Has anyone made a good cream of mushroom soup?

[Chris]

I cooked some chicken earlier today, and I always keep the leftover broth and add it back in the next time. I let it cool, skim off the fat, and then freeze it. After about three times of this, the resulting broth is wonderful.

Today was that third time, and I was trying to decide what I could do with the broth (this one was especially tasty, and I kept thinking about chicken and dumplings -- NO!!!). Anyway, since I had some fresh mushrooms, I thought it might be nice to make a cream of mushroom soup. I sauteed the sliced and chopped mushrooms in butter, added the chicken broth and brought it to a boil, and then the heavy cream and some pepper. I took about 1/4 of the mixture and whirled it in the blender, so that the mushroom taste would be evident throughout the liquid. The soup was really quite tasty, but was awfully thin, since I couldn't use the usual small amount of flour for a roux at the start. Any suggestions? I'd love to make this again, but would like it to be a bit thicker next time.

[loosinit]

Since mushrooms have and earthy nutty flavor to begin with maybe flax ground extra fine. Don't know if it will work but should thicken it fine.

[ana]

what about some ground psyllium? I love mushroom soup let me know if you find something that works for a thickening agent.

[pammie]

Chris, I love cream of mushroom soup and make it quite often myself.
I sautee the mushroom is a bit of butter and than add in just a bit (a tablespoon or so) of soy flour. It thickens up and works great ifyou ask me :joy

[susies1955]

I haven't tried this recipe but have printed it out. It is a recipe from this great gals site and her name is LindaSue. I've tried four of her recipes so far and they are AWESOME. Seriously, you will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her recipes.
Susie who is pretty new here~!

DOTTIE'S CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP FOR RECIPES
8 small mushrooms, chopped, 3 ounces
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tablespoons onion, chopped, about 1 ounce
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper, to taste
Xanthan gum, optional*

In a medium skillet, sauté the mushrooms, celery and onion in the butter until soft. Add the broth; bring to a boil. Let liquid reduce by half, then stir in the cream. Bring back to a boil. Turn down heat a bit and cook until reduced and thickened, stirring frequently and watching closely so it doesn't boil over. Season to taste.

Makes about 1 cup

Per batch: 873 Calories; 90g Fat; 8g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 9g Net Carbs

This makes a very rich, tasty sauce that would be nice over all kinds of things, like chicken, meatballs, fish, vegetables etc. After adding the cream, make sure you simmer it long enough so that the cream is no longer white and takes on the light brownish color of the mushrooms. If you can afford the carbs, a few more mushrooms would be even better.

* If you have some xanthan gum on hand, you can very lightly sprinkle a little over the soup just as it starts to thicken and quickly stir it in, adding a little more if needed until the soup gets thick to your liking. You may need to let it stand a minute to let the xanthan gum start to work before adding more. I found that this addition helps to stabilize the soup. Another benefit of adding the thickener is that you won't have to reduce the broth and cream quite as much so you'll end up with more soup for no extra carbs.

http://users3.ev1.net/~fontlady/cream_of_mushroom_soup.html

[scott123]

A decent substitution for roux in bechamel is proving to be quite elusive.

Spudmasher tried using psyllium husks as thickener but wasn't that pleased with the results.

I've also heard that flax meal is not all that great for thickening.

Soy flour get's mixed reviews as well when used as a thickener.

Reducing cream until it gets thick isn't all that palatable.

The chicken broth you added had naturally occuring collagen (gelatin). You could augment that by either reducing it or adding a packet of powdered gelatin.

Pureed mushrooms make a good thickener. How about sauteeing/blending additional mushrooms?

Sauteed onions may not be out of place in the recipe and could be blended as well.

Xanthan, by itself can get slimy, but is okay (I think) if used in conjunction with something else.

I thickened a sausage gravy the other day with cream cheese, and although the cheese gave it a slight tanginess, it was my best cream sauce to date.

I do a mustard/wine/broth sauce that is thickened with sour cream. I think sour cream might give body without masking flavors like reduced regular cream does.

Next on my list to experiment with is whey protein. Eventually I want to play around with the other milk protein, calcium casienate. Egg protein might be interesting as well.

[ButtrShots]

I made a mushroom "sauce" for cube steaks last night by sauteing the mushrooms then stirring in some heavy cream and cream cheese. Was really good.

Kathy

[not2late]

My recipe is similar to the one Susie posted. The other veg (celery and onion) in combination with the mushrooms add enough bulk to thicken the soup nicely once you puree it in the blender. The celery and onion also helps to enhance the flavor of the soup. (A tablespoon of dry sherry doesn't hurt either--in the soup, that is, not you )

I find that the soup doesn't need gums or other thickeners--in fact it needs more broth to thin it out! I do reserve about 3 mushrooms, slice them and sautee them in olive oil to add as a garnish after the soup has been pureed. I also add a 1/2 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms (soak in a little water, scoop out the porcinis and add them to the soup, and add the soaking water to the soup because it's very flavorful).

[NulloModo]

I tend to thicken soups by simply letting them simmer longer until the liquid reduces. I would try that, try the addition of ground mushrooms, or just increase the quantitiy of heavy cream to chicken broth.

[Heidi3]

another thickener is

I have two ideas that may be used together.... I dry mushrooms (you can do it on low in the oven and it works well for mushrooms that you have purchased and are starting to dry out anyway....when they are all dried out grind them into powder in the blender put in airtight jar and store in fridg...I do this with all my mushrooms and it is a wonderful seasoning as well as a thickener (also a good addition to a a roast when sprinkled on top before roasting) my other thickener and I have posted this previously I believe is to make a sofrito ..it works wonderfully for soup...you mince onions garlic, and the flesh of a tomato...you can add a sweet red pepper until you have about 1/2 cup minced veggies for the pot of soup then you saute's slowly in plenty of oil until it is carmelized ( a nice golden brown for mushroom soup it takes a lot of patience but it is worth the slow browning). The paste will thicken most soups the with some of the dried mushroom powder into the hot to boiling stock and you have got it!!!..then add cream

so here you could do this
make the sofrito
add to the stock and couple of tbl of dried mushroom powdering to a boil and reduce to simmer
saute the mushrooms you want to use ( I love to use porcini for mushroom soup)
add to the stock
add some cream and a dash of sherry! salt and pepper and there you have it !!!!
remember the sofrito is a concentration of the veggies so it is also a concentration of the sugars/starches but you can take that into act by measuring and counting the half cup of minced veggies before cooking