Brilliant soup making machine

[Lizzie]

I eat a lot of soup these days because it seems to agree with my digestion better than other things, and I'm sure lots of people on this forum must do, too. I have just bought the most fantastic new gadget that makes soup for you without needing to boil pans, keep your eye on how it's progressing, let it cool down, blend it, heat it up again etc etc.
It really is brilliant. It looks quite like a stainless steel kettle in size, and it just has two parts, a jug and a lid. (The electrics are inside the jug's handle and the lid.) All you do is chop your veg, put them in with some water, put the lid on and press one of two buttons, either for smooth or chunky soup. You can use stock instead of water if you want. Then you just wait 15 or 25 minutes and the soup is done, that's all there is to it. It's even really easy to clean as well.

My first soup that I made was potato, carrot and celery with a teaspoon of gluten free bouillon powder. It gives your kitchen a lovely soupy smell while it's cooking without turning it into a sauna the way normal soupmaking does.

So for anybody who eats soup often I would really recommend getting a soup making machine. Has anybody else got one? I just know I am going to use it very regularly and it's not just going to gather dust in a cupboard like some gadgets that seem a good idea at the time but turn out to be big and awkward and a nightmare to clean!

 

[Grumbletum]

I've been thinking about getting one cos I make a lot of soup too. Can I ask what make and model yours is?

 

[Lizzie]

It's the Morphy Richards Soup Maker. I think it's the only one they make. I bought it from Lakeland for £99, you can get them over the internet for about £80 but I like Lakeland's no hassle guarantee. It comes with a two year guarantee by the way.

One slightly annoying thing, when I bought it Lakeland gave me a book of money off vouchers, and it includes £20 off, you've guessed it, the soup maker, in October! So I could have bought something for a pound or two, waited a couple of weeks, then got it from Lakeland for £79. However, that's a minor niggle and I'm more than happy with it. It makes 1 litre, just the right amount for one or two people to use easily without getting sick of it.

 

[outlier]

that looks amazing!

 

[Lizzie]

It really is a fantastic machine and I've just had some of the soup for tea. It tastes great too, considering it has so few ingredients, and far better than if I'd made it myself in a pan (maybe that's just because I'm not the world's greatest cook, but I reckon it must also be to do with the way your soup cooks at just the right temperature for exactly the right length of time). The great thing about it is that you can go away and read the newspaper and just forget that you've got anything cooking instead of constantly going to and fro to the stove to make sure it's not boiling over or stopped simmering or whatever. The texture of the smooth soup is completely smooth, too, better than I can achieve in my blender without a vast amount of effort and the motor labouring hideously. There's a button for chunky and a button to blend a bit more if you want something in between smooth and chunky.

 

[Grumbletum]

Brilliant, thanks Lizzie. I am definitely going to get one. X

 

[Lizzie]

When you get one, do let me know if you think it's as wonderful as I do. Before I bought it I looked at some reviews on the web and it sounded just what I wanted, as I'm into healthy-type soup, not greasy, gunky stuff (though anybody who wants a bit of grease can pre-fry some onions and put them in).

 

[Lydia]

I love a soup made with a good bone broth. Bone broth has many healing properties and nutrients.

http://nourishedkitchen.com/the-benefits-of-bone-broth/

 

[Lizzie]

I'm not a meat-eater so I reckon I will stick with Marigold Vegan Bouillon Powder but I do have vague memories of early childhood when my Scottish gran made soup with bones in and it was definitely delicious.

I read the comments on the link about whether or not you have to pay for bones. That was interesting. I don't think butchers here in England charge for them. I used to get them free for the dog a few years ago, and my understanding is that butchers are glad to get rid of them because they have to pay for disposal otherwise. Not that there are many butchers shops any more, now that the supermarkets have taken over in most places.

 

[Grumbletum]

Yea, I use bones - usually the chicken carcass, but I do love the flavour of soup made with a ham bone. Mmmmmmmm. I also make veggie stock ( can't do yeast which a lot of cubes have.) base is an onion and herbs and I chuck in tops and tails during the week, boil it up a bit every day.

 

[Lizzie]

I admire people who have the energy to make their own stock. I think I have made veggie stock once, and that was nearly as much of a faff as making the soup itself, so when I discovered Marigold powder I turned to that instead (though it doesn't say it's yeast-free so I assume it isn't. They do actually make a yeast free version, so if you're ever feeling idle it's worth a try!). That's the closest thing I've come to the real thing and it's far superior to any of the other brands that are too salty and full of MSG and junk. For variety I sometimes use Free & Easy vegetable gravy sauce mix, which is gluten free, yeast free and dairy free. That's OK but nothing special, nice and simple to use like Bisto though but better ingredients and a lot dearer of course. Not as tasty as Bisto, unfortunately, when used as gravy but that's an advantage for soup because it thickens it and gives it a subtle taste.

I've checked a couple of my soupmaker recipes to see how it copes with meat. Due to the machine's rapid cooking times you have to be a bit careful, as you'd expect, for example the Chinese-style chicken soup recipe recommends using shredded, cooked chicken breast. The lamb and lentil broth in the recipe leaflet suggests lamb steak cut into very small pieces, browned first in a frying pan, and if the chunks are slightly bigger then using the chunky cycle twice so the lamb becomes more tender.

I'm curious about how you make stock by chucking fresh stuff in each day. Do you ever have to finish it and start again, or does it go on forever?

 

[Grumbletum]

Thanks for the tips, Lizzie. It's always good to have some instants for when the homemade's run out and I'm too busy or ill to make more.
I guess it could go on for ever as long as you dilute it a bit with water and let it boil for 10 mins every day.
I usually start mine at the weekend. When I'm cooking during the week, I chuck in tops and tails and peelings ( not potato, too starchy ) and boil as I'm cooking. Don't usually let it go longer than a week. I freeze what I've not used and clean out the pot.

 

[Lizzie]

Just as a follow up to this thread, I thought I'd mention for the benefit of anybody who's thinking of buying a soup making machine that I've just discovered you can buy the same one online at Makro for £47! (You can buy them in their shops for that price too but you have to have a trade card, whereas anyone is allowed to shop there online.) I'm still delighted with mine, even at £99 from Lakeland, but very slightly miffed to have paid double what I could have bought it for elsewhere.

 

[ameslouise]

Anyone know where you can buy in the US? All I can find are UK links!!!