So, as you've noticed, I like blending my soups. By at least partially pureeing your soup, you get the thick, rich mouth-feel of a soup laden with cream and butter, without actually adding the cream and butter. This is great for your waistline, and especially good if you are, like me, lactose-intolerant.
I tend to use an immersion blender to puree my soups while they are still in the pot. This is a delightful gadget to have, and you can get a perfectly decent one for $25-30. That said, many people do not own an immersion blender. However, any fan of fruity drinks, milkshakes, or smoothies (or anyone who has registered for a bridal shower) has a traditional stand blender.
Here's where the safety note comes in... When blending hot liquids, you must be very careful! Don't fill your blender's vessel more than halfway at any time (i.e. blend in batches), and, when dealing with hot liquids, remove that little plastic thing in the center of your blender's lid and instead place a tea towel over it. This allows for the pressure created by steam to safely escape, as opposed to spraying you and anyone within 10 feet with boiling hot soup.
You do not want to spray your guests with soup. They won't want to come back, no matter how delicious the airborne soup may be.
Safe blending, all!
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Hey Billy,
ReplyDeleteThis question isn't so useful if you're making dinner, but...
Could the same idea work if you let the soup cool, blended, and then re-heated? As someone who makes more soup from leftovers for later consumption, just curious. Thanks.
Hey Jeff!
ReplyDeleteOh yes... All of my soups store very well once cooled. They will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for at least a month!
If you're freezing it, I highly recommend freezing soup (or anything, for that matter) in single-serving portions, so you don't have to reheat an entire block of frozen soup to get one serving.
For the vegetarian soups, the microwave works just fine for reheating, be it from fridge or from freezer. For the soups containing meat (wait until tomorrow), I'd recommend reheating from frozen on the stove top. Add a bit of water and your frozen block o' bisque (or whatever), and place over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. I find that meat + microwave = tough, unchewable protein chunks.
Thanks. I'll have to try that next time. For what it's worth, I've found frozen meat soups take forever and a day, and then some, to re-heat in the microwave. So you don't even save time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you do use an immersion blender, make sure it's METAL and not plastic, or else you'll have a deformed blender when you're done and possibly some melted plastic in your soup. Trust me on this one.
ReplyDelete