The Role of Soups in Cuisine


A soup can be described as a liquid product that can be derived from a number of sources. Soups have a renewed popularity because of a number of reasons. People nowadays are more health conscious and soups can be both low in calories and nutritious at the same time.  Soups make for a much lighter meal and are great for those with digestion problems.

There are three basic categories of soups:  clear soups, thick soups and specialty soups.

Types of Soups Description of the soup

1.) Clear

- examples are broth, bouillon, and consomme.

a) broth

- flavored liquid produced by simmering meats and vegetables.

b) bouillon

- meat, vegetables, fish or poultry are simmered in water, strained and clarified the resulting product is called bouillon. 

c) consomme

- flavorful clarified broth. 

2. Thick

- can be thickened in two ways

a) cream soup 

- a thickened soup with added milk or cream e.g. cream of mushroom soup

b)  chowder

- thick soup made with fish or shellfish, milk, and possibly vegetables such as potatoes

c) bisque

- a cream soup with shellfish or a mixture of pureed fish  and vegetables. Contains cream

d) potage

- a general term for soup. Often interpreted as a hearty soup.

e) pureed

- one or more ingredients are pureed e.g. tomato.

3. Specialty Soups

- don't fit any of the above categories.

- may be unique because of the ingredients or the fact that the soup may be native to a particular country e.g. pumpkin soup, gazpacho, birds nest soup.


The Role of Soups in Cuisine


Making a Stock