Soup maker vegetable soup.

Norah I'm with you I gve away the soup maker I got as a gift .I much prefer to make it in a pot.I dont do gadgets ,I have a hand whisk and a blender I got over 48 years ago as a wedding present and with some decent knives I make soup most days .I keep my sons family in fresh soups,lentil (smooth lentil) made with ham ,scotch broth made with lamb ,mushroom chicken and rice ,cullen skink and chicken and sweetcorn have been this weeks.What we dont use on the day is frozen.My GD often comes through the door asking for a favorite soup to take home with her.Soup needn't take more than 45 minutes if you have stock made in the fridge.
I like the prep its part of the enjoyment of the finished dish

Germanshepherdsmum

I wouldn’t be without my soup maker - no more standing over a pot, adding things bit by bit, stirring, blending. Just press the button and get on with something else.

Absolutely! A little cynical when I had it as a gift, but am delighted with the delicious soups it produces with the minimum of effort. 😊

Elegran

Add some brandy to the finished mushroom soup.

I add brandy to top of many soups. In the bowls as children are served from the same huge pots of most everything cooked here.

I doubt you can rescue your soup. I’ve had really bitter tasting courgettes on occasions and they’re awful.
I tend to stick with root vegetables and onions as a base now but if I’ve got an odd sprout, leek or pepper I’ll throw that in. The worst soup I ever made was with Jerusalem artichokes!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202310/medium-721771-garlic-peeler.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202310/medium-361752-garlic-chopper.jpg

To cut down the work on the garlic, and the garlic-scented fingers, invest in a couple of small gadgets. I have them, and they both really work.. You just trim the base of the garlic clove, put it into the peeler and roll it back and forth on the table. The skin is rubbed off without having to pick at it with your fingernails.
Then you put it into the garlic chopper and roll that back and forth, and is chopped up by the sharp blades - which you never have to touch. The longer you roll it, the finer it gets, without ever touching the garlic. If you rinse it under the cold tap straight away as they advise, it comes clean with no effort but what they don't tell you is that the best way to scrape the last bits of chopped garlic out is with the handle of a teaspoon.

www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Magic-Silicone-Garlic-Peeler/dp/B00TQR1UKW?tag=gransnetforum-21
www.amazon.co.uk/Chefn-1254516-Garliczoom-Chopper-Plastic/dp/B07DNPCZMZ?tag=gransnetforum-21

Add some brandy to the finished mushroom soup.

Norah some machines saute the onions, garlic and/or other veg. They all will blend it for a smooth soup, if that is the option you choose. You still have to wash, peel and chop, although for a smooth soup you can usually skip the peeling (a lot of the vitamins etc are just under the peel anyway, so you are not throwing away good nutrition with the peelings) Once you have chucked it all in, you can clear up the chopping apparatus and then make the rest of the meal. No stirring, no blending.

Good tip Aveline. You’re making me think about the mushrooms in my freezer, thanks!

I buy ready chopped veg when it's down to half price or less and freeze them. That makes a base and I can add whatever is around. I once bought up a huge bag of mushrooms for 40p. I roughly chopped them and packed the soup maker. Bit of a mistake. The mushrooms did liquidise easily but the texture was so thick it was more like mushroom mousse than soup. DH loved it though.

You can also put bigger pieces of vegetable in if you’re going to make a smooth soup, or if you’re lazy like me, you can even buy a pack of pre prepared soup mix chopped vegetables in the supermarket, add what bits you’ve got left over in the fridge, and walk away for 20 minutes or so. The only disadvantage I’ve found is that the intermittent chopping noise spooks my dog!

It is much quicker and easier. Mine doesn’t require onions and garlic to be sautéed first, unlike my old one (no difference in taste) - literally everything goes in together, chunky or smooth options are selected, button pressed and that’s it. No attention needed until the soup is ready. Obviously veg has to be prepared first as you would if making soup in a pan, but apart from the knife and chopping board there are only the glass jug and the lid of the soup maker to wash up, no pan, spoon or blender.

Casdon

Norah

Germanshepherdsmum

I wouldn’t be without my soup maker - no more standing over a pot, adding things bit by bit, stirring, blending. Just press the button and get on with something else.

I must be daft. I see no extra effort.

I scrub, peel, chop all the veg at once - onion and garlic first. Saute onions (whilst still peeling chopping) add garlic, saute, add veg, cook at one go, after the garlic. Walk away, come back when I think it's done (20 min or so).

No machine to fiddle with or clean and store, just a pot and spoon.

Have you tried a soup maker though Norah? That’s the only way you could compare the effort factor. I find it much quicker, easier and less messy myself.

I admit to not purchasing one.

Younger daughter has a soup maker, I shall borrow it and attempt.

Out of interest - the work, to me, seems the scrubbing, peeling, chopping, and pre-sauting onions and garlic - surely the machine does not do all that?

Soup makers are wonderful. I make a lovely tomato soup with some economy tomatoes (reduced or those at 69p. a bag) an onion and a Kallo tomato stock cube with a handful of basil leaves. 20 mins later about 2pts of soup to last for days.

I too vote for the courgette being the problem. I have had an experience with bitter courgette’s in the past that took me by surprise.
I absolutely love my soupmaker and always wing it with recipes.

More than likely the courgette.

As DH would have said, ‘Shoot the Ba***rd!’ 😂

Norah

Germanshepherdsmum

I wouldn’t be without my soup maker - no more standing over a pot, adding things bit by bit, stirring, blending. Just press the button and get on with something else.

I must be daft. I see no extra effort.

I scrub, peel, chop all the veg at once - onion and garlic first. Saute onions (whilst still peeling chopping) add garlic, saute, add veg, cook at one go, after the garlic. Walk away, come back when I think it's done (20 min or so).

No machine to fiddle with or clean and store, just a pot and spoon.

Have you tried a soup maker though Norah? That’s the only way you could compare the effort factor. I find it much quicker, easier and less messy myself.

I have never had a problem with a stock cube. They have always been a good source of flavour and I often use them. The only home-grown herb I have known to be bitter was some parsley which had been allowed to flower - which I was expecting, so didn’t use it.

Elegran

Norah The machine can only cook what you put into it. I second everyone who has blamed the courgette. Some of them are quite bitter, others are fine.

Do those stock cubes never become bitter (age) or taste like chemicals?

I'm equally sure any veg or herb could be bitter.

Germanshepherdsmum

I wouldn’t be without my soup maker - no more standing over a pot, adding things bit by bit, stirring, blending. Just press the button and get on with something else.

I must be daft. I see no extra effort.

I scrub, peel, chop all the veg at once - onion and garlic first. Saute onions (whilst still peeling chopping) add garlic, saute, add veg, cook at one go, after the garlic. Walk away, come back when I think it's done (20 min or so).

No machine to fiddle with or clean and store, just a pot and spoon.

Norah The machine can only cook what you put into it. I second everyone who has blamed the courgette. Some of them are quite bitter, others are fine.

Thanks,it may well be that. I always thought courgette was pretty innocuous.

I wouldn’t be without my soup maker - no more standing over a pot, adding things bit by bit, stirring, blending. Just press the button and get on with something else.

Sounds like courgette problem to me. I've never had any problems with soup maker soup. Never follow a recipe just throw in what's lying around needing eaten. The only snag with that is that it's impossible to make the same soup twice.

I can only think it was the courgette. Personally I always follow a recipe rather than just chucking in whatever veg I have - but then I shop according to meal plans and we don’t grow a lot of veg now, so I rarely have anything which needs to be used up. I suggest you find a recipe you like the look of and follow that.

I always add just a little sugar to home made tomato soup or sauce.