The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

(Nandana) #1
high.   Unless  you enjoy   wearing hot soup.


  • An immersion blender can give you a


decently    smooth  result, depending   on  the power   of  your
blender. It’s by far the most convenient way to make
soup, and it’s a good choice if you’re fine with a rustic,
kind of chunky texture.


  • A food processor should be your last choice.


Because of  its wide    base    and relatively  low spinning    rate,
a food processor does more chopping than pureeing.

Whatever the pureeing method, I like to emulsify my
soup with some fat during this stage—either butter or olive
oil. This adds a rich texture to the soup.
Some recipes (including many of mine) will tell you to
slowly drizzle in fat or add butter a knob at a time while the
blender is running, which is a surefire way to get your fat to
emulsify properly, but here’s a secret: so long as you don’t
have the world’s worst blender (and somebody out there
does!), there’s no real need to drizzle in the fat slowly. The
vortex action of a blender is plenty powerful enough to
emulsify the fat even if you just dump it all in at once.
If the ultimate in smoothness is your goal, finish off your
pureed soup by using the bottom of a ladle to press it
through a chinois or an ultra-fine-mesh strainer. The end
results should be smoother than John Travolta strutting with
a double-decker pizza slice.


Step 7: Finish with Acid and Season
Seasoning is the final step just before plating and serving in

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