|
Issue Date: December 2, 2007
These soups are made for swapping
Groups from Seattle to Schenectady cook lots of soup, socialize a bit, then head home with future dinners.
By Lisa Jaffe Hubbell
Those of us who have to feed ourselves dinner, night after night, know
about the virtues of big-batch cooking -- making a whole vat of
something to last a good part of the week. It might be pretty tasty the
first day or even the second, but by the third -- argh!
Now, some cooks around the country have tackled that
problem by staging soup swaps. After organizing friends at his own
swaps for several years, Seattle resident Knox Gardner inaugurated
National Soup Swap Day. The word soon spread over food blogs and
neighborhood list serves, and a critical mass of soup makers staged
simultaneous events all over the country this past January. The 2008
event is Jan. 23; organizers hope more people will join in (see
Gardner's blog at soupswap.com for details).
Modeled after holiday cookie exchanges -- "but
healthier," Gardner says -- participants make 6 quarts of soup, freeze
it in 1-quart containers and bring it to the swap. Everyone draws a
number to determine the selection order. No. 1 picks first, and so on,
through six rounds. Before picking begins, however, is "the telling of
the soup," Gardner says, when cooks describe their creations. The
stories are always the highlight. "It's become quite competitive.
Everyone wants their soup to be the star, and telling the story of the
soup is a chance to sell it to others."
"My favorite story was about a corn and poblano pepper
chowder with shrimp," says Renee McCallister, whose January swap was
held in Schenectady, N.Y. The cook found the recipe years before, when
she couldn't afford the ingredients. "The soup became her idea of the
future -- a time when she could make the soup and make it for someone
special," McCallister says.
In Washington, D.C., Adrienne Culler and Margaret Simino, who run the
soup-centric site graciousbowl.com, report that the most popular entry
at their swap was ancho chili con carne. "It may sound like cheating to
hard-core foodies and their definitions of soup, but in the end, it's
all about a good time and a packed freezer," Culler says. (And, let's
face it, it's also about getting almost a week's worth of meals you
only have to reheat.)
Many in the D.C. group provided extras with their soups
-- containers of Japanese root vegetable soup wrapped in pretty cloth
bags; Manchego cheese crisps to pair with the sweet potato chowder; a
bag of shrimp chips with the Thai lemon grass-shrimp soup. Guests also
collected canned goods for a local food bank.
Gardner thinks that too many rules can spoil a swap, but
some guidelines are necessary. Don't cater to everyone's dietary whims,
but do label the soups and list ingredients. And carefully consider how
many people you invite to the swap. More people means more soup
choices, but the bigger the crowd, the longer it will take for the
telling of the soup and six rounds of swapping.
Culler says seven people seems like a good minimum: "That way, everyone gets to take home six different kinds of soups."
Want to organize a soup swap?
1. Invite enough people for variety, but not so many that the event goes into overtime. Seven to 15 is optimal.
2. Keep it to 6 quarts. That's about as much as most people's soup pots -- and freezers --can accommodate.
3.
Make what you like; don't worry about picky eaters. But do try to avoid
common allergens, like peanuts. Label the soup and list ingredients.
4. Bring soup frozen, but when choosing a
recipe, know that some foods (pasta, potatoes, cream) don't freeze
well. Bring an insulated bag or cooler to tote the soup to and from the
swap.
5. Give prizes -- first picked, last picked, best story, most exotic. Prizes can be wooden spoons, potholders or loaves of bread.
6. Spread the bounty. Ask guests to bring canned goods to donate to area food banks as the "ticket" to the event.
|
