I've got a "Food Nerd" confession to make. Maybe I am the only one who has collected a great deal of recipes for let's say, banana bread or chocolate chip cookies, only to wonder which one is the best and worth my time to make and eat. I have always wanted to make all of the different versions--test kitchen style--and then have a testing panel to vote on the best one. Ya I'm strange, I know. However, this past weekend my silly dream came true!
You see, my family is coming into town this next weekend and as the hostess, I am just so excited to cook for them. They are arriving late on a Saturday night, so I wanted an easy hot meal waiting for my tired travelers. Soup and fresh bread came to mind. When I headed over to my "Soups" Pinterest board, I noticed that I had 4 broccoli soup recipes pinned. Broccoli soup sounded really good to me and it was the winner among a list of five soup options I gave out to my family. Soon the wheels began to turn in my mind and I just knew I needed to test all of the broccoli soup recipes I had saved.
Marshall and I did this together as a sort of "date" on Sunday evening, which was just so much fun because 1) it made the work go SO much faster with two sets of hands, and 2) it gave us the chance to catch up and talk and laugh for we had been apart for 4 days due to ROTC.
Here was the line-up:
1. Broccoli Cheddar Soup from 365daysofcrockpot.com (I made it stove-top style)
2. Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup from shecookshecleans.net
3. Cheesy Broccoli Soup from weedemandreap.com
4. Broccoli Soup from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook
Instead of making a full recipe of each soup, I did a quarter of each recipe, which equaled about one full recipe total.
After making each one, we both tested the soups, one by one, and then judged based on appearance, texture, and overall flavor, using a scale of 1-5 (1=horrid and 5="I want more!"). The criteria that we kept in mind was, "which one would the family like the best?"
Here are the results:
Winner:
Total score: 27
What we loved: the creaminess from the potatoes and the chunks of broccoli
What it lacked: red pepper flakes
2nd Place:
Total Score: 22.5
What we loved: the creaminess/thickness from the potatoes and look at that cheese!
What it lacked: garlic & red pepper flakes
3rd Place:
Total Score: 19.5
What we loved: the flavor from the roasted broccoli & the red pepper flakes
What it lacked: a smooth, creamy texture. The cheese kind of clumped up
4th Place:
4. Broccoli Soup from America's Test Kitchen Cookbook
Total Score: 15
What we loved: the broccoli flavor
What it lacked: thick & creamy texture and depth of flavor
The results kind of surprised me because I thought America's Test Kitchen would win, based on the fact that they test all of their recipes numerous times before publication. However, Marshall and I just absolutely loved the creaminess of the potatoes in the Broccoli Cheddar and Cheesy Broccoli soups. The really great thing about this experiment was that we were able to learn what we loved and didn't love about each technique. When my family comes over, I will whip up the Broccoli Cheddar Soup with some added flavor boosts learned from the other recipes! Roasting the broccoli truly enhances the broccoli flavor and the red pepper flakes rounds out the soup.
Family reunions, no matter how short, are so much fun! I am looking forward to hosting everyone in my small 930 sq. ft. apartment for 24 hours and am so grateful they gave me the excuse to be a nerd in the kitchen. What a fun 2 hours it was!
What are your favorite things to do in the kitchen?
This is so awesome! I love how you made a chart and everything. I want to do this too :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you liked my recipe. It is one of my new favorites!!
I totally love that you did it as a date! How fun is that :)
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm, can't wait to try it!
ReplyDelete