Beware of gimmick soups! Yesterday I spent a few hours down at the Taste of Buffalo, an annual affair where local restaurants set up booths and dole out samples of some of their signature dishes. Needless to say, I tried a variety of items, not just soup, but the two soups that I did try were not that great, which was a big disappointment. The first, pictured above was Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup, which was sour as opposed to sharply tangy, and padded with lumps of potato instead of actual chicken. Yuck. The other was a Beef & Weck Soup (from the same venue). Buffalo Wings are of course a local favorite which have spread across the country; Beef on Weck (a salted roll with caraway seeds) is an even longer standing traditional Buffalo staple, so I guess it made a kind of sense to feature them at this event. Unfortunately, the latter was pretty blah-- basically a beef and dumpling soup with the small dumplings salted like a weck roll. It wasn't terrible, but lacked pizzazz-- maybe a dollop of horseradish would've made it more interesting (it certainly works with the sandwich).
Luckily, the weekend was not a total bust in the soup area. My mom made a pot of Cream of Cauliflower soup on Saturday night, and it was great (I should've taken a picture, instead you get an internet facsimile above). Full of fresh chunks of carrots and onions in addition to the cauliflower (purchased that morning at the local farmers' market), and set off in a slightly cheesy cream broth, I'd match it against anything the fancypants chefs at the Taste of Buffalo were peddling (and not just counting the soups). I can always count on Mom coming through with the goods!
Beware of gimmick soups! Yesterday I spent a few hours down at the Taste of Buffalo, an annual affair where local restaurants set up booths and dole out samples of some of their signature dishes. Needless to say, I tried a variety of items, not just soup, but the two soups that I did try were not that great, which was a big disappointment. The first, pictured above was Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup, which was sour as opposed to sharply tangy, and padded with lumps of potato instead of actual chicken. Yuck. The other was a Beef & Weck Soup (from the same venue). Buffalo Wings are of course a local favorite which have spread across the country; Beef on Weck (a salted roll with caraway seeds) is an even longer standing traditional Buffalo staple, so I guess it made a kind of sense to feature them at this event. Unfortunately, the latter was pretty blah-- basically a beef and dumpling soup with the small dumplings salted like a weck roll. It wasn't terrible, but lacked pizzazz-- maybe a dollop of horseradish would've made it more interesting (it certainly works with the sandwich).
Luckily, the weekend was not a total bust in the soup area. My mom made a pot of Cream of Cauliflower soup on Saturday night, and it was great (I should've taken a picture, instead you get an internet facsimile above). Full of fresh chunks of carrots and onions in addition to the cauliflower (purchased that morning at the local farmers' market), and set off in a slightly cheesy cream broth, I'd match it against anything the fancypants chefs at the Taste of Buffalo were peddling (and not just counting the soups). I can always count on Mom coming through with the goods!
1 comment:
Thanks, John, Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to cook up something good for my children. Mom
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