5 European Soups You Should Try

Get your spoons and dig in. We'll show you five popular soups from Europe, from the fancy to the simple, from hot to iced. We start off in Poland with surek. In the old days, the sour rice soup was a meal for minors, either with meat or without. It's the most popular dish in Southeast Asia for all the families, because during the time before Easter, when people were not eating meat and eating less, the jour was a very common dish to eat every single day, even four times a day for breakfast, for dinner, for supper. Nowadays, it's made with soup greens, onions, garlic, potatoes, sausage, and bacon. It's seasoned with allspice, marjoram, bay leaves, and especially important, rye sourdough. The base is a broth made with bacon, vegetables, and onions. Served with meat, the soup is a classic Polish Easter dish. Bacon and white onions are chopped and sauteed before being added. Cubed potatoes are cooked in the soup. Finally, the sourdough is added. Mm, tyle. Smacznego. Enjoy. Smacznego. We continue with a vegetarian classic, pumpkin soup from Germany. Using Hokkaido pumpkin makes it especially easy, since that variety can be used rind and all without peeling. Only the seeds are removed, and the pumpkin flesh is roughly cubed. For more flavor, saute onions and ginger with the pumpkin. And for a special twist, deglaze the pan with orange juice for some acidity and vegetable broth. With Hokkaido pumpkin, it's like this. Because it has a very nutty own taste, you don't need as many spices. With other pumpkin varieties, such as butternut pumpkin, you need a little stronger and more spices, because it only has a slightly buttery aroma. And to give the whole thing some power, you need more spices accordingly. Cream or coconut milk add a silky consistency. Cook for 20 minutes, then puree and adjust seasonings to taste. That's how easy it is to make a healthy and colorful dish. For Ireland's favorite soup, fish and shellfish are the stars. For this version of seafood chowder, a shallot studded with cloves and bay leaves forms the base. Smoked fish is heated in cream, creating the typical flavor, along with vegetables, which are sauteed separately. You're layering flavors. Some of the shallots and the celery in the beginning, you're giving the first base there. And then you're sauteing off your leeks and giving the next there. So you're building up every time with your layers and your flavors. So when you taste it, you should taste potato. You should taste leek. You should taste smoked. You should taste the clam. And then it all comes together in your mouth. The clams only need to be cooked briefly. And then the seafood chowder is ready, a creamy comfort food that's perfect for the rugged Irish weather. A very different fish soup comes from Marseilles in the south of France. Bouillabaisse consists of at least five varieties of fish. So here you have the fish, the rascasse, the congre, the roger grondin, the galinette, and the saint pierre. It's also made with Mediterranean vegetables and various herbs and spices. The vegetables are sauteed in a large pot. Then the fish and seasonings are added. After deglazing with water or broth, white wine and pastis, the bouillabaisse simmers for at least three hours. The broth is served in soup plates and the fish provided separately. Bon appétit. Finally, soup number five is Spanish gazpacho. We drink this cold soup here in the region because of the heat. Here, for example, we reach a temperature that in the summer, especially in July and August, can exceed 40, 45 degrees. The ingredients are bell peppers, garlic, cucumber, and tomatoes, all roughly chopped. The important aspect is that gazpacho is not cooked. The vegetables are pureed with olive oil. Some cooks strain it for a smoother texture and add other creative ingredients. Spanish gazpacho with fruity ice cream or one of the heartier classics. Which soup do you like best?