Chicken soup mix as a spice

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3232

I am ashkenazi and live in Israel and I can't bring myself to admit that I use soup mix, so I'll explain.

First of all, I take issue with the point about the brisket. That is total apikorsus. I make delicious brisket and it never sees soup mix. Tell me if you want the recipe.

Now that that's off my chest, I'll tell you that my policy is anti soup mix, but I have things still to learn about sticking out for principles against all odds. This is the story in point form:

1. I am a total snob (apologies if that is an exclusively UK English word. I'm not sure.). That is, I like to think that I am a good cook and feed my family healthy food and do not depend on adding artificial processed chemical garbage to make my food taste nice. I like to think that.

2. I am attracted to the convenience of soup mix. It opens access to many fast ways of cooking flavorful food, and like many working mothers, I am busy.

3. I have resisted countless times from buying it, after looking over the ingredients and concluding that it isn't food. (1) used to win over (2) until (4) happened, and now, it depends.

4. My husband is taking a course this year. He has to go to the course once a week and is there for a long afternoon of classes, stretching from lunchtime until evening. He doesn't have time to eat lunch before it and neither does anyone else on the course. They are also still there when they would normally eat dinner. They have a hot water urn at their disposal. The first week, I sent him hot food in a food flask. The following week, my toddler broke the food flask. The week after that, my husband took couscous, even though he can't digest wheat very well, and soup mix, and has been taking that ever since. Other people on the course have started to copy him. He has gone so far as to ask me to buy it for him when I go supermarket shopping. We now have a few flavors at home. I would consider going for therapy to deal with my feelings about this, but I can't afford it.

5. I didn't have time to make soup for this past Shabbos, so I made "soup" from soup mix. I haven't even done complete teshuva for it yet. The terrible part of it is that my toddler loved it. She also knows what cheetos and blissli are and laps those up too, which is equally sad, and not instigated by her mother.

6. My husband has always teased me either that my food tastes nice and so it must have soup mix in it, or that it doesn't quite have enough flavor and could use some soup mix.

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3232

Silver Member Joined: Mar 24 2011 Posts: 591

I can't stand the taste of soup mix so, no, I don't use it.
But I have an Israeli-sefaradi cookbook that calls for soup mix in EVERYTHING!

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3232

Sort of correction for the brisket recipe: It might be slightly better to boil water and pour a cup or a bit less of boiling water onto the onions before placing the brisket on top, rather than to pour water over the top. You can then additionally pour some wine over the top of the brisket. The point is that there should be some liquid at the bottom, and if it is already steaming at the beginning, that might help the process.

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3232

I forget to say that my husband and I relate to the use of soup mix in Israel as a spice as a known fact. By caterers, restaurants and home cooks.

Posted: Sat, Jan 07 2012, 5:26 pm Post subject: re: Chicken soup mix as a spice

I find that real spices tastes so good, I dont need soup mixes.
does chawaig (sp?) count? I dont think so, its paprika, cumin and something else. but usually I go the soup vegetable route as below.

when I had guests, they could hardly believe I hadnt used soup mix. the wonders of onion, celery, parsley and other soup vegetables!

I dont sound too arrogant, do I?

that being said, I do understand the reason why people use soup mix, if its for saving time, or they havent learned the secret of spices.

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 12 2007 Posts: 20484

I find that Israeli usage of soup mix is a real problem because, as noted here, it's in EVERYTHING and I find that disgusting. It makes everything taste like... soup mix, and not food. I don't get it's popularity. At all.
_________________
The future simply isn't what it used to be....

Posted: Sat, Jan 07 2012, 7:57 pm Post subject: re: Chicken soup mix as a spice

I will be visiting Israel shortly and will be relying on restaurants for food. Is there any way to avoid soup mix at restaurants or should I just submit to the fact that I will be consuming lots of it while I am there?

Posted: Sat, Jan 07 2012, 8:13 pm Post subject: re: Chicken soup mix as a spice

I often use it in soup because I am too lazy to make a proper stock. I usually have chicken soup in the freezer but its a waste and I don't want to make the soup fleishig.

I do try and cook without it though, but I have found soup can be tasteless without it. On pesach I made a squash soup and it was so tasteless I needed to keep adding different things - in the end I added ginger, garlic and OJ and it was delicious. So it is possible but you need to be creative. Especially when so many recipes include it as an ingredient and don't give alternatives. I do not use it in chicken soup, I just use lots of veggies.

I do make a very quick rice which uses soup mix. Of course onions and garlic would work but then it wouldn't be quick.

I do kind of consider it cheating though.

Whoever mentioned the cartons of chicken soup stock I have not seen them. Also, if they are fleishig, they may not be a hechsher that everyone uses. Plus of course they will make the dish fleishig, which I avoid doing because people don't like getting fleishig in my house, also we might have veggie guests.

one idea I saw is to to save the water used to cook veggies and use that as a stock.

Silver Member Joined: Jun 21 2010 Posts: 818

Moderator Joined: Aug 14 2005 Posts: 4536 Location: Ohio

For this Shabbos, I used it in two things.

I used it in my chicken soup for Shabbos because DH likes it better than just plain chicken soup. I also put some in my rice pilaf with mushrooms.
_________________
mommy to 2 girls, 1 boy

"I would rather have my people laugh at my economies than weep for my extravagance."
--King Oscar of Sweden

Posted: Sat, Jan 07 2012, 10:53 pm Post subject: re: Chicken soup mix as a spice

so unhealthy, even the non msg brands. I rarely use it, if ever. someone on imamother suggested using minced onion instead of onion soup mix, and its a great substitute. I wouldn't put bissli in my kids' meals, why would I msg laden soup mix?
_________________
If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

Platinum Member Joined: Nov 01 2009 Posts: 8184

I don't use onion soup mix.

Someone made us a meal after I gave birth and they flavored their kugel with it. Blech.
_________________
Never mistake activity for achievement.

Diamond Member Joined: Mar 11 2010 Posts: 3058

Gold Member Joined: Jan 20 2009 Posts: 1259

I dont use soup mix - but I have to admit to having a couple of cans/boxes of chicken broth (msg free) in the pantry for those times when I have run out of home made stock in the freezer and havent had time to make more.

Also I find that kosher meat/chicken is so salt - even if the butcher rinses the meat really well after salting, that it doesnt need the added sodium from soup mix.

Posted: Sun, Jan 08 2012, 2:18 am Post subject:

I use onion soup mix in my cholent.

When I'm cooking or baking meat, I use onion soup mix as well - it adds to the savory flavor.

I add a tablespoon of it to my vegetable soup.

I would not use it in kugels, or farfels. Everything has it's place.

In the larger scope of things, a bit of msg won't hurt you.
_________________
"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things!!" - Steven Tyler

Gold Member Joined: Jul 07 2009 Posts: 1719

I use it in my chicken soup
in my matzah balls (which I make parve so my kids can eat it w/ other soups)
umm I started using it in my split pea soup- which I like parve as well but I like the added flavor
I guess I use it primarily in soups
I am sepharadi and I live in Israel but I would prob use it the same even if I lived in the States.
I checked that I use it as a spice. but I don't use it on meat, or chicken not on my veg. not on my rice so I'm not really sure. I do use it but I"m not obssessed w/ it

Posted: Sun, Jan 08 2012, 7:24 pm Post subject: re: Chicken soup mix as a spice

Proud user of onion soup mix/chicken soup mix/veggie soup mix, and I'm chutz laaretz sephardiyot. (Hmm where do I fit in the questionnaire???)

For one thing, traditional sephadic food, esp rice or soup, are made with meat or chicken. It doesn't work as DH is a vegetarian, and very often I want to keep the food parve. Omitting meat/chicken based stock and just using spices and salt gives rather different and insufficient flavour if you ask me. For me the issue is how much soup stock you use--I use rather small amount, to bring out the ingredients flavour rather than overpower it.

By the same token, salt or sugar is not that healthy either. Oh and for those readers who prefer not to use MSG, please free to substitute/omit soup mix to the recipes I post on imamother.