Getting a chill on: Cold soups

Some people don't quite get the point of chilly soups, but I love them.

It's unfortunate that iced soups have a "gourmet" image, with highfalutin names like gazpacho and vichyssoise, so you tend to see them only at pricey restaurants. Humbler places, even those for whom chilled soups are an ethnic tradition, often seem afraid to offer it, perhaps with Fran Lebowitz ringing in their ears -- "Cold soup is a very tricky thing and it is a rare hostess who can carry it off. More often than not the dinner guest is left with the impression that had he only come a little earlier he could have gotten it while it was still hot." ("Metropolitan Life, 1978)

The list of chilled soups doesn't stop with the well-known Spanish and French-American versions that come first to mind. There is Turkish cacik, Polish chlodnik, Armenian tahnabour, Bulgarian tarator, and a wide variety of dishes like Korean water kimchi that aren't exactly soup but serve a similar role.

As reported here, I had a delicious bowl of cold beet borscht in the Russian-Jewish style at Manny's the other day, nothing fancy but full of beets and with a big dollop of sour cream. It was perhaps a bit one-dimensional -- it could have had more sophisticated seasoning (foods served cold always do need liberal seasoning) -- but it was refreshing and satisfying.

Have you had any good cold soups lately?

We (mostly) don't do cold soups right now because, well, they're a lot of work, and they also aren't Sparky's favorite. However, recently, I was looking for something to read and the only food magazine at the Waldenbooks was Eating Well, whose path I'd never crossed before. I'm excited about their Tomatillo Gazpacho.

My usual reportoire includes a spanish tomato gazpacho, vichysoisse (which, really, I prefer chunky and hot) and the following recipe which my mother always called simply "zucchini soup."

3 medium zucchini
1-2 chopped onions
4 cups chicken broth (my mother used bouillon cubes & water) (1/2 cup reserved)
1/2 tsp salt and pepper or more to tate
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp butter (or EVOO)
1/4 tsp dill (optional)

Sour cream and croutons for garnish

Sweat onions in butter or oil until translucent and soft, being careful not to allow browning. Add unpeeled quartered, sliced zucchini, saute for a moment, add 3 1/2 cups broth and seasonings. Create a slurry with the remaining broth and corn starch and whisk into the mixture, bringing it to a boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until zucchini is tender, remove from heat and pour into a blender to liquefy. Chill, and serve cold with garnishes.

just had a delicious, refreshing cold soup at GNR-winner Semiramis. Made with house made yogurt, mint, and chopped grapes. It was a special for the evening, but our server said they make it pretty often.

I love cold soups and do make them in the summer. Vichyssoise is a favorite hot and cold at my house, and I enjoy cold beet borscht if there's good sour cream (my kids have yet to discover the goodness of beets --the new spinach according to the NYT). My husband and I had a delicious cold yogurt soup last night at Semiramis. It was quite tangy with lots of garlic, cucumbers, and, what really made the soup special--grape halves. The sweetness of the grapes really balanced the sour of the yogurt. It was very refreshing. I recommend it if it's on special when you are there.

Semiramis
4639-41 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 279-8900

Eva - great minds think alike

Kennyz wrote:Eva - great minds think alike

Kenny, You beat me to the line!
E

On the sweeter side of cold soups, I've been fond of the occasional Hungarian fruit soup. Here's a typical recipe for a sour cherry soup, but you can make it with any of a wide variety of fruits: berries, peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc.

Binko wrote:On the sweeter side of cold soups, I've been fond of the occasional Hungarian fruit soup. Here's a typical recipe for a sour cherry soup, but you can make it with any of a wide variety of fruits: berries, peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc.

I made Meggyleves this year with a bunch of sour cherries I got from the Oak Park farmers market.

I'm seriously considering putting two of these trees in my yard just so I can get my own sour cherries in a few years. I've never had it with apples but I've seen it made with plums, the apples are an interesting idea.

Erzsi wrote:

Binko wrote:On the sweeter side of cold soups, I've been fond of the occasional Hungarian fruit soup. Here's a typical recipe for a sour cherry soup, but you can make it with any of a wide variety of fruits: berries, peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc.

I made Meggyleves this year with a bunch of sour cherries I got from the Oak Park farmers market.

I'm seriously considering putting two of these trees in my yard just so I can get my own sour cherries in a few years. I've never had it with apples but I've seen it made with plums, the apples are an interesting idea.

In case you need it, here's a recipe.

Not to discourage anyone from posting recipes, but to clarify, I was hoping for more recommendations like the one for Semiramis (thanks!) -- casual, inexpensive restaurants serving cold soups.

I have loads of recipes. But as Mhays says, the best ones are work, and in this kind of weather, cooking something hot to eat cold later is not all that appealing. (My kitchen is not currently air-conditioned.)

I had a couple of pints of blueberries I bought with an eye toward cold blueberry soup, but ultimately, I just ate them.

Ah! I have to admit somewhat shamefully, then, that I rather like Whole Food's "gazpacho." I add the quotations because it's not a true gazpacho, made with a bread base - just tomato juice with lots of vegetable chunks and a slick of nice olive oil (if you get it on a good day) The soup restaurant (RIP) in Evanston used to have one that was even better, and gave you a nice piece of bread to dunk in it.

I love cold soups.

The vischysoisse at Sweets & Savories is always outstanding. Also, the gazpacho at Hannah's Bretzel is usually quite good, packing a healthy punch of spice on most days. I believe there is usually a cold soup on the menu at Bittersweet during the summer. I've never been disappointed by any of their soups, hot or cold.

Bittersweet
http://www.bittersweetpastry.com
1114 W Belmont Ave
(773) 929-1100

This doesn't help LAZ much now, but I remember eating at the original Ann Sather's on Belmont long before Tom Tunney's ownership (late 1960s) when I was a child. The restaurant had a great cold fruit soup that I loved and thought was the most amazing menu item because you got to start your meal with a sweet. It had plums in it, I recall, still with their pits and also cherries, I think. I wonder if Ann Sather's now serves any such thing--I haven't been in years.

Hi,

Last week at Bank Lane Bakery, I had a bowl of Raspberry soup. After a while, I wished I had ordered a cup instead. While refreshing and cool initially, I found a little went a long way.

Bank Lane Bakery
670 BAnk Lane
Lake Forest, IL
847/234-8801

Does anyone remember the cold tart cherry soup that was a featured dessert back in the day at Meritage (RIP)? Still on on my all-time favorite dessert list, and it was a soup, of all things!

When my next bounty of beets arrives in my CSA box, I plan on attempting a cold borscht. When I do, I'll post back on the results.

I'm a big fruit-based soup fan. Best one I've ever had was a strawberry soup that I had at the sadly now-defunct Steven resto in Scottsdale, AZ. It was owned by Steve Stone, the estwhile MLB/Cubs pitcher and bgroadcaster, and current color man for the Chicago White Sox radio team. Steven, though, was not a jock resto in any way - not a TV nor any memorabilia in sight. Stone's a very interesting guy.

The soup was concocted of fresh berries, a little fresh lemon juice, local honey (just a little); blend til smooth and strain, and add a generous slug of a dry Riesling. I've made it with a good cava or French/California sparkling wine. The key is to keep tasting the fruit as you go, until you get that perfect balance of sweet and tart, and to chill it thoroughly before adding the wine or bubbly. I would think that a fully ripe muskmelon would be a very good candidate for this treatment, as well (though I'd add a big pinch of kosher or sea salt to the puree). Makes a lovely first course on a blistering hot day, of which we had plenty in Scottsdale.

My favorite cold soup I've had can be found occasionally on the specials summer menu at Hot Chocolate. Their cucumber gazpacho has all the requisite seasonings to keep a chilled soup from blandness. It has a runny, yet thick consistency, almost like a good smoothie.

Hot Chocolate
1747 N. Damen
Chicago, IL 60647
(773)489-1747

If you don't want to cook, a cold cucumber soup is a snap. My latest--I've got loads of cukes coming in the garden now--is kefir, buttermilk, grated cuke (without seeds and peels), garlic, lots of salad burnet, and some mint. I used to salt and drain the cucumbers, but while cooking with my nephew at the lake this summer, we forgot that step and didn't want to dilute the soup, so didn't add salt. Didn't need it.

Another cold soup that you can do without cooking is beet kvass. Peel and quarter two good-sized beets. Add them with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh whey) to a half gallon jar, about a half teaspoon of salt, and fill with water. Let sit out for about 24 hours, then chill. You can serve as a beverage or as a soup, garnished with chopped cucumber, sour cream, and chives or dill. You can get two batches of kvass out of the beets, the second one will be a little less strong.

annieb wrote:Another cold soup that you can do without cooking is beet kvass. Peel and quarter two good-sized beets. Add them with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh whey

How do you get fresh whey without making cheese first?

This sounds somewhat similar to rosl, Jewish fermented beets, typically used as an ingredient during Passover, but there you basically just put the beets in water and let them sit for a few weeks. The liquid is then used to make borscht, color horseradish and for a few other things.

Two words. Naeng myun.

Unfortunately, I can't be much of help as to where I eat it. My favorite place (out of Solga, Seoul Garden and a couple of random other places I can't remember) is run by an older Korean couple. I know that it's on Lincoln in a strip mall near a Chase Bank. But as I don't speak or read Korean, I can't even begin to tell you what it's called.

It's perfect on those hot summer days after a day at the beach.

kimeetee wrote:Two words. Naeng myun.

I was going to reply that naeng myun was just cold noodles, but a quick reference check tells me that mool naeng myun is a soup, while bibim naeng myun is the cold noodle dish I'm familiar with.

kimeetee wrote:Two words. Naeng myun.

Unfortunately, I can't be much of help as to where I eat it. My favorite place (out of Solga, Seoul Garden and a couple of random other places I can't remember) is run by an older Korean couple. I know that it's on Lincoln in a strip mall near a Chase Bank. But as I don't speak or read Korean, I can't even begin to tell you what it's called.

It's perfect on those hot summer days after a day at the beach.

Could it be Da Rae Jung? (there's a photo in the link, thank you Google Maps!)

LAZ,

I make yogurt cheese pretty regularly, so often have whey on hand.

Mhays wrote:

kimeetee wrote:Two words. Naeng myun.

Unfortunately, I can't be much of help as to where I eat it. My favorite place (out of Solga, Seoul Garden and a couple of random other places I can't remember) is run by an older Korean couple. I know that it's on Lincoln in a strip mall near a Chase Bank. But as I don't speak or read Korean, I can't even begin to tell you what it's called.

It's perfect on those hot summer days after a day at the beach.

Could it be Da Rae Jung? (there's a photo in the link, thank you Google Maps!)

That's it! I really like their rendition. Their panchan is pretty basic and minimal (and sometimes on the too ripe side for me), but my attention is on the naeng myun.

Occasionally I make a cucumber soup with dill and salmon. It's pretty tasty, especially with a hearty bread on the side.

Chicago Trib just had an article about this!

They recommend:

The corn gazpacho at
Sepia
123 Jefferson Ave.,
Chicago; 312-441-1920.

The chilled Granny Smith apple soup at
Maijean
30 S. Prospect Ave.,
Clarendon Hills; 630-794-8900.

The "Kona Kampachi" ceviche in watermelon soup at
Tallulah
4539 N. Lincoln Ave.,
Chicago; 773-942-7585.

The cucumber gazpacho at
Fox & Obel
401 E. Illinois St.,
Chicago; 312-410-7301.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 9739.story

As someone who considers himself an aficionado of something going the way of the rotary phone - Cold Beet Borscht, I would be remiss if I did not note the truly outstanding bowl served up by The Bagel in Lakeview and Old Orchard . Slightly sweet, with nice fresh cut-up beets, this is unfortunately only served seasonally - roughly from Memorial Day thru somewhere around the Jewish New Year in the early fall.

The Bagel Deli
3107 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL, 60657
(773) 477-0300

Old Orchard Center
Skokie, IL
(847) 677-0100

There was also an NPR story on this subject earlier this month.