Ready to start making soup, but not sure if you have the right tools? Here you’ll find six simple tools to make soup they’ll treasure.
My passion is soup making and helping you create homemade soup you’ll be proud to serve your friends and family. These tools will help you transform fresh, high-quality ingredients into fine, sumptuous soups.
Soup Making Tools to Bring Your Soups to Life
Soup making is an art. And just as traditional artists require specific tools and materials to bring about their creations, you as a soup maker will also require specific tools to bring your art to life.
1. Cutting Boards Make Food Preparation Easier and Safer
The first of our six simple tools to make soup is the cutting board.
Cutting boards are important soup making tools because they help you work more safely with your knife. They are designed to protect you and your kitchen surfaces from knife cuts.
Although produced from a variety of materials, wood provides one of the softest and most desirable cutting surfaces. By cutting on a wooden surface, your knife will stay sharp longer, and the blade is less likely to slip and cause you injury. Many cooks also find that cutting on wood delivers the most pleasing sound to the ear.
One of the downsides to wooden and bamboo boards is that they are the most difficult to sanitize and can require occasional maintenance.
On the other hand, plastic cutting boards are dishwasher-safe and are recommended when it comes to clean up after raw meat preparation.
Another option is cutting boards made of glass. While these can be attractive, they are also damaging to sharp knife blades.
We’ve discussed types of cutting boards and now comes the tool to do the cutting.
2. Chop and Mince like a Pro with a Chef's Knife
Second of the six simple tools to make soup is a chef’s knife.
A chef’s knife could easily become one of your favorite soup making tools. Not only is it good for cutting meat and slicing carrots and other vegetables, its wide blade makes peeling garlic skin easy. It also helps you gather and transfer what you’ve chopped easy and efficient.
When shopping for a chef’s knife, look for one with an 8-inch high-carbon, stainless-steel blade. A good blade will be thin and gently curve to a tapered point.
The curved edge will help you use the rocking motion employed by chefs when they mince and chop. And its tapered point is useful for piercing squash and other foods with thick skins.
One more thing – try grasping different handles and select the one with the most comfortable fit for your hand,
3. Slow Cookers Simmer the Soup While You're Away
We’re looking at six simple tools to make soup. Third on our list is slow cookers.
Sure, you can prepare soup in a Dutch oven or stock pot, but since most of my recipes are for the slow cooker, it makes sense to include here.
Slow cooker soup usually takes between 10 and 20 minutes to prep and then it simmers while you’re doing other things.
This is the least simple tool of the six. Slow cookers are available in different sizes and an array of features which can make the purchase of one less than one-size-fits all.
For more information about slow cookers, I have a
4. Fine-Mesh Sieve Helps Make Light Work of Various Soup Prep Steps
Fine-mesh sieves are fourth on our list of six simple tools to make soup.
A good sieve or strainer is helpful for draining and rinsing ingredients such as canned beans. It also allows you to easily separate the rich, flavorful stock from the spent ingredients which helped create it. You’ll likely find many uses for a fine-mesh sieve, but these are just a few.
What should you look for in a fine-mesh sieve? The recommended choice is one that is dishwasher-safe, heavy-gauge, stainless steel and has a resting loop. Such a strainer won’t rust, stain, or discolor and will keep its shape during regular use.
The resting loop makes for a more pleasant experience as it helps keep the sieve in place, saving you time and frustration.
5. Easily Purée Soups with a Hand-Held Immersion Blender
A hand-held immersion blender is one of the six simple tools to make soup.
When making puréed soups, you can choose between a countertop blender or an immersion blender. Both devices work well, but we prefer the advantages of the hand-held immersion blender.
A countertop blender can be more effective when you want to achieve a fine, smooth purée. However, the soup will be processed in small batches and poured into a separate pan for reheating. This process takes additional time and leaves you with more dishes to clean.
On the other hand, a hand-held immersion blender allows you to blend or purée the soup directly in the same container in which it was simmered. This eliminates the need to work in small batches and makes clean-up faster and easier.
But when you want your soup a little chunkier, an immersion blender is a great choice.
6. Serve Your Soup in Style with a Ladle
Last but not least on our list of six simple tools to make soup is a ladle.
The most beautiful and best way to serve your masterpiece is with a ladle. A ladle is a large, long-handled serving spoon with a cup-shaped bowl. Yes, it helps keep your fingers away from the hot soup, but it also highlights your soup’s beautiful ingredients.
A handle that is 10-12 inches in length is typically a good choice, as it isn’t so short that it slips into the slow cooker nor so long that it’s unwieldy to work with. You may also find that a slight crook or offset of the handle from the bowl helps reduce spills.
Once you’ve considered these factors, choose the ladle that feels best in your hand and is the most appealing to your eye.
Six Simple Tools to Make Soup
This article discusses six simple tools to make soup. These starter tools will help you begin making delicious homemade soup your family will ask for again and again.
