"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
...
> Sheldon wrote:
>
>> Started off by browning three pounds of cut up seasoned boneless beef
>> chuck in a bit of olive oil (superfluous fat trimmed and tossed out for
>> birds), added three diced onions, six cloves minced garlic to sweat, then
>> added like four quarts plain water to simmer while the beef started to
>> become tender ('bout an hour), then added an entire stalk diced celery, a
>> pound of diced carrots, a diced red pepper, a basket sliced button
>> 'shrooms, and a pound of rinsed pearl barley (prepped during the initial
>> simmering). Added a couple bay leaves, a couple spoons marjoram, some
>> dill weed, some parsley flakes, black pepper, white pepper, msg and
>> topped
>> up with more plain water, cooked covered below simmer for like 4-5 hours
>> on lowest heat, occasionally stirring, tasting, and adjusting s n' p and
>> other seasonings... didn't need any stock, made it's own, a very rich
>> stock. There's no reason to use stock in soups that contain a reasonably
>> significant quantity meat/vegetables.
>
> I can agree with most of that, though I would use bone-in chuck rather
> than
> boneless,

Why? I cut all the beef into bite sized bits before browning because it's a
soup, not a pot roast... the bone would just make a lot of extra work, and
would likely be wasted. I realize I could have and then even added the bone
to the pot adn tossed it later I've done that, many times.... but with sawn
beef bones therre is alwasy the danger for fercockting the dish with bone
slivers, so I refrain from using thsse bones in soups This was much easier,
and when I got to the store the boneless chuck looked really nice and at
$2.39/lb so did the price. A big old 7 bone roast was fattier, contained a
lot of bone to trim out, and cost 90¢/lb more.

> I'd use safflower or grapeseed oil instead of olive oil,

Whatever... for the couple Tbls to brown fatty meat to make eight quarts of
soup no one would know what oil was used... probably could have used 2 Tbls
of whale blubber and know one could tell. Safflower is cheap oil and
grapeseed oil is way overated, for those with more dollars than brain cells.

> and I wouldn't add dill.

Why, you allergic... then leave it out... no rulz what goes in soup. Some
folks are ascared of msg, but I like it, allows me to cut way down on
sodium. There are at least a dozen herbs one could choose from for a beef
soup, but I like dill, and since it's my soup... I didn't use but two scant
tsps, if I didn't say it was in there you'd never notice, especially not
with the two Tbls of marjoram and all the other flavors... there's onion and
garlic too but neither could be detected by taste. The correct method when
cooking soups/stews is so that no single flavor stands out other than the
main event; beef, barley, mushrooms... everything else is strictly to
enhance those three. I tend to be a little heavy handed with the white
pepper, but I add extra to my serving, not to the pot.

So when you make soup why don't you give a detailed discourse on how you
made yours and include photographs, because much of the attraction to food
is done with the eyes.