I don’t want to toot my own soup horn (what is a soup horn?) but I’ve been making some really kick-ass soup lately. My most recent creation is of the Mexican-style white bean and greens variety*. It’s actually pretty fantastic if you’re into that sort of thing (I am into that sort of thing).
But I haven’t always been great at making soup. In fact, I’ve made some pretty shitty soup in my day. The first time I made chili was a complete disaster. I went to this little market in Chicago that had an odd assortment of things I had never seen before. I didn’t put too much thought into it – I just bought a bunch of random peppers, some onions, garlic, and tomatoes, and went back and made chili. It was the year the Bears were in the Superbowl.
Anyway, the chili looked amazing. It smelled amazing. I was like holy shit, I made this delicious chili. Then I tasted it and it was quite possibly the spiciest thing anyone has eaten…ever. We’re talking burn your face off, burn-your-lips-a-little-leave-a-scar hot. It was literally inedible. And to make matters worse the Bears lost.
But the next day I took my stupid-hot chili and you know what I did with it? I made better chili out of it. I added more of everything except the peppers and the spices. It was amazing (and I had lunch for weeks).
That’s the thing about soup, with a little practice and some common sense it’s pretty hard to screw up. We’re not talking about making fancy French puff pastry here or creating world peace or like…doing your taxes. It’s soup. It may not turn out exactly like you planned but it’s almost always going to be soup.
Of course, you have to put a little thought into it, I mean if you’re thinking about throwing a human toe or a whole can of anchovies in anything I’d advise against it, but generally speaking you’re going to be ok. You just need to taste it as you go, make changes if necessary and not be afraid to experiment – sometimes the best things happen from the ‘mistakes’.
So many of us freak out when it comes to cooking as though we could ruin it at any moment. Should I use the onion or the shallot?!?!! who cares! Use one or the other. Or use both. (Don’t be weird). Do I put in the whole pepper or just half!? Don’t worry, you can’t screw it up! SHOULD I USE PASTA?! or rice!? Relax.
But I think this is how we (ok I) tend to approach life as well with this almost debilitating fear that the next decision is going to steer us irretrievably in the wrong direction. That if we only had a recipe to follow it would be ok. But that’s not how it works. Life is a process of creating a path one decision at a time.
(This is where I stop and make a disclaimer that yes, you can sure as hell make bad decisions. But bad decisions, really bad decisions hurt yourself, hurt others, or are made from a place of fear. Driving drunk. Getting married because you’re too scared to say no. Stealing a car. Giving up hope….you get the idea. But even then, just like the super-hot chili, you can usually turn it around.)
It can be overwhelming to have so many options to choose from at every moment. But not everyone is fortunate enough to have choices. You really can’t make a wrong decision, but you have an obligation not to sit still.
So don’t be scared. Go make some soup. I’ll be by for dinner at 8. And if it really sucks we can always order a pizza.
Love
M
* Mexican White Bean and Greens Soup
½ pound or so of great white northern beans beans, soaked. or 2 cans, drained and rinsed
olive oil
about 8 cups of water & 4 veggie bouillon cubes
1 sweet onion
some garlic – 4-5 cloves?
A couple of carrots
1 poblano pepper
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
A shallot
Some Broccoli
Some Adult Spinach
Some Collard Greens
Cilantro?
Elbow pasta cooked
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