Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of mushroom soup is simply amazing when made from scratch. It is incredible how many recipes call for the use of cream of mushroom soup. I personally love it and wanted to share.
The other day I was looking through some culinary school recipes and was reminded of this recipe. The day we made it in class it was like no one had ever experienced it before.
This recipe does not take long to make and keeps nicely in the refrigerator. Freezes very easily, just add a little water before freezing. When you pull the cream of mushroom out of the freezer for use, if the consistency is a little loose after thawing out, place the cream of mushroom soup in a pot and cook on the stovetop on medium heat. The heat will cause the soup to reduce a little and that will tighten up the soup.
How Many Kind of Mushrooms Do You Believe Exists?
The answer is over 10,000 mushrooms, and it is believed there are many many more.
In the recipe, I used Cremini mushrooms. They look like this
Cremini mushrooms are high-quality fungus among us ?
Cremini mushroom is the smaller sibling of the larger mushroom, Portobello. Seen in the photo below.
Both the Cremini and the Portobello mushrooms have a deep meaty flavor profile that is often used in vegetarian / vegan recipes as a meat substitute.
If you would like to know more about edible mushrooms visit this link. ?
Watch Our How-To Video:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 2 cups Chopped Mushrooms / crimini mushrooms have more flavor than white mushrooms
- 5 tbps Butter
- 3 tbps All Purpose Flour
- 3 tbps Chopped Shallot
- 8 oz Heavy Cream or Half & Half
- 1 tbps Fresh Thyme or ¾ tablespoon dried thyme / Rub dry herbs in your hands to release the natural oils
- 32 oz Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- pinch Black or White Pepper
- 1 splash Sherry Wine or Sherry Vinegar / optional
Instructions
Making the Soup
- First, begin by washing & rinsing the mushrooms under cold water to remove any dirt. Next, chop up the mushrooms, they will end up in a blender so the way they look isn't important. Just make sure you chop them up to medium pieces.
- In a medium pot, add 1 tbsp of butter, melt the butter, then add all of the shallots (3 tbsp(. Sweat the shallots for 2 - 3 minutes over medium heat. At this point add in a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt to begin developing flavor.
- After the shallots have cooked a few minutes then add in the chopped mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are lightly browned add a splash of sherry wine or vinegar ( 1 to 2 teaspoons/ optional). Cook off the raw vinegar. Once cooked off add in the rest of the butter and melt. (3 tablespoons)
- The ROUX: Add in the flour. 3 tablespoons to the mushrooms and combine and cook off the raw flour. 90 seconds
- Moving on, add the chicken stock over medium-high heat. The soup will begin to thicken. You can add in more chicken stock if you believe it is needed to control the thickness. The longer the soup cooks the tighter/thicker the soup will become. Then add the fresh thyme, reduce the temperature to medium-low and simmer. Cook the cook for a few minutes to develop the flavor. (5 mins or more) Low heat...Transfer the soup base to a blender. Turn on the blender and while blending add in the heavy cream or Half & Half.
- The amount of heavy cream or half & half will depend on how thick you want your soup. If you feel like you added too much turn up the heat and reduce the soup some. The soup will thicken up from the high temperature Do not add more flour at this point.If you needed to, mix cornstarch and water to make a slurry, then add to the soup base.
PLATING IDEA
- Keep a few mushrooms for garnish. Make very thin slices and arrange them over the soup once you've plated. Add some fresh thyme flowers for a pop of color, plus showing which ingredients are in the soup.
Linda
I added more mushrooms but otherwise followed the recipe. Absolutely delicious. Would definitely make it again.
Steven Pennington
Glad you enjoyed it. Using good technique is the key to good food. You added more mushrooms. That real cooking. Looking at what you have and making adjustments. Thanks for the comment, Linda! I’ll give adding more mushrooms at try next time.
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Jennifer Cook
I didn’t rate this, although I am sure it is very good. I make my own mushroom soup for recipes using cornstarch because of gluten intolerance. I will take as advice the Crimini mushrooms.
Steven Pennington
Crimini mushrooms are great mushrooms and priced so well. The white button mushrooms aren’t bad, just lacking in flavor in comparison. I bet the next time you make cream of mushroom soup it possibly could be your best work. Hope so. All the best. Thanks for the comment.