Soup on the Menu

Recently, I headed to my neighborhood grocery store here in London searching for some cream of mushroom soup for a recipe. Not sure if I would find it here locally, I was pleased that I did. My quick search was very enlightening, because I discovered that London has a grand assortment of flavors, excuse me--"flavours" of soups that I had never considered.

The vegetable combinations were a bit different than we have in the US.

I don't think the US ever-so-popular Campbell's brand is making a Cream of Parsnip,

nor a Scotch Broth, which is a barley, split pea, and vegetable medley.

Actually Root Vegetable and Butternut Squash sounds pretty yummy.

Would Carrot and Coriander be your first choice?

How about Courgette (zucchini) and Gruyere, Broccoli and Stilton (a popular cheese here in the UK) or Cullen Skink? What is Cullen Skink, you might ask? Researched it for you--it's a haddock, onion and potato broth named for the town of Cullen in NE Scotland where it originated.

You might like a hot bowl of Mulligatawny, which literally means "pepper water," and has an Anglo-Indian origin. It's a curry flavored soup with vegetables, rice, sour cream and often chicken. 

I think I'm passing on the Slow Cooked Oxtail, and the Highland Game. The Oxtail soup would include oxtails, of course, red wine and vegetables. I went straight to the Baxter Soup Company website for their scoop on the Highland Game soup and here's their take on it: The intense flavour of the Highland Estate venison is complimented by the rich and deep flavours of hare, woodpigeon, pheasant and game stock, all enriched with a generous splash of sherry. 

 Any takers?

Baxters also makes their version of Cock-a-Leekie soup. This soup actually dates from the 16th century and sounds intriguing: chicken, leeks and prunes. Fancy a bowl full?

And I have to hand it to the Heinz company here for their take on convenience. Squeeze and Stir soup--all you add is your own boiling water!

See, that's what makes life in London so interesting--an education even when you head to the grocery store. So which one do you think you'd like to dish up for your dinner?

Full disclosure here: if you go to Waitrose, my grocery store, think twice before photographing the soups--it makes them very nervous!