"cybercat" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> "Janet B." > wrote:
>>
>> I use Barb's method, only no peas, tomato sometimes barley, sometimes
>> potato and then green beans and cabbage. It's all good. I think the
>> important part is to get the beef tender and tasty. From there on it's
>> up to your tastes.
>> Janet
> Thank you! I don't use a pressure cooker, but feel sure the usual braising
> method will be fine for the soup. I want to use barley for its health
> properties,
> and probably will use potatoes too. How to you cut up the cabbage, in what
> size pieces? I am having a hard time imagining cabbage in vegetable beef
> soup for
> some reason.
You're welcome! Depending upon how big a pot of soup (your discretion --
I'm usually working with 6 quarts of soup in a 8 quart pot), I quarter a
smaller cabbage and then slice into about 1/2 inch slices and then cut the
other way so that I end up with pieces about 1/2 inch or more square. For
me, the cabbage isn't there so much to be a cabbage vegetable as it is to
add a little special something to the broth. I add the cabbage about the
same time that I add the green beans, so the cabbage gets cooked beyond
being crunchy and really sort of becomes part of the soup. If that makes
any sense? Sometimes I use the pressure cooker for the beef and sometimes
not, but I always cook the rest of the soup without pressure. If I'm making
turkey soup -- a broth that I consider to be pretty full bodied and strong I
also add cabbage. The veggies change a little for turkey soup. I always
add corn and probably tomatoes and maybe some kind of dried bean. Start
with one of the suggested ideas for beef soup and then change it up to suit
your taste. Then it's Cybercat's Beef Soup!
Janet