January Soup
Don D
9,834 Posts
This soup is named appropriately because I make it about mid-January of each year; however, you can name it anything you like and save up the ingredients using your own random months.
January Soup is typically a conglomeration of things I’ve saved in the freezer September through December of the previous year. I’ll list the things I save and you can substitute your own if you have objections to some of mine. I absolutely will not use raw or boiled okra as it is slimy and I’ve never known a reason to eat slimy things. (Raw oysters are in their own category.)
Whole hambone or hock
2 cups diced fried turkey white meat or smoked turkey breast
2 cups diced smoked chicken white meat
2 cups diced venison (uncooked)
Salt
Pepper
3 cloves garlic, knifesmashed and peeled
2 16 oz. bags frozen soup or gumbo vegetables
Several freezer bags or plastic storage bowls of home-rendered chicken broth
Whole onion, chopped
2 cans baby new potatoes (you choose size)
4 or 5 long celery stalks, skint and diced
4 qts. water
teaspoon Lemon Pepper
teaspoon Tony’s Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
1 can tomato paste (you choose size)
Using a large soup pot (stainless or cast iron) with lid, place all but frozen soup vegetables, potatoes, and cornstarch in pot. Bring to rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cover. If you freeze your liquid in a plastic bag laid flat, it will thaw in the stated simmering process.
Salt, pepper and flour venison cubes. Add six tablespoons Crisco to cast iron skillet and brown venison. When browned to your satisfaction, add venison and Crisco to soup pot, stir and return to simmer.
Simmer mixture 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if consistency suggests.
Add frozen soup vegetables, potatoes and corn starch. Stir well.
Cover and return to simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Somewhere during this process, if you don’t know how, ask your wife or some Southern girl to make a skillet of cornbread.
After simmering, ladle up your soup and enjoy with crackers or cornbread. Also, there’s a Southern rule that you must butter crackers on the salted side.
Remember that the most important thing about January Soup is that its contents are limited only by your imagination. The fun part is adding to your freezer over time and labeling everything “January Soup. Do Not Touch!”
The beauty of January Soup is that it’s composed mostly of great dishes you labored over and saved in the early, cool months. When the steam rises and the aroma permeates your kitchen, you will recall each of those cookings.
I suppose this is sorta like what Merle Haggard calls “Rainbow Stew”-- only “January Soup” takes a more conscious effort to save your ingredients and plan.
January Soup is typically a conglomeration of things I’ve saved in the freezer September through December of the previous year. I’ll list the things I save and you can substitute your own if you have objections to some of mine. I absolutely will not use raw or boiled okra as it is slimy and I’ve never known a reason to eat slimy things. (Raw oysters are in their own category.)
Whole hambone or hock
2 cups diced fried turkey white meat or smoked turkey breast
2 cups diced smoked chicken white meat
2 cups diced venison (uncooked)
Salt
Pepper
3 cloves garlic, knifesmashed and peeled
2 16 oz. bags frozen soup or gumbo vegetables
Several freezer bags or plastic storage bowls of home-rendered chicken broth
Whole onion, chopped
2 cans baby new potatoes (you choose size)
4 or 5 long celery stalks, skint and diced
4 qts. water
teaspoon Lemon Pepper
teaspoon Tony’s Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
teaspoon hot sauce (optional)
1 can tomato paste (you choose size)
Using a large soup pot (stainless or cast iron) with lid, place all but frozen soup vegetables, potatoes, and cornstarch in pot. Bring to rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cover. If you freeze your liquid in a plastic bag laid flat, it will thaw in the stated simmering process.
Salt, pepper and flour venison cubes. Add six tablespoons Crisco to cast iron skillet and brown venison. When browned to your satisfaction, add venison and Crisco to soup pot, stir and return to simmer.
Simmer mixture 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if consistency suggests.
Add frozen soup vegetables, potatoes and corn starch. Stir well.
Cover and return to simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Somewhere during this process, if you don’t know how, ask your wife or some Southern girl to make a skillet of cornbread.
After simmering, ladle up your soup and enjoy with crackers or cornbread. Also, there’s a Southern rule that you must butter crackers on the salted side.
Remember that the most important thing about January Soup is that its contents are limited only by your imagination. The fun part is adding to your freezer over time and labeling everything “January Soup. Do Not Touch!”
The beauty of January Soup is that it’s composed mostly of great dishes you labored over and saved in the early, cool months. When the steam rises and the aroma permeates your kitchen, you will recall each of those cookings.
I suppose this is sorta like what Merle Haggard calls “Rainbow Stew”-- only “January Soup” takes a more conscious effort to save your ingredients and plan.
Comments
Forgive me if this is obvious, but what is Tony's seasoning?
Wonder what a little bit of Old Bay would do to the taste of January Soup? Speaking of which, I may try something here and add crab meat to the mix..............
Gene
here. Of course, reading this makes me not only more hungry but also a bit homesick now. I knew what you meant by Tony's. I went to high school with the guy (Reese Williams) who makes Cajun Injector. If you haven't tried this, try the Rosemary/Garlic Sauce in steaks. Umm-Umm-good!
>here. Of course, reading this makes me not only
>more hungry but also a bit homesick now. I knew
>what you meant by Tony's. I went to high school
>with the guy (Reese Williams) who makes Cajun
>Injector. If you haven't tried this, try the
>Rosemary/Garlic Sauce in steaks. Umm-Umm-good!
No joke?! You went to school with this guy? He's surely a multi millionnaire by now. Tony's line of products is excellent, and simple. I always use the garlic/butter to inject turkeys and chickens but will look for the one you mentioned.
**When we do for others what they should do for themselves, we disempower them.**