Leaf Storm said:
I would leave it out altogether. It certainly isn't in the origonal hungarian recipe. The origonal one that's been made for thousands of years got by without adding canned store products to it and yours will too and be better off for it ( in my humble opinion
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I find it very odd when recipes call for canned products, jars of supermarket sauce, and boxed products in them. You are cooking arnt you? Why use pre made stuff in it? Isnt one of the points of cookery to get away from that? Rules one, two and three of cooking are ingredients, ingredients, and ingredients. Use fresh ingredients and make sure it's the best quality you can get hold of. When you buy them be sure and touch them and smell them to make sure they are good and they are fresh.
Instead of mushroom soup why not use fresh cream, a good stock, and some nice mushrooms? Wouldnt that be far better?
Hi, glad you enjoy cooking so much. You know what? You are more than half way there if you love the thing that you do. Passion, enthusiasm and a will to do a thing are often worth more than the knowledge! Just have a bit of confidence. Have fun with it. Try stuff out. If it doesn't work out then oh well. Have fun!!! Remember, failing is knowledge. You leaned something
Just keep trying and learning!
I can't really recommend you any good books. I'll leave that to others if they wish. I don't think you would be able to get hold of the books that I have. And also my knowledge from books are taken from here there and everywhere. I don't think I can quote you one single book about cooking. Although, there probably are some very good books along that line. I was lucky enough to learn most of what I know from my best friend. She grew up from a very early age cooking because her parents owned a restaurant. She was born into the cooking trade
So she knows one hell of a lot about cooking and she passed it on to me
Soups are really good! I love soup! And they are one of the most easy things to make. Tomato soup is so easy. I made on just a couple of days ago. I'll show you.
Tomato and Pepper soup
ingredients
6 large ripe tomatoes*
2 large red bell peppers
herbs of your choice
5 cups of chicken or veg stock**
Fresh ground black pepper and salt
Fresh cream
* use good vine ripened tomatoes if you can because they will have so much more flavour.
** Yes, I use a stock cube for the stock here. Use a good quality one or you will just be eating flavoured salt!!! I think using a stock cube here is ok because it really won't make much of a difference. You can go the whole way and make a stock if you wish to as your base. However, I find that it's not worth it. Some dishes I would definitely make my own stock such as risotto where it's integral to the dish flavour but here it's just a base. You won't even taste it so it's not important. Some would even skip the whole thing and just use water. You can do that, it's fine
But I feel that the cube just adds a little something. It's up to you!
Ah, another note about the liquid. The amount I gave here is an approximation of what I use. Just judge it for yourself
There should be enough liquid to cover everything and then a some to spare. I suppose about an inch bobbing room
Method
Ok, it's easy!
Chop up your tomatoes in quarters and throw them in the pot
Chop up your peppers in quarters and throw them in the pot
Add your water, cube crumbled, and your choice of herbs
Cover and cook for an hour
Uncover and cook for about 1 to 2 hours. Basically watch it. As it cooks the water will cook off and the flavour will come out of your ingredients. The longer you cook it the better it will taste. Remember not to cook TOO long though or your liquid will get less and less and you won't be left with much to eat
Remove from heat and add your cream. Blend together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You're done! Easy right?
Most soups follow this same pattern. It depends but they do mostly. So now you can make soup
Oh, if you are making a meat soup then skip the covered part and you will prob cook it a little longer. I only cover the veg soup so it won't lose much liquid so I can cook it for longer than I would be able to uncovered and so extract more flavour.
