And with cold weather come the comfort foods known as soups and stews.
These two forms of food are together because they are so closely related. One person’s stew is another’s soup. One person’s soup is another’s stew.
If you visit en.wikipedia.org and look up the definition of “stew” this is what you will find:
A stew is a common food made of vegetables and meat in some sort of broth or sauce. The line between stew and soup is a fine one, but generally a stew's ingredients are cut in larger pieces, and a stew is more likely to be eaten as a main course than as a starter. But there are many exceptions - an oyster stew is more like a soup, for example. Stewing has a long tradition in cookery.For “soup”:
Soup is a savoury liquid food that is made by boiling ingredients, such as meat, vegetables and beans in stock or hot water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth...Bottom line: each method cooks solids in liquid and then both the solids and liquid are eaten.
Over the centuries, the terms gruel— a thin porridge— and potage have become separated from broth, and stock and their refinement, consommé, have all been used to describe this pot-boiling cooking method. The terms have shifted over time, but the modern definition of soup and stew were established in the eighteenth century. Soups usually are more liquid, while stews are thicker; contain more solid ingredients. Stews are cooked in covered containers for longer periods of time, at a gentle boil with less water and at a lower heat.
Traditionally, soup is classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups. The established French classification of clear soups are bouillon and consommé. Thick soups are classified depending upon the type of thickening agent used...
These ways of preparing food have a decided advantage for those among you interested in consuming fewer Calories.
The liquid in them, almost always water, helps fill you up, obviating the need to consume more calorie-containing substances for satiation.
There is no need to present any specific recipes here, only direction.
The promise is quick, easy, healthful meals.
When it comes to soups and stews, go directly to the crock pot, do not pass “Go,” do not collect $200. Follow the directions for cooking in the slow cooker that appear in the “Kitchen Basics-Cooking” chapter in The FitnessMed (tm) Guide To Healthy Eating and that is all.
As a rule of thumb, add approximately 50% more water for soup than you would for making a stew.
