own, you can regulate the amount of fat, total calories, cholesterol, sugar, salt or whatever your

personal concern may be. If you use prepared soups, read the labels carefully. They are usually

long lists that read like check-lists for chemistry experiments.

TASTINGS Jewish penicillin

They have been telling us at least since the 12 century that chicken soup cures a

variety of illnesses. Now there is even medical research to verify its impact on the

common cold (thanks to Dr. S. Rennard’s team at the University of Nebraska

Medical Center, 1993). Although the researchers couldn't identify the single

substance in the soup that fights bacteria, viruses or other invaders of the body,

they clearly showed that there is something in old-style chicken soup that is very

beneficial. Their best guess is that it is the combination of broth, chicken and

vegetables, along with TLC in the preparation, that provide the magic. Whatever

it is, take time to prepare your own without shortcuts during the flu and cold

season.

A soup is often the only hearty course that is acceptable to both vegetarians and meat

eaters. Babies love it, and their great-grandparents do, too.

Get into soups

Soups offer many advantages to the home cook and they are particularly great for free-

form cooks who scowl at recipes. First, they are most amenable to changes. If you don't have a

particular ingredient, substitute. You will get a different-flavored soup, but it will still be good,

provided you substitute with good kitchen sense.

When you replace an ingredient, use another of similar taste, preferably ones of the same

family, in case of vegetables. It is fine to use broccoli if you can't get Brussels sprout, turnips for

parsnips, or onion for shallots. But substituting beets for cabbage somehow doesn't make the

same sense. Leaving an ingredient out completely because you don't have it on hand or you hate

it doesn't ruin the soup, unless, of course, that ingredient is as essential as salt.

Second, soups keep extremely well. Many, if not most, soups even improve with storage

as the flavors fuse, marry and intensify. This is particularly true for hearty soups made up of

many ingredients—thick vegetable soups, soups made from legumes, meat and chicken. Never

waste your time making enough soup for just one meal. A little more cutting up triples or

quadruples the result. Most soups keep well refrigerated for days or even a week. If you don't

think you will use it that soon, freeze the extra in measured portions. You can thaw a portion

next month when time has gotten away from you, and a starving family is demanding dinner

now.

Freezing extra soup in a heavy plastic bag is very practical. Bags not only take a

minimum of freezer space but when you need a meal in a hurry, just cut the bag away from the

frozen hunk of soup and drop it into the pot to reheat. Or place the plastic bag of frozen soup in a

bowl and microwave it. It is almost an instant meal and far better than any prepared foods you

can get in the supermarket’s frozen food section.

Add a different spice or set of spices, an additional vegetable or leftover meat, fish or

poultry, and your family may not even recognize it as the soup they ate not long ago. Altering

texture and appearance by puréeing works well, too.

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