For the first 31 years of my life, soup was a mystery and an afterthought. I had no idea how it was made, I rarely ate it, and when I did I only enjoyed it 25% of the time. Then, without meaning to, I became a soup master.
My definition of "mastery", when it comes to a dish, is simple: if you find yourself going to restaurants, ordering a particular dish, and thinking, "I could have made this way better at home", you've mastered that dish.
My interest in soup sprang from my attempt to eat more legumes. I'd noticed that I tended to feel much healthier - more awake, in a better mood, blessed with superior bowel function - when I was getting a good amount of my calories from legumes. But I did not enjoy eating legumes. White beans, black beans, lentils, garbanzos - I had to choke them down. Finally I thought, "Fuck it. I'll figure out how to put them in soup. That should make ingestion a little easier."
I looked up recipes. I watched videos. My first attempts were nervous. My first results were devastating. Slowly I learned what each one of my female ancestors must have known: soup is intuition.
Soup is the art of grabbing what's there - at the market, in your fridge, in your cupboard, in your spice cabinet - and turning it into something excellent.
The term "recipe" shouldn't apply to soup. The term "pattern" is more appropriate. There are patterns of white bean soups; there are patterns of potato soups; there are patterns of chicken soups; and so on. The fabric is up to you.
Once I figured this out, I started producing soups that didn't seem like they'd come from me. I made a lentil soup that was so good I wanted to cry. I made a potato soup that was better than any potato soup I'd ever been served at a restaurant. I made a white bean soup that at least equaled the white bean soups I'd been served in northwest Spain.
I tossed my concept of "mastery" around in my head. I thought, "Everyone ought to be a soup master. It's just that our generation gags down cans of Progresso and has no idea that life can be better."
With that in mind, I'll be offering several of my soup recipes (patterns, guidelines) over the next few weeks. Stay tuned, and don't take too seriously the rules that bind you.