Great Homemade Soups: A Cook’s Collection By Paul Gayler

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One of the things I most enjoy cooking is soups and sauces. It is amazing to me how something so simple can really be amazingly filling and so rich in flavor. I was very happy to review the book, Great Homemade Soups: A Cook’s Collection by Paul Gayler as I am always on the hunt for new ideas when it comes to soups making. My husband has been a great guinea pig over the years at my soup attempts.

When I attended culinary arts school, I excelled at soup making. It was amazingly easy for me and I was a bit surprised that I enjoyed the art of a saucier so much. I have a great respect for any chef that creates works of art through soup making and opened the book to find I was not disappointed.

The Good:

Mr. Gayler has the book broken down into categories of types of soups such as “Natural broths and Consommes” and “Smooth and Creamy”. I thought this was a great way to break down soups as most people have a favorite style of soup. I, myself, am more of a cream soup gal and my husband, well, he likes them all. This made the book extremely well organized and easy to find the perfect recipe for your mood. I enjoyed the chapter, “About Soups”. It went into depth on garnishments, why soups are classified the way they are and the kind of special equipment you should have if planning to prepare soups. I felt the book was well written because it included many beautiful photographs as well as a lot of great information for the home cook on preparing soups.

The Bad:

Many of the soups included had some complex ingredients that may be hard for the average home cook to find or afford. I felt the book could have contained some more basic soup recipes for beginners. Overall, this book was well thought out and planned, however.

I love how well versed the author is in the art of soup making and I look forward to giving more of his recipes a spin in my own kitchen.