# Soup Garnish Ideas...



## coulis-o (Jan 23, 2010)

this is something that am finding myself to be stuck on ... to find different ideas for making garnishes for soups

i'd like them to be more interesting than just plain croutons or sprinklings of chopped fresh herbs and something to make the soup more interesting and presentable in favour of impression


for certain vegetable soups i like to make deep fried garnishes of vegetables in batter for example i would take little florets of broccoli/cauliflower and dip them in a batter of (soda water, self raising flower, seasoning, and some chopped herbs such as parsley to add some colour), deep fry them individually and use them to garnish the soup with, the good thing about the batter is that it enables the florets to float on top of the soup without sinking. even deep fried diced vegetables such as Carrots, parsnips, Celariac will be good too. 

have thought about maybe using a Chiffonade of leafy vegetables such as Cabbage or lettuce; or crispy deep fried Julienne of leek; or fried matchstick root vegetables in battered clumps, or like game chips without batter

mini cheese scones is also another idea i came across to go with onion soup i think it was; also mini horseradish dumplings for a similar soup recipe.

yesterday made some awesome little choux buns with tomato puree and fresh chopped basil to go with a tomato soup i made... basically i made the choux paste as normal but before adding the eggs i mixed in a tablespoon of pureed tomatoes and fresh chopped basil.

egg royal i made recently to garnish a julienne consomme, which consisted of equal quantities of egg and milk beaten seasoned and strained then baked in dario mulds in a bain marie, left to cool and then diced into cubes.

would like to try a vegetable fritter garnish cooked like a pancake and then chopped into shapes diced or rounds


just a few ideas


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

I usually find garnishing soups to be gilding the lilly, so keep them simple and fairly unobtrusive.

For instance, with a pumpkin soup I might just float a few toasted pumpkin seeds on the surface. Just something to provide a little visual difference. 

Generally I find myself more likely to garnish cold soups than hot ones.


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## i3wine (Mar 10, 2010)

I love sliced green onions on my tomato soup...or actually on almost any dish


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## mgchef (Jul 17, 2009)

Yea, you should really keep soups simple, but still have them look nice. I'm not sure but as i recall didn't you say you were gonna try to make some crisps? Well, if you are those are great for soups. I just finished reading the French Launry cookbook and all Thomas Keller does to garnish soup is add a crisp, a few dots of balsamic glaze over a gazpacho, and all he does for his Maine lobster broth is froth it up. You really don't want to add to much to a soup. You might see some dishes in restaurants with lots of microgreens, dots of sauces etc. but when the soup comes, it should be clean and have little garnish. For example, Heston Blummenthal serves a red cabbage gazpacho with Pommery grain mustard ice cream. Look it up, and if you find an image you'll know what I mean.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I'm also on the side of lightly garnished soups.  But I could certainly see some fried wonton skins on a broth, possibly serving as a raft for a bit of shrimp, and maybe some thinly sliced jalapenos or such.  And everyone knows that the only proper garnish for a Wisconsin cheddar beer soup is popcorn!

mjb.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I like my soups simple too, I'm not a fan of too much crunch in a soup.  But I have seen fried sage leaves that are attracrive and don't deter from the soup.

The broth is my superstar.


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

I hope you find some ideas in this link. Just before the garnishes you will find a list of different soups. Just a thought......http://books.google.ca/books?id=UtA6-pyGJmMC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=soup+garnish+description&source=bl&ots=7DFUiZWGc2&sig=BNlVI_9CJAcWvT0ABwO2y5SxdjE&hl=en&ei=KB-hS_C2O8P_lge-7YXuDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=&f=false


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## coulis-o (Jan 23, 2010)

_Koukouvagia_ - have you tried Sweetcorn, Red Pepper, and Basil Soup ... as a Broth it looks good with the contrasting colours of the yellow corn, diced red pepper, and green basil leaves to garnish.

other fried herbs/leaves would work well as garnishes for other soups too such as deep fried curly parsley, basil, sage, maybe mint and some other herbs too.

also wonton as _Teamfat_ mentioned, i like the idea of a Popcorn garnish too.



petalsandcoco said:


> I hope you find some ideas in this link. Just before the garnishes you will find a list of different soups. Just a thought......http://books.google.ca/books?id=UtA6-pyGJmMC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=soup+garnish+description&source=bl&ots=7DFUiZWGc2&sig=BNlVI_9CJAcWvT0ABwO2y5SxdjE&hl=en&ei=KB-hS_C2O8P_lge-7YXuDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=&f=false


some great ideas there _Petals_ a whole chapter full plus soup recipes too thank you for the link.



KYHeirloomer said:


> For instance, with a pumpkin soup I might just float a few toasted pumpkin seeds on the surface. Just something to provide a little visual difference.


_KYH_ - i imagine some lightly toasted pumpkin or butternut squash seeds would compliment a pumpkin soup very nicely.

apart from seeds how about lightly toasted flaked almonds, chopped pecans, or sprinkled ground pine nuts .. all of which should float well on top of soup if you can find a soup to which they would compliment ...



mgchef said:


> Yea, you should really keep soups simple, but still have them look nice. I'm not sure but as i recall didn't you say you were gonna try to make some crisps? Well, if you are those are great for soups. I just finished reading the French Launry cookbook and all Thomas Keller does to garnish soup is add a crisp, a few dots of balsamic glaze over a gazpacho, and all he does for his Maine lobster broth is froth it up. You really don't want to add to much to a soup. You might see some dishes in restaurants with lots of microgreens, dots of sauces etc. but when the soup comes, it should be clean and have little garnish. For example, Heston Blummenthal serves a red cabbage gazpacho with Pommery grain mustard ice cream. Look it up, and if you find an image you'll know what I mean.


yes _mgchef_, i have mentioned crisps previously but a whole parma ham crisp or pancetta crisp sinks right into soup which doesn't befit it much as a garnish and usually serves better being on the side. maybe if the crisps were broken into small pieces and then sprinkled on top mixed through with some herbs as well, such as crispy lardons of ham with mint for Puree of Pea soup.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Various very very finey julienned vegetables to suit the soup - e.g. carrot, bell peppers, radishes, leek, spring onion.  Finely sliced cabbage deep fried looks great, like dried seaweed, say for a clam chowder.  Just make sure it's dried first.  Crushed up corn chips.  I like the effect of drops of EVOO in a rough circle too, they don't sink.  Snipped chives and other herbs also.  Sprinkling of paprika works well on to[ when using a cream or yoghurt.

Or some tempura vegetables/shrimps/whitebait I'm thinking might work and not sink - something that is related to the flavours in the soup.  Or, evil treat, really crisp pork crackling.


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## mgchef (Jul 17, 2009)

You're right, I was thinking about serving the soup in a nice fancy mug, but if you serve it in a bowl, it's pretty useless. I usually serve my soup in a mug.


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## gnnairda (Aug 7, 2009)

spring roll skin sticked onto  nori ,cut into bite size chips and deep fried has the taste of the sea with a big crunch. Beet chips that is slowly dehydrated in the oven.


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