New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation's Best Purveyor of Fine Soup Hardcover – September 9, 2007

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.

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.

A surfeit of soups with a soupçon of sandwiches and salads to go with. The only problem with this cookbook is the generosity of the recipes — from 8-16 one and one half cup servings per recipe. Great for large families and parties; less useful if you’re in a one or two person household. The recipes are not easily reduced but are rich with flavors in balance. So gather friends and family and try a new soup!

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 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.

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。

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

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.