I want a soup which has the flavor of a baked potato with sour cream and
chives, but which doesn't have the fat of sour cream or the carbs of
potatoes. I'm using two ideas as background information for this experiment:

1. The Vegetarian Epicure books use a potato-peel broth as their standard
stock in soups. It's basically the same ingredients as meat-based stocks,
but uses potato peels instead of meat.

2. Clarifying soup to make consommé involves something called the "raft":
Egg whites are whipped and mixed with some form of ground meat (and
sometimes with eggshells as well). That egg-meat mixture is stirred into a
cold soup. The soup is heated. As the egg whites coagulate, they form a kind
of raft which floats to the top of the soup. The raft traps all kind of
particles inside, so that the remaining broth is clear.

So here's what I'm going to try for two diners: Roast three big russet
potatoes. Use a knife to remove the peels, including some of the potato
flesh. Use the remaining potato flesh for something else. (I'll be using it
to make potato soufflés.) Combine the potato peels with three cups water,
two tablespoons butter, one chopped onion, one smashed clove garlic, one
chopped small stalk celery, and a chopped carrot. Simmer for one hour, then
cool to room temperature and remove the cooked-out vegetables. Stir in a
quarter-cup of sour cream. Grind one big chicken breast with skin. Beat six
egg whites briefly, then combine the ground chicken and egg whites. Add
chicken-egg combination to soup pot and stir to combine. Cook over low heat,
stirring constantly, until egg whites coagulate and float to the top of the
pot. Continue to cook another 15 minutes undisturbed. (Do not allow to boil,
or the sour cream will curdle.) Remove raft using a skimmer, then pour
through a fine strainer to catch any particles of eggs which may have
dislodged from the raft. Skim off any fat from the top of the broth.
Sprinkle with chives when serving.

I'm *hoping* that the baked-potato flavor comes through, and that the raft
traps most of the fat. I think that there will still be some carbs in the
soup, because some starch will come out of the potato peels, but it
shouldn't be nearly as high as normal potato soup. I'll be interested to see
how thick the resulting soup is, and whether the raft can clarify the sour
cream component.

Has anybody here ever tried that kind of thing?

Bob

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
eb.com...
>I want a soup which has the flavor of a baked potato with sour cream and
> chives, but which doesn't have the fat of sour cream or the carbs of
> potatoes. I'm using two ideas as background information for this
> experiment:
>
> 1. The Vegetarian Epicure books use a potato-peel broth as their standard
> stock in soups. It's basically the same ingredients as meat-based stocks,
> but uses potato peels instead of meat.
>
> 2. Clarifying soup to make consommé involves something called the "raft":
> Egg whites are whipped and mixed with some form of ground meat (and
> sometimes with eggshells as well). That egg-meat mixture is stirred into a
> cold soup. The soup is heated. As the egg whites coagulate, they form a
> kind
> of raft which floats to the top of the soup. The raft traps all kind of
> particles inside, so that the remaining broth is clear.
>
> So here's what I'm going to try for two diners: Roast three big russet
> potatoes. Use a knife to remove the peels, including some of the potato
> flesh. Use the remaining potato flesh for something else. (I'll be using
> it to make potato soufflés.) Combine the potato peels with three cups
> water, two tablespoons butter, one chopped onion, one smashed clove
> garlic, one chopped small stalk celery, and a chopped carrot. Simmer for
> one hour, then cool to room temperature and remove the cooked-out
> vegetables. Stir in a quarter-cup of sour cream. Grind one big chicken
> breast with skin. Beat six egg whites briefly, then combine the ground
> chicken and egg whites. Add chicken-egg combination to soup pot and stir
> to combine. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until egg whites
> coagulate and float to the top of the pot. Continue to cook another 15
> minutes undisturbed. (Do not allow to boil, or the sour cream will
> curdle.) Remove raft using a skimmer, then pour through a fine strainer to
> catch any particles of eggs which may have dislodged from the raft. Skim
> off any fat from the top of the broth. Sprinkle with chives when serving.
>
> I'm *hoping* that the baked-potato flavor comes through, and that the raft
> traps most of the fat. I think that there will still be some carbs in the
> soup, because some starch will come out of the potato peels, but it
> shouldn't be nearly as high as normal potato soup. I'll be interested to
> see how thick the resulting soup is, and whether the raft can clarify the
> sour cream component.
>
> Has anybody here ever tried that kind of thing?
>
> Bob

I once made a potato and leek soup. I think it might have had chicken broth
in it. No dairy but the end result was creamy and it seemed like it had
dairy in it.

On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:08:21 -0800, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

> Roast three big russet
> potatoes. Use a knife to remove the peels, including some of the potato
> flesh. Use the remaining potato flesh for something else. (I'll be using it
> to make potato soufflés.)

I have no advice for your potato soup, but I wish you luck. As far as
separating the peel from the flesh, you're making it too complicated.
Roll them first to loosen things up, then split them in half and
squeeze out the interior flesh. You're making potato souffle with it
so it doesn't matter if the flesh is crumbled or not.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:08:21 -0800, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>I want a soup which has the flavor of a baked potato with sour cream and
>chives, but which doesn't have the fat of sour cream or the carbs of
>potatoes. I'm using two ideas as background information for this experiment:
>
>1. The Vegetarian Epicure books use a potato-peel broth as their standard
>stock in soups. It's basically the same ingredients as meat-based stocks,
>but uses potato peels instead of meat.
>
>2. Clarifying soup to make consommé involves something called the "raft":
>Egg whites are whipped and mixed with some form of ground meat (and
>sometimes with eggshells as well). That egg-meat mixture is stirred into a
>cold soup. The soup is heated. As the egg whites coagulate, they form a kind
>of raft which floats to the top of the soup. The raft traps all kind of
>particles inside, so that the remaining broth is clear.
>
>So here's what I'm going to try for two diners: Roast three big russet
>potatoes. Use a knife to remove the peels, including some of the potato
>flesh. Use the remaining potato flesh for something else. (I'll be using it
>to make potato soufflés.) Combine the potato peels with three cups water,
>two tablespoons butter, one chopped onion, one smashed clove garlic, one
>chopped small stalk celery, and a chopped carrot. Simmer for one hour, then
>cool to room temperature and remove the cooked-out vegetables. Stir in a
>quarter-cup of sour cream. Grind one big chicken breast with skin. Beat six
>egg whites briefly, then combine the ground chicken and egg whites. Add
>chicken-egg combination to soup pot and stir to combine. Cook over low heat,
>stirring constantly, until egg whites coagulate and float to the top of the
>pot. Continue to cook another 15 minutes undisturbed. (Do not allow to boil,
>or the sour cream will curdle.) Remove raft using a skimmer, then pour
>through a fine strainer to catch any particles of eggs which may have
>dislodged from the raft. Skim off any fat from the top of the broth.
>Sprinkle with chives when serving.
>
>I'm *hoping* that the baked-potato flavor comes through, and that the raft
>traps most of the fat. I think that there will still be some carbs in the
>soup, because some starch will come out of the potato peels, but it
>shouldn't be nearly as high as normal potato soup. I'll be interested to see
>how thick the resulting soup is, and whether the raft can clarify the sour
>cream component.
>
>Has anybody here ever tried that kind of thing?
>
>Bob
>
I've heard of that but have never tried it myself. I think the only
thing I would do different would be to clarify the stock before adding
anything else.

koko
--
Food is our common ground, a universal experience
James Beard

www.kokoscornerblog.com

Natural Watkins Spices
www.apinchofspices.com

koko wrote:

>> I'm *hoping* that the baked-potato flavor comes through, and that the
>> raft traps most of the fat. I think that there will still be some carbs
>> in the soup, because some starch will come out of the potato peels, but
>> it shouldn't be nearly as high as normal potato soup. I'll be interested
>> to see how thick the resulting soup is, and whether the raft can clarify
>> the sour cream component.
>>
>> Has anybody here ever tried that kind of thing?
>>
> I've heard of that but have never tried it myself. I think the only
> thing I would do different would be to clarify the stock before adding
> anything else.

I was pretty happy with it; the baked-potato flavor came through nicely. The
soup wasn't thick at all, which I interpret as meaning that not too much
starch came out of the ingredients. And there was no fat floating on top, so
I guess it was pretty low-fat. However, the soup was not clear; I guess it's
too much to ask the raft to clarify sour cream!

Lin didn't like the soup as much as I did; she prefers soups to be thick and
hearty. I was happy with thin and full-flavored.


Bob