Saving a pot of soup
There is a challenge to any cook in using unknown ingredients. Variation in texture, flavour, colour; any or all of the above, for those who seek a multiple choice question in life. My decision to make an impulse purchase has led to the longest soupmaking session of my career in the family kitchen. Pea soup; the ultimate in haute cuisine.
We’d stopped at the local market for a few quick purchases, given that supper is a required meal when there are big guys with big appetites. I had made it through the dry ingredients section and was almost to the finish line when my attention stopped on some lumps of mystery meat, marked as “salted pork”. We have refrigerators in this part of the world (both indoors and outdoors) so salting of food for storage is a lost art. The price was low, and I was in for the adventure. Back to the racks of dried vegetables where a bag of yellow peas completed the list.
These were magical peas, ones that required soaking in a pot of water in the (indoor) refrigerator overnight, and by the next afternoon I had a lot more peas than before, if volume can be used to make comparative measure. I browned some garlic, found the bottle of bay leaves, and within minutes I had a pot of potential on slow simmer. Several hours later, a test taste by the official kitchen guardian and then, the face. My soup had a brine base.
Google returned a conservative 1,230,000 references to how to save a salty soup. Not enough to go on, we called to a relative, turning the situation into an international intergenerational (but not interdenominational) incident. There were two strategies, out of the 1,230,001 at hand that seemed possible.
The first required adding some raw potatoes to the pot. This IS the Year of the Potato according to the UN, so out came the peeler and in went the spuds. After a half hour, I had a small bowlful of really tasty taters, just like the salty ones that you get someplace else. The other suggestion was to start over with a second batch, and to leave the pork on the shelf.
This morning I returned to the market, and my yellow peas were all out of stock. I settled for a bag of quick cook splits, and after supper my pot of peas and water took about an hour to turn into something mushy and devoid of flavour (very reminiscent of infant fodder). I simply added the original soup from the refrigerator, continued to simmer for a short while and voilà…
I now have a lot of really good pea soup, should anyone be stopping by. Bring your own bread.
