwing in veggie.  Once cooked I thickened it like stew and mixed it over noodles.  Not only did two chicken breasts feed 4 adults and 4 children it tasted wonderful, and only took about 35 minutes to make.  It is my youngest son's favorite meal, the kids call it mom's chicken dish.  Even simple and fast can be tasty.  I'm lucky though my kids always liked veggies.

I am the soup maker in our house.  I prefer to start with bones, but will sometimes be reduced to just using some meat that is too little for a meal or needs to be used before it goes bad.  If I think I'll be short on the meat flavor, I add soy sauce and a little worchestershire sauce. very early in the stock making stage. It really stretches the meat flavor, but it needs quite a bit of time to cook in.  Another trick is to add a big spoonful of "Better than Bouillion" or a couple of cubes of cheap bouillion if I'm out of the good stuff.  My stocks always include quite a bit of onion and garlic (the strong garlic flavor cooks out, leaving a subtle wonderfullness).  If I'm really wanting garlic, I add more right at the end.  I also add a fair amount of salt and pepper, the pepper needs to cook in.  Cooked in pepper has a different flavor than freshly added pepper.

Once the basic stock is ready, I generally drain it (to remove bones and slimy onion bits).  Meat goes back in.  Then I add carrots, celery, potatoes and leftovers.  I often add a bayleaf, sometimes parsley, thyme or basil.

I often add just a drop of ghost pepper sauce, although I should warn you, that stuff is strong.  A drop or two too much can make things more exciting than you prefer.  Lately, I've been experimenting successfully with adding cream near the end.  The cream helps calm things down if I got carried away with the hot sauce.  I prefer a thicker stock (more stewish).  to thicken it, I add a starch dissolved in cold water.  (Corn or potato starch gives a clearer, prettier soup than flour.  My wife thinks the flour tastes better, my taste buds aren't that discerning.

Penny Dumelie wrote:I normally use the bones from chicken to make chicken broth. Add a couple caps of cider vinegar to pull all the goodness from the bones. Once it simmers over night, I will add more water, and leftover veggies - onion, garlic, carrots, celery. Let it simmer until all the healthy parts have been absorbed into the broth and then strain out anything solid.
We then use the broth like a tea (especially for anyone sick). We also use it instead of water to cook rice, use it as a soup base, use it for gravy instead of water... basically anywhere you would use water and want some extra nutrition and flavor.

I do the same with beef stewing/soup bones.

The vinegar makes perfect sense for getting calcium from the bones.
Why didn't I think of that?

Hee hee, I have a Bone Bag in the freezer...whenever we have lamb or beef with a bone, big or small, they all go in there.  Duck carcasses, too.  You may add other bones, whatever kind you like, mixed or separated as to kind.

Then when I have enough, that bag gets dumped into the stock pot and water added to start something beautiful.  I usually simmer on the back of the stove covered overnight, before straining out the bones and making soup.

In my lifetime I have made many batches of free and frugal soup aka bone broth. I have used all methods mentioned above:  Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, and on top of the stove.  I have never tried using the instant-pot.

I have been making this for many years and I eat it almost every day.  I like to use it for gumbo or chow mein.  I have now branched out and have used it for vegetable soup. It doesn't matter what kind of bones you use.  I make chicken, beef, or ham broth.  

The main thing for the health benefits is it needs to cook long enough that it gelled, the longer the better. As mentioned you can throw in your veggies scrapes.  Adding a tablespoon of vinegar helps. It can be cooked in a pot on the stove, in a pressure cooker or in a crockpot/slow cooker.  Some folks like to cook it until the bones almost melt away.  I don't like roasting the bones.  

I feel lots of garlic (for health benefits), onions, carrots, and celery cooked with the bones add a great flavor.  Also bay leaf.