LiveWorld Transcripts

Women.com presents

Barbara Kafka
Author of 'Soup – A Way of Life'

December 22, 1998

Barbara Kafka, food editor and author of ‘Soup – A Way of Life,’ shares favorite soup recipes and other holiday dishes how-to’s. Kafka discusses traditional ways to ring in the holiday season, and offers a few of favorite dessert delights as well.

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HomeArtsLive: Welcome to HomeArtsLive brought to you by The Talk City Network HomeArtsLive: (tm) and HomeArts (tm). We welcome you to chat with Food Editor and Author Barbara Kafka as she offers advice, shares stories and gives great Holiday cooking and HomeArtsLive: entertaining tips this season! Welcome Barbara!

Barbara Kafka: This is Barbara Kafka, the author of ‘Soup- A Way of Life.’ I would love to answer your questions about soup and talk about the many ways soup can gladden your life, your family, and your holidays. Here's to warm bowls, mugs, and cups of cheer.

Halbrooks Says: What's your favorite soup?

Barbara Kafka: It is very difficult for me to pick a favorite. It's like choosing ones favorite child. But the one that has the most nostalgic resonance for me is my mixed vegetable potage. It is the way I brought up my children, and now my grandchild. Of course, I have other favorites - the vegetarian borscht is a surefire winner, and I could go on and on.

Dawnccc Says: Are there any soups that would look particularly festive for this season?

Barbara Kafka: It's a good thing to remember that there's an endless variety of marvelous things that can go in soup or in stocks to make soup, from egg noodles and their filled children, such as ravioli, dumplings, won tons, and then the dumplings that float around in soup. I particularly like my mushroom dumplings. They're rather unusual and can be put in mushroom broth for a robust vegetarian dish. Any soups with these lovely baubles chasing around are festive and special. However, the carrot soup with curry is a gorgeous seasonal introduction to a meal, and for those who want to follow the Italian custom of Christmas Eve fish meals - there is marvelous Portuguese cod soup with spinach and potatoes, which smells good and looks luscious. I think many of us want traditional seasonal soup. My daughter in law, Jill, adores my clear oyster soup with broth, which is a light way to start a festive meal, and the recipe is living nearby on HomeArts. Holidays often provide us as well with lots of leftovers that we might not have at another time of year. For instance, goose is a great Christmas favorite. My son in law, Richard, adores goose. And I take any bones left over and make a goose stock, and with it I make my cabbage and goose stock. It can be goose comfit or if there is actually goose left from the meal I use that instead. It freezes well, so if goose two days in a row seems like too much, you're set for another festivity.

Halbrooks Says: Should soup always have garnish? What are some of your favorite?

Barbara Kafka: I don't think that soup always needs a garnish. Many soups have lots and lots of elements in them that make them totally satisfying on their own. However, simple pureed and cream soups do well with croutons, which can be the flat Italian crostini or cubed croutons. They add crunch, and I find that there are never too many. Soups that are just shy of being enough for a meal do well with rice, or creamy polenta plopped in the middle. South American and Central Americans are happy with pickled onions, which are red and addictive. Russian soups and Ukrainian soups and Polish soups are often served with Pirogue, which can have a variety of fillings. Clear soup can be given extra fanciness by crisp puff pastry cheese straws, which are easy to make with puff pastry bought at the supermarket, or with gouge's, which are simply cheesy cream puffs. I mentioned the dumplings before, and there are marvelous meatballs that add extra zest to clear soups as well.

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