The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

This is the season for making hot and hearty soups. Yesterday a neighbor brought a vat of clam chowder for my supper. Clam chowder is a soup I do not make from scratch very often. I buy some prepared and add to it. But I love clam chowder and I think one of the reasons I do love that soup is because no matter who makes it or what restaurant makes it, it is always different from all other clam chowder and always very good. It was the same yesterday with my neighbor’s clam chowder. It was different than any I had eaten and very good!

Years ago I learned a secret about cooking soups in general, especially those that call for a base of chicken or beef stock. I use a product called beef base and chicken base. It makes for a really strong base for the soup when added to water and also makes for a little more salty product.

If you were making a soup that called for ham stock, this would work for that as well as there is a ham base. I wondered how that would be as a base for split pea soup or something like that?

I use the bases for my two favorite soups. Chicken noodle soup is wonderful using the chicken base but the best one is hamburger/macaroni soup using beef base and water for a very rich stock.

It is an easy soup to make, Just brown a pound of hamburger along with a couple of chopped onions. Add a stalk of celery or two that has been diced and brown altogether!

Add a quart of water and some beef base to taste. With salt and pepper, add some Alpine Spice. Mix with a pound or so of cooked macaroni. Serve after simmering for half an hour or so. A small can of tomato base is also good in this soup but remember, you want the broth to taste like beef mostly!

Please note. A pound of macaroni cooked is too much. You want some broth, not to just be eating noodles. Cook up a pound of uncooked macaroni, add what you think is enough and save the rest for a mid week noodle lunch.

Bon Appitit!