How this bitch makes soup.

*vegetarian directions at the bottom*

How to make soup like a broke ass hippy:

Day old terriyaki chicken with drippings. Into a pot.

Prime rib bones, fat pieces and a meat juice soaked potato half. Radical.

Into the pot as well.

Half an onion that was sitting on the counter, roughly chopped...in you go

The stalk of a Beech mushroom (Shimeji) for most excellent umami additives.

Some shitake mushroom stalks into the mix as well (only eat the caps, yo). Regardless, no flavor gets left behind.

....Add some thinly sliced ginger....

 ....and a piece of miscellaneous kelp

Look at that weird mess.

Top that shit off with water and bring it to a boil....then reduce to a simmer and go do something more interesting for four hours.

Four hours later. All tidbits represented have now been reduced to flavorless nothings with doo doo where their hearts should be. So strain everything (EVERYTHING, you dingus!) out of the broth and discard.

Now you have naked broth. Good. First step:

Remember the mushroom butts from earlier? Now add their torsos and heads into the broth. While the searing hot beef/chicken stock melts off their facial features....

CHOP VEGETABLES!: Napa Cabbage, snow peas, jalapenos, garlic, ginger, scallions, basil and cilantro. (If you want to make shit look all "asian" (not PC) slice it at an angle and really thin.) --->DON'T ADD THIS SHIT YET<---

There is a method to this madness.....starting now:

Add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno to the broth first.

In the meantime...

The Japanese market (Nikka) sells prime, thinly sliced beef in the freezer section between $2/$3 a package. Buy one, thaw out, and portion into bowls raw. It'll cook when you add the broth.

Toss some glass noodles into your simmering stock...for like....4 minutes....till they're done, whatever.

Ladle the cooked noodles, mushrooms, garlic, jalapeno and ginger into your bowls....

...just put it on top of the beef. Nobody cares.

Now for the vegetable part. Always add your vegetables to any soup in the order of which takes longest to cook, ending with those that cook the quickest.

 (Mushy vegetables make me cry blood and punch glass.)

 In this case the cabbage takes the longest. Go. Put it. Now.

In this case actually, the cabbage is the only veggie we need to cook. Surprise! So toss the snow peas, scallions, basil, and cilantro into each bowl.

Ladle the 'al dente' cabbage and TONS OF BROTH into your bowls.

Fuck yeah, it's tasty.

Notes:

*The stock making takes 4 hours, the soup execution itself takes about a half hour. The most labor intensive part is chopping the vegetables, so if you're a fast chopper you are so totally chillin.

*If you don't have pan drippings to start with, add the same ingredients to your choice of beef or chicken stock or both. You may want to add a few soup bones for fun and also why the fuck not? Go big or go home, and if you are making soup you are probably already at home.

Also, don't be a Lazy Logan or a Wasteful Wallace! Start saving your pan drippings, bones, and meat juice tidbits from any meat thing ever. Make haste! Refuse to waste!


VEGETARIAN DIRECTIONS!

If you're a vegetarian/vegan and would like to enjoy this delectable dish meat free, do not fret, you absolutely can! In lieu of all the meat drippings I used to make my broth, use some vegetable stock, ideally mushroom broth...

Because you want this broth packed with way too much flavor, add into your broth: onion, celery, carrot, ginger, mushroom stalks, kelp ( kombu or wakame...either will be delicious), and chopped scallions. You can chop these ingredients all sloppy cause you're just gonna strain it out later. Bring all that to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer.

Vegetarian stocks are more delicate, and it is easier to extract flavor from veggies than meat and bones, so you really only need to boil it for an hour. You can add a bit of soy sauce, miso, or sesame oil for some extra flavor. Taste the broth and see what you think. Remember, you can always add more, but you can't add less. When it tastes awesome strain out all your stock making tidbits for that clear broth look.

Then to that you can add all the veggies and noodles that I used and tofu to your liking, or anything you want. Be creative! It's your soup!