New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation's Best Purveyor of Fine Soup

Full disclosure: I love soup. So my review is inherently biased. But you want this cookbook. These recipes are easy, most of them are delicious, relatively healthy and a good mix of omnivore and vegetarian recipes. I wish every soup had its own picture but the pictures that are there are very well-done. There are no weird, hard-to-find ingredients and no over the top techniques best left to the pros or serious amateurs. In fact, if you are looking for a cooking challenge, this book will bore you. If i had time to make my own stock I could chastise her for her technique for adding bouillon cubes to "home-made" stock but I don't, so I won't. I use store-bought stock and the soups are still delicious. There are recipes in the back for sandwiches that look and sound really good but I have had so much fun making soup that I haven't done any of those. The very first soup I made was a lima bean soup. I hate lima beans but I loved that soup. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I chose that as my first recipe out of this book but I'm glad I did as it has made me open to trying recipes I wouldn't normally bother with. The book is well organized starting with various stock recipes (none of which I have made), then chicken soups, tomato soups, chowders, and then by season. The summer soups are mostly cold fruit soups- not my thing- and I haven't made any. The ones I made that I will make again and again: 1. Eggplant parmesan soup - it's worth buying this book just for this recipe it's that good. 2. Black bean and sausage- outstanding. 3. Mulligatawny- so, so very good. Now I know why Seinfeld made an episode just about this soup. I love this book and use it once a week when the weather is getting cooler. There's no attitude in this book. Some authors make you feel like a failure for not making stock or implying that soup made without it isn't even worth making. This author doesn't. No special equipment is necessary but you will likely need a new soup pot. These recipes make a lot of soup. Most are for twelve servings so get a big pot or halve the recipe. An immersion blender comes in handy but a regular blender will suffice. I used this book as an excuse to get an immersion blender and it's now my favorite kitchen gadget of all. I need to write a review of that too. Other than that, buy this book and make some soup!

In my household, soup making is my department. This book is perfect for any serious soup maker. After you read the introductory comments you will know that a great deal of heart and soul went into this book. The harmony of such a concerted effort really touched my heart. And then there is “Stone Soup”… for years I have told that story to my family. It is one of my favorite stories to mention whenever I make soup from whatever ingredients we happen to have on hand. I began making such soups when I was about 12 years old… sigh, decades ago. I must quote from the author’s introduction because I found it to be so endearing, partly because I bought my daughter the story of Stone Soup as a toddler (she is an adult now and she keeps it still among her favorite books): “My earliest soup memory took place in kindergarten when we were reading Stone Soup. This is a tale about a hungry traveler who comes to a village and announces that he can make soup from a stone. He puts a stone in a pot of water and then asks the villagers to bring ingredients to help the soup along. One person brings an onion, another a carrot, and so on until the soup is made. After we read the story, we made stone soup in class. Each of us brought an ingredient. My mother sent me with Goodman’s vegetable soup mix: A cylinder of lentils, green split peas, barley, alphabet noodles, and a seasoning packet. This went into the big pot for our class soup. At the end of the day, when the teacher gave each of us a Styrofoam cup of soup to take home, I could hardly contain myself. “I really liked the soup!” I blurted out to my teacher. She told me that the special packet of mix that I brought was just perfect because the lentils added flavor and texture. That may have been the beginning of my career, but neither one of us knew it.” I wish I could sit down with the author and chat with her about soup. One recipe that really stood out for me is the “Potato Crab and Gorgonzola Soup.” With two cups of sherry and two cups of heavy cream, it’s definitely comfort in a bowl. I included a picture from the book. And… I’ve included a picture of my version. I only had claw meat, so I supplemented it with scallops and shrimp. I did not have lobster stock, so I used Better Than Bouillon Lobster Base. I guess this was my high end version of stone soup. It was AMAZING … really, really rich though. Probably once a year at most for that one! As a bonus, there are sandwich recipes and salad recipes. Of course, every chowder imaginable is included. One soup is called “Lusty Fish Stew.” Need I really say more? Five stars is not enough…. If you like soup, you must buy this book.

I made the Yellow Pepper and Lobster soup for New Year's Eve and it was excellent. I am anxious to try some of the other recipes, as so many look interesting and delicious. My only complaint about the cook book is that an inexperienced cook or soup maker may be overwhelmed if they tried to make the soup and do everything the day of a dinner party. I made the Lobster stock, then followed the directions for the Yellow Pepper and Lobster soup up through the puree part. Here is where I think she should say the soup/stock could be refrigerated and then reheated prior to serving and adding the remaining ingredients (cream, sherry, lobster, etc). Just a minor complaint - but I think it would be helpful information, especially for someone not cooking saavy.

I received this book a year or so ago after pining over it from the many reviews I had read. I’ve also read the poor reviews, but at least some of the poor reviews I read weren’t necessarily about the recipes themselves, more about the book: someone’s book had a sticky label on it? Someone else seemed to have ordered the kindle version vs. the hard copy? Someone else didn’t like the fact that the homemade chicken stock also called for a little chicken bouillon and that is what stopped them from proceeding forward? Really? Read all the reviews for yourself but be wary of the lesser star reviews and why. The first soup I made was the Greek Lemon Orzo Chicken. Crowd pleaser, everyone loved it, great on a summer night, easy, delicious. Then I made the Tortilla and Butternut Squash Soup. Absolutely excellent. Whoever mentioned in their review that this soup wasn’t good and they just ended up with soggy chips missed the part in the recipe where it says to purée the soup using a hand blender or work in batches with a regular blender. The puréed soup is fantastic, I have made this several times, and people go back for seconds. To the person who complained that there is 20 pages of salad and sandwich recipes at the back? Guess what, the New England Soup Factory restaurant also serves those items on their menu. So while the name of the business is the New England Soup Factory they also represent other food demographics and provide excellent salads and sandwiches because those things go deliciously with soup. Thus the New England Soup Factory cookbook is a collection of recipes of their soups, salads, and sandwiches because that is what the restaurant serves. Get it? Recently I made Lima Bean and Barley Soup. For some reason, until now, I’ve shied away from lima beans. I don’t know why, maybe it was a child thing I trained myself to avoid. But please know, this soup is AMAZINGLY GOOD. Lesson learned here: try it all, even foods you’ve trained yourself not to like just because. You could be very surprised. Last night I made Tomato, Shrimp, and Fennel Soup. It was cold out, I happened upon some fennel at the store and thought let’s do this. I’m skeptical about fennel in recipes because of it’s strong flavor. I was blown away by how delicious this recipe was. I made it exactly as the recipe stated. My husband loved it. It was easy, and so delicious. Currently one of my life goals is to make every single one of these soups. Granted, not every recipe blows me away, but it also may be a specific taste preference. I’ve recently made the homemade chicken stock in anticipation of making Matzo Ball soup - can’t wait for this! Thank you, New England Soup Factory, for publishing a cookbook. I don’t live even remotely close to your restaurant but if I did, I’d be there all the time.

I haven't tried many of the recipes in the book yet, but so far so good! I picked the book based on all the other positive reviews, and from what I have seen so far they are very accurate. Almost all the recipes in the book look very appealing and I suspect the ones that don't appeal to me probably would to someone else (we all have our favorite or less then favorite ingredients!) The ones I have tried are delicious and I have a long list of other ones to try. I just finished making the spinach, feta cheese, and toasted pine nut soup. I was actually making it to have around the house for lunches this week but I tasted a bit when I finished and I'm just going to have to have it for dinner now! Yum! So far I have found everything very easy to make and the ingredients are easy to find with out a hassle at the grocery store. Its also been easy to make small changes to the recipes to make a few of them a little healthier. (I'm trying to do the Mediterranean diet thing, whole grains, lots of veggies, light on the meat, heavy creams, etc.) For example the soup I just made called for cream. I ended up just leaving it out because it was already a great texture and very tasty already. But I think the recipe would have been great with the cream or with half or whatever. Anyhow, if you like soup this one is worth buying!

I ADORE this cookbook. I love soup to begin with, but this instantly became my go-to for new recipes. I often have trouble deciding which to try next because I'm sure every single one is amazing. The directions are easy to follow, I've even learned some new techniques that I now use in other cooking endeavors, and the descriptions of how each soup was conceived are delightfully entertaining. Of the ten or so recipes I've tried so far, only one has come out anything less than fantastic, and I'm quite sure that was only because I made a poor choice substituting one of the key ingredients. My personal favorite is the Spicy Chicken and Rice Flu-Chaser (The best chicken soup I've ever had, even if you're not actually sick. I've missed out on trying new recipes because I've already made four or five batches of this. My husband and I simply can't get enough of it!), but the Spinach and Zucchini Bisque with Roasted Leeks and Indonesian Carrot are close contenders for top spot as well. I have recommended and/or purchased copies of this book for anyone I know who enjoys cooking, and as far as I know everyone loves it nearly as much as I do. The variety of recipes is nice too; for example I personally don't eat beef, but there are more than enough chicken, seafood, or vegetarian options to choose from. A wonderful addition to any kitchen shelf!

Luckily for me, I read some 5-star reviews of this cookbook that prompted me to buy it, and I haven't been disappointed. Yeah, I also thought that calling for bouillion cubes in a stock recipe was really odd, but I've got ten other cookbooks with good stock recipes (the bones from a couple of roasted chickens, an onion, a bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme and a lazy Saturday afternoon in my opinion is all you really need for a delicious stock). I'm a real soupmaking junkie, have many, many soup cookbooks and love trying not-so-usual soup recipes. I've only tried a few so far from this book, but I've marked another dozen or more to try soon because they look and sound amazing. Many of them have just small amounts of some fairly subtle ingredients (they love sherry) that convinces me the authors of these recipes have a very refined palate, an excellent sense of proportion and a great feel for which flavors blend harmoniously. One recipe that immediately became my all-time favorite is the Pumpkin Soup with Sherried Cranberries. I made it with butternut squash vs. fresh pumpkin (it also calls for a bit of canned pumpkin), but otherwise I didn't change a thing and the results were divine. Usually, recipes require a bit of fiddling to finetune the proportions, but not this one. It was so great, in fact, that I made a triple batch and froze/vac-sealed quart-sized blocks for Christmas gifts for everyone at the office. Everyone's still raving about the results. Looking forward to making another recipe from the book this weekend.

I've tried at least three different soups so far...a tomato butternut herb, sweet potato with carmelized onions, and a greek lemon chicken orzo spinach soup...all of them have turned out quite spectacularly and were well received. I would note...you want a 12qt stockpot to cook these recipes in or a natural tendency to half the recipe if you only have a 5qt. But the flavor and the simplicity (because they are all fairly straightforward recipes without a bunch of craziness) make for delicious doable meals that are fabulous to share with family and/or friends. I'm looking forward to continuing to try more and more of the recipes...I have a list. Oh--and my mom bought it too...and is enjoying it just as much. Cheers!

手際良く書いてあるので簡単でした。 しかしもう少しグラビアが多ければと思い 星を一つへらしました。

This book met my expectations. I read many reviews of soup books before I chose this one. I wanted a book of interesting soups that I could make on a daily/weekly basis using ingredients that I would most likely already have on hand. I'm very pleased with this book. It starts off covering making stock and then it follows with chapters by topic. For instance Tomato Teasers, Say Cheese Please, A Chicken in Every Pot, Under the Sea, Championship Chowders, Old World Flavours, and so on. I've found this arrangement makes it easier for me to choose a recipe based on what I have on hand. I made the Carribean Chicken Soup with Coconut and just loved it. I am no chef (I like to eat not cook) but making this delicious soup was super easy. Next I want to try Indonesian Carrot, the Spicy Chickpea & Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato & Corn Chowder. I want to put post-its on every page to try them all. Most of the recipes are on two pages, the first showing a large photo and the second the actual recipe. Ingredients are laid out for a quick read and not too much text in the instructions. The beginning of most recipes have a brief paragraph or a couple sentences to explain the soup's creation, history, etc. For instance the Carribean Chicken Soup is actually a healing soup due to its carefully chosen ingredients. The back of the book has many sandwich and salad recipes as well with great photos that make you want to make it right now. What goes better with soup than a sandwich? There are some winter stews such as Hearty & Rich Beef Stew a Vegetarian White Bean Chili and a Veal & Portobello Mushroom Stew. I can't wait to try more and will report back once I have. I love this book and I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

Really delicious soup recipes here! My favorite so far has been Mulligatawny but there are so many to choose from I intend to work my way through each recipe:) Everything is easily accessible no hard to find spices, etc. Also very easy to follow - it won't be gathering dust on my kitchen shelves!

This book has many very tasty new recipes, such as pumpkin, lobster and ginger soup, Veal and Portobello Mushroom Stew and Curried Mussel Bisque - as well as the best Classic Lobster Bisque and chowders I have tried. Everything I have tried has been wonderful. Highly recommend this to anyone interested in expanding their soup repertoire.

Full of great soup recipes, which I’m gradually working my way through. I can really recommend the Tortilla and Butternut squash soup