apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Tips pictured above are in bold below.

Quick Convenience

• Making homemade stock doesn't need to be an all-day affair: use your slow cooker.

• Save vegetable scraps for stock. They'll already be cut up and ready to go when you have a chicken carcass ready for the pot.

• If you're using a regular pot, a pasta strainer makes stock a lot easier.

• And when you've made that stock, freeze it in portions for easier weeknight meals.

• How to cool soup quickly, which is helpful when you want to put a fresh, hot pot of stock or soup safely into the fridge and go to bed.

Flavor

• Stir some greens into your soup: it will give easy color, flavor, and nutrition with very little work.

• Don't throw away your cheese rinds! Save them to flavor your soup.

• Also, save those tough shiitake stems. They add a lot of flavor to soups too.

• Salt as you go, tasting as you add salt and vegetables to soup.

• How to make soup from almost anything, even those old veggies in the crisper.

Texture

• Lighten soups with yogurt. It makes them cooler and creamier.

• And when using pasta, put the pasta in last of all.

• Use a slurry to thicken soup: here's how.

Presentation!

• Having a party? Here are tips on serving soup.

• Our top five simple garnishes for soups.

• Five more tips on how to do soup shots.

Do you have any favorite soup tips to save time, energy, or money... or tips to improve flavor and flair? We'd love to hear them.