It is important to buy a good quality soup pot if you want to make the best soup recipes. Soup pots are versatile and you can also use them for braising meat, making broth and cooking pasta. Whether you want to make a pumpkin soup recipe or a braised meat stew, using a good pot is essential to your success.
The shape and size of a soup pot are important factors. Soup pots range from four to twenty quarts in capacity, and then you have commercial ones, which can be enormous. A soup pot tends to be smaller than a stock pot because you usually make less soup at once than with stock, but buying one pot, which is good for making soup or stock, is a good investment, because you will not have to buy two pots.
Tips for Choosing Soup Pots
Choose something between six and twelve quarts because this makes the pot versatile enough for many uses. Soup pots normally have deep straight sides, a round base, and a lid. You can use something smaller and wider, such as a big saucepan, for making soup.
A thick, heavy base is very important because a thin bottom might result in burnt soup. Soup can take a long time to cook so the pot will be on the stove for perhaps hours at a time. Copper, cast iron, steel, and aluminum are soup pot material choices and there are pros and cons to each one.
It is important to choose a soup making pot with a strong, securely attached handle. Rivets or heavy screws should be used to attach the handle to the pot. The handles should also be comfortable and big enough to get your fingers through.
Recipe for Split Pea and Ham Soup
This is a great recipe to make in a big pot. The combination of ham, split peas, spinach, vegetables, and herbs is magic and this is a hearty, rich, and flavorful soup, which is perfect for lunch or dinner. This recipe serves ten people.
What you will need:
1 lb rinsed, dried green split peas
5 cups water
2 diced celery ribs
2 fresh or smoked ham hocks
1 cup slivered spinach leaves
1 minced clove garlic
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 finely chopped sprigs fresh parsley
2 finely chopped carrots
1 finely chopped onion
5 cups chicken broth
1 sliced leek (white part only)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and black pepper, to taste
How to make it:
Stir together the chicken broth and water in a big soup pot, then bring the mixture to a boil. Add the split peas, ham hocks, celery, thyme and half the parsley. Turn down the heat and simmer the soup for forty five minutes with the lid partially covering the pot.
Stir it every ten minutes. Melt the butter in a skillet over a moderate to high heat, and then saute the leek, garlic, onion, and carrots until soft. Transfer the vegetables into the soup pot. Add the spinach and simmer the soup, partially covered again, for half an hour.
Turn the heat off and take out the ham hocks. Take the meat off the bones and discard the bones as well as any fatty bits. Return the chopped meat to the pot. Adjust the seasoning, add the rest of the parsley, and serve hot.
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