Soup is marvelous. It’s one of those foods we’ve been eating (or sipping) since the dawn of time. I love how every culture on the planet has a soup they’re really proud of & it blows my mind just how many soups there are in this world. No matter how many we include in a tier list, we’re bound to get comments or angry DMs complaining that we missed a regional banger. Our warmest and deepest apologies!! 😆🥂
The best categorization of soup I’ve seen is from the ever so comprehensive Larousse Gastronomnique. Broadly paraphrasing - soups are split into two groups: clear soups and thick soups. With clear soups you have broth & consommé - the latter is carefully clarified stock that is often served with thinly sliced pieces of meat, mixed vegetables, croutons or even ravioli. Thick soups on the other hand can be split into four broad houses:
Purée Soups: Vegetable soups thickened with natural starch in puréed vegetables
Bisques: Made with the richness of puréed shellfish
Cream: Thickened with béchamel or a roux, enriched with milk / cream
Velouté: Thickened with egg yolks, butter and cream
Soups that fall outside these categories include those thickened with arrowroot or say a Polish zurek which is actually made from fermented rye starter!
Side note: Legend says the reason why “shellfish soups” are called bisque, traces back to the French phrase bis cuites which means twice cooked - since you would traditionally cook the shellfish twice in the whole process of making the bisque. Interesting.
When you think about it soup is really just extracting flavors from ingredients that you love into water and then pairing it with complementary foods.
For example, with French onion soup you’re essentially melting a bunch of onions in butter until they’re sweet, then simmering them in beef stock before covering it in a blanket of the finest gruyère.
With miso you’re steeping kombu (dried kelp) to make dashi stock, then dissolving miso paste into it! It’s often served with some properly prepared tofu, scallions and wakame.
This time of year is absolutely perfect for oxtail, especially oxtail soup. Simmering oxtail with beef stock leaves you with a soup that’s full of marrow, oxtail you can tear apart with your pinky finger. Goes so well with aromatic vegetables like celery, onions and carrots. Gelatin maxxing. Peaty. Absolutely divine.
Pho is one of those soups that just leave you feeling reborn after you’ve had it. It’s made from beef stock essentially with spices added until it’s beautifully fragrant before raw beef goes into the bowl to cook in the amazing medley of rich flavors. It’s served very differently depending where you are - sometimes with basil, coriander, lime, chili and other times just simply noodles, beef and scallions.
Kharcho is an underrated soup from Georgia - of great beef, rice and it’s sour in the most beautiful way. It’s basically a concoction of onion, garlic and tomatoes with beef simmering on low heat before rice and tkemali (a tart sauce made from unripe plums) are added.
And of course we have Poland’s iconic żurek. It’s so amazing how they’ve used rye starter in the broth. It’s usually served with hard boiled eggs, bacon and sliced kielbasa sausage. Hearty, nourishing soup for Fall / Winter - usually served in a nice bread bowl.
If you’re looking to make soup this week, here’s a great lemon chicken soup recipe from Michaela Theibel we featured earlier this year:
What’s your favorite soup?
Kaya toast
The most underrated sandwich in the world
Fruits for November
What are you looking forward to this month? (besides the best pomegranates ofc hehe)
Cozy season
Ladies & Gentlemen, a warm welcome to cozy season 🤝🥂
❋ Homemade apple pie cinnamon by Kiley Heard
“These Homemade Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls are one I come back to again and again at this time of year, and it’s for good reason. They’re insanely soft and fluffy, so sticky and gooey, and truly just melt in your mouth with every single bite. Tucked inside each swirl is a classic brown sugar cinnamon filling that gets gooey and almost caramelized as they bake. And as if that’s not already enough…on top of that you get a homemade apple pie filling that warming, full of all the cozy spices, and has those tart, juicy apples that makes each bite feel like a warm little hug. Baked until perfectly golden and finished with a classic cream cheese frosting that melts down into every swirl…take one bite and you will be transported to fall heaven haha!” — Kiley Heard
❋ Creamy Turkey and White Bean Stew in 25 Minutes by andrew gruel
“You’ve got 25 minutes to put dinner on the table. The kids just got home from practice, you haven’t planned anything, and you’re staring at a pound of ground turkey wondering how to make it interesting.
This is one of my go-to meals for exactly that situation.
Ground turkey, a couple cans of white beans, some broth, and Parmesan. Nothing complicated. But with one small trick, those simple ingredients turn into a rich, creamy stew that tastes like it’s been cooking much longer than it has.” — andrew gruel
❋ 10 Brutal Ways to Make Everyday a Good Day by Eddy Quan
“Nothing will brighten up your day like a genuine smile from someone you don’t know. There’s a reason why great comedians get paid as much as they do. On the surface it’s just a person behind a microphone but the gift of real laughter is priceless.
People yearn to feel understood and now that everyone has their head down as they scroll through hours of videos watching influencers remind them of how uncool their life is… The biggest favour you can give another person is to make them feel seen.
The other day I struck up a conversation with an older lady while I waited for my wife. She spent the next ten minutes telling me stories about her two children. She said she was in town visiting her children who never call her. When her Uber arrived she thanked me for the conversation because “no one wants to talk these days”. The funny thing is I barely did any talking. It cost ten minutes of my time but it made her day.” — Eddy Quan
❋ Mini Pumpkin Basque Cheesecakes by Jillian
“Mini basque cheesecakes are quickly becoming my go-to dinner party dessert. They’re delightful, delicious and really easy to customize depending on the season. My autumnal take features pumpkin (or squash) puree folded into the cheesecake. These are then baked until dark brown and topped with espresso mascarpone, malted cornflake crunch and caramel sauce. I always use Aimee’s basque cheesecake recipe as my jumping off point and then adapt it however I like.” — Jillian
❋ Americans Don’t Dress Badly, We Just Live Unsexy Lives by E.M. Evans
“America is not a monolith—neither culturally nor aesthetically. Where I live now, as opposed to where I grew up or lived previously might as well be another country. Fashion in particular is very different. I will never forget showing up to the mom group last winter in my usual winter uniform: loose boot-cut jeans, ankle boots with a small stacked heel, a shrunken sweater, and an oversized menswear-style coat. I thought I looked okay, inoffensive, and not overdone at all. The rest of the moms were wearing flannel and skinny jeans with lace-up boots and one of them made a remark about how “it must be nice to have time to actually get dressed.” The thing is, I pulled the sweater off the top of a pile on the floor and sniffed it to make sure it didn’t smell too bad before putting it on. Between working from home as a self-employed fractional marketing executive, taking care of a then-one-year-old at the same time, and still making some time to cook and clean, this was my low-effort outfit. My aesthetic language was just much different than the West Virginia natives.” — E.M. Evans
❋ Baked Alaska Sundaes by Maddy
“Your inboxes are filled with ‘cool girl gift guides’, holiday dinner menus that have you doing the most, ways to hang fresh garland using an extension rod, and instructions for ‘the best way to make your home smell like a giant simmer pot’. It’s November 6 and I’m already overwhelmed.
When I consume this kind of content (which I also fully admit to creating myself) it’s easy to feel like I’m not doing enough, not hosting big enough parties, not decorating cozy and intentionally and creatively enough… and my god that’s not what the fuckin holidays are about. I know we all know this. But close your eyes, take a breath, and actually let yourself believe it (that was lowkey for me, I feel better).
If you want to spend time in the kitchen, spend the whole damn day in the kitchen! But also don’t if it’s simply too much. Ina has given us complete and utter guilt free permission to tell ourselves “store bought is fine.”” — Maddy
❋ Chicken, mushroom, and farro soup by Caroline Chambers
“A cozy, comforting, nutritious, and satiating soup filled with shredded chicken, tender veggies, hearty mushrooms, and nutty farro, all enveloped in a bright and lemony broth. It has the nourishing vibes of a chicken noodle soup (it’s a perfect meal to take to a friend who’s sick or who just had a baby!), but instead of noodles, we’re incorporating farro, kale, and lemon for elevated flavor, extra vitamins and minerals, and tons of texture. In fact, I’m willing to go ahead and say that this is better than chicken noodle soup because the farro just gets more delicious as it sits in the broth, whereas noodles get soggy and sad!” — Caroline Chambers
Rebuild your IG Algorithm (more fun links):
❋ Things I copied from hotels that made my apartment feel more chic
❋ Nothing goes to waste in this kitchen!
❋ What inspires our autumn menu at Tannay
❋ Ten tiny things worth framing
❋ Most obsessed-over jaw drops of the month
❋ Make your big things more interesting
Have a beautiful Sunday!
— Rocky
❋ All our digital issues are free to peruse. Explore our latest:
❋ Winter 25/26 Coffee Table Book (Print)
❋ Explore the full WARKITCHEN archive here.
❋ Join WARKITCHEN book club here.
❋ Got an article or recipe in mind? We’d love to hear more! Please send your pitch to rocky@warkitchen.net.
😍