Dutch Oven Soups

Using a Dutch oven to cook soup is a very smart idea. The pots are large and hold heat for a long time. Our cookbook had three different recipes and we enjoyed each one of them. Technically I guess these are more directions than specific recipes, but that just means you can easily adapt them to your family's tastes and preferences.

Dutch Oven Chicken Noodle Soup

Mr. Ririe's recipe called for 1 tablespoon of chicken base per person, plus 1 tablespoon each of black pepper, salt, garlic salt, seasoning salt, and parsley. That seemed an awful lot for me, but Mr. Follow-The-Rules wanted to try it that way anyway. In addition, the recipe stated to use 1 cup of vegetables (celery, onions, and carrots) per person, plus 1/2 cup cooked chicken per person and 2 cups noodles for the pot. Oh, and one cup of water per person, plus one for the pot. Put everything in the Dutch oven and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Aren't those interesting instructions?

So, the first bowlful was super, super salty, but I was able to water it down a bit and the leftovers were palatable.

Dutch Oven Vegetable Beef Soup

This recipe had similar directions, just beef instead of chicken, optional noodles, and the vegetable list included celery, onions, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini and potatoes.

We cut down on the amount of seasonings and quite enjoyed this soup. One variation was to puree the vegetables before adding the beef and optional noodles; both variations were good. Delicious!

Dutch Oven Chicken Supreme Soup

The main difference in this soup was starting with a whole chicken instead of already cooked chicken. A three-pound fryer yields 5 cups of cooked meat. By the time we made this, we had discovered that 1 teaspoon of each seasoning - chicken base, parsley, garlic salt, seasoning salt, regular salt and black pepper - for a pot to serve six - works pretty well. The one cup of vegetables per person included carrots, potatoes, celery and onions. Once again, pureeing the vegetables before adding the meat back in makes a very delicious soup.