The Soup Book: Over 700 Recipes

Captivated by the number of recipes, I failed to realize it does not have picture companions, and some of the recipes are directed toward an audience with some knowledge in the kitchen so aspirations for the first time soup enthusiast should seek other material first. Overall, tis a gift for my partner. We shall see how it fares.

This book is not 100% without value, but it's really more of a culinary freak show than a book of recipes that a modern cook would want to make. Perhaps the foods in this book once passed as haute cuisine, but most of them now come across as unappetizing culinary oddities. I'll give examples later in this review.It has some interesting weird, old flavor profiles that modern cookery, happily, simply does not put together.The book's cover boasts that it includes over 700 recipes but, only a half of these recipes, at most, are worth making, and even then you can find more appetizing recipes in other cookbooks.This book begins with the notion that anything is a soup of you simply add broth or consommé. If you agree with that notion -- and I don't -- then, yes, you may have over 700 recipes, otherwise... no.One thing I DO like about this book is that every recipe is numbered. When a recipe refers to another recipe, which it does a lot, it gives you a recipe number rather than a page number, and that is very helpful, and I wish more cookbooks would do that.Let's look at some of these fascinating recipes from another time.On page 69 we find Recipe 133, "Jellied Green Turtle Soup."This is the entire recipe typed verbatim from the book: "Simply buy a fine brand of green turtle soup, and place it in the refrigerator to gel. It will gel as soon as it is thoroughly chilled, and the bits of green turtle seem to acquire added flavor with chilling. Serve in chilled bouillon cups without any garnish with a side dish of hot toasted saltine crackers, finger-length sandwiches, or anything which is crunchy."Are you hungry yet?Let's skip ahead to page 161 where we find Recipe 161, "Banana Lentil Soup (Hot)"Again, this is verbatim from the book: "Lentil soup is a favorite among Mexican Indian cooks, but unless a banana is added or served with it, it is considered poison. Prepare a lentil soup, using your favorite recipe, but do not forget to put in some garlic. When the lentils are tender, strain and run through a fine sieve. Return to the fire, and heat well. Taste for seasoning, and when ready to serve, about five minutes before, stir in 1 large banana, peeled and sliced."Maybe back in the 30s and 40s that passed as a fancy recipe, but we do not live in that era any longer, happily.I could type in these weird, unappetizing recipes all day long, because this book is full of them, but I'll include one more and assume that you get the gist.Page 113 features Recipe 223, "Watermelon Soup À La Chinoise""Cut the top from half of a small watermelon. Remove all the seeds and scallop the rim. Heat 6 cups of Rich Chicken Stock. Add 1/2 cup of canned bamboo shoots, 1/2 cup of canned Chinese mushrooms, and 2 tablespoons of chopped cold boiled lean ham. Season to taste with salt and white pepper and 1 teaspoon of white Chinese powder called Gourmet Powder. Add 1 cup of cooked, cubed small chicken meat. When ready to serve, stir in 3 cups of melon cubes. Pour into the melon shell and serve at once, sprinkled with blanched, shredded, toasted almonds over each serving."Your palate may be different, but that sounds pretty repulsive to me. Oh, and that "Gourmet Powder" the recipe calls for? He means monosodium glutamate.Overall, this is the sort of book you'd get for someone with a fondness for historical, odd, or surreal cookbooks. It's a glimpse into another time when people served soups that combined foods in ways that a modern diner would most likely find nauseating. It's DAMNED sure not a cookbook you'd want to eat anything out of.

IT IS OUTSTANDING! AND IT HAVE SO…MUCH FLAVOR!

So many recipes and some quite creative.

I bought this as a gift. It would have been nice if the description said “used” as this clearly was sitting on someone’s shelf in their kitchen. I’d return it but no longer have time to.

So it has a lot of soup thats a proBut the book was layed out in the worst way possible1st its boring dosnt make me want to make any of these soups, no images, small boring text.2nd a good majority will reference other soup recipes. ex. Make soup 12 but substitute chicken for beef. So you start trying to make one recipe and have to flip around the book to find the other recipe while cooking. It would have been better to copy and paste the recipes. then it would also have been less obvious a lot of these soups are just copy and pasted recipes of one another.They also dont have a basic page for how to make a basic creamy soup base or chicken stock so instead of see the basic soup base section it references specific soups pretty unintuitively.

Great book! Great recipes! The book however came printed backwards and upside down. I think its hilarious and i will treasure this cookbook forever

I didn't understand from description that this book is more of a historical collection. A good deal about consommés, broth and very simple cream soups. A section on chowders and a few misc. Much at end about 'old country' Euro soup; welsh, english, norwegian etc. Some with fluke, tripe, haddock, haddie etc. Items not generally found in my kitchen or market. I'm not saying this is bad, the info is interesting and could be very useful for other chefs. I cook soups every week for other households and family, I usually use lots of vegetable's, fish, chicken, some beef. Seeking a healthy hearty mix. So this didn't add much to my needs. 700 recipes is a bit of a stretch if you add one ingredient in my mind it doesn't really constitute an entirely new recipe. Having said that the history is a good addition to my knowledge.

Words can't describe, this is cheffy at it's best, loads of tips and tricks for making soup, I've decided on a new soup every fortnight, made two so far and they were amazing. Definitely recommend!

Winter is coming fast,and the men in the family love soup on a cold day. I love to make things for myself,and not open a can that contains more additives than soup.This book is ideal,it has virtually every type of soup,be it clear,creamed or consomme. Just what I wanted. A souper buy!!

Lots to choose from .

Recipes are over complicated with ingredients which are difficult to find.

:)