Kitchen Note
Soup from what
is in your fridge.
Soup is mostly timing. Put each thing in when it needs to be there, not all at once.
Type guideServes whoever is home
The order
- Brown the vegetables and any meat or bones. Add tomato paste, miso, or a flavored vinegar, scrape the bottom, and promptly fill with broth or water.
- Add firm things first: potatoes, squash, cabbage, beans, or grains. Add cooked meat later, so it does not give up everything it has.
- Finish with tender greens, herbs, lemon, and olive oil. Taste for salt at the end, when the pot has become itself.
Tips
If the soup tastes flat, it usually needs salt or acid—not another ingredient. Add both slowly and keep tasting.
Make the pot coherent
Choose one direction before you start: tomato and chile, lemon and herbs, or beans and rosemary. A fridge soup tastes intentional when the finishing acid and herbs support the broth instead of competing with every leftover.