Virginia · Soup
Virginia Peanut Soup
- Easy
- 45 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
Leads with richness that coats and comforts, toasted, nutty warmth throughout, with warmth in the tail.
Ingredients
- 55g butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1.5L chicken stock
- 250g smooth peanut butter
- 250ml cream
- 1 tsp celery salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt, white pepper, and cayenne
- Chopped peanuts to finish
The skills inside
Sweating aromatics: soft, never browned
The words inside
Allergen screen
Found: gluten · dairy · nuts · peanuts · celery
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Sweat the onion and celery in the butter until soft without color, 10 min. 10 min
- Stir in the flour and cook 2 min. 2 min
- Add the stock slowly, whisking, and simmer 15 min. Strain out the vegetables for the classic smooth texture. 15 min
- Whisk the peanut butter into the hot broth until fully dissolved, then add the cream.
- Season with celery salt, lemon, salt, white pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Serve dusted with chopped peanuts.
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Sweating aromatics: soft, never browned 198 recipes
- No colour anywhere: tipped under the light the pieces are translucent to pale gold, with no tan edges, no brown tips, and no browned flecks suspended in the fat.
- The pan is quiet: a low steady hiss, not a crackle. A crackle means the moisture has gone and browning has already started.
- The largest piece pressed against the side of the pan collapses without resistance and with no crunch left at its centre.
- The fat is still clear and loose in the pan and the pan floor is clean: nothing caught, nothing browned on to deglaze, because there was never any fond to build.
- It tastes sweet and mild with no raw allium bite at the back of the throat, and none of the roasted sweetness that belongs to the next technique up the heat scale.
Where it goes wrong The heat was too high and nothing covered the pan, so the pieces took colour before they softened; the finished dish carries a roasty sweetness where it wanted a clean one, and the pieces are still firm at the centre under browned edges.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Chardonnay (village Burgundy)
- Also Right
- Chenin Blanc
- From the Taps
- Bière de garde
- Zero-Proof
- Verbena iced tea
Chicken is wine’s most agreeable partner. Match the SAUCE, not the bird: cream to oak, tomato to Sangiovese’s acid, herbs to Loire whites.
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