In a couple of weeks or so, there is supposedly going to be a soup contest at a bar owned by a friend of mine. He has had chili contests the last two years, and picking a winner has caused more trouble than it's worth! There's about 7 of us that make up two of the best chili teams in the region, and we would enter at least 3 or 4 of the chilis in the contest. Picking the winning chili almost always led to hard feelings among good friends, so a soup contest was proposed! Soups can be so different from each other, a winner would be easier(and safer!) to pick. Now, what soup should I make? It has to be something never seen before, tasty to a less than sophisicated(working mans' bar in a not-so-hot neighborhood!)palate. What would everybody eat there normally? A cheeseburger! Now how to turn it into a tasty soup?
Typical Cheesburger ingredients:
1. Ground beef (yup!)
2. Cheese- a sauce? (YO!)
3. Catsup (How about tomato paste-yeah!)
4. Onions (You bet!)
5. Bacon (I would!)
6. Tomato (Diced canned ones would work!)
7. Pickle (Not in soup, ever!)
8. Lettuce (No!)
9. Mayo (Hell, no!)
Typical Soup ingredients:
1. Broth (Beef, for sure!)
2. Filler- Potato or pasta (Macaroni!)
Toppings:
1. Shredded aged sharp cheddar (I'm gonna!)
2. Croutons (Absolutely!)
Armed with what I reasoned would be harmonious ingredients, I went about creating the soup. No recipe to go by, some things were do-overs! Bacon fried, put aside to be cut into bite sized pcs. Onions sauteed in bacon grease- came out limp, greasy and tasteless. Used fresh cut onion thrown into the broth. Fried ground beef that were shaped into mini burgers(smaller next time!)Everthing but the cheese sauce, macaroni, and toppings went into a crock pot on high for 3 hrs. Added the cheese sauce, cooked and added the macaroni- then allowed to heat back up to simmer. Topped with cheese and croutons, and this stuff was plain food eating at its' best! Very filling, as you can imagine!
Anyone out there have a better name than Mac-n-Cheesburger Soup? And "Liquid Heart Attack" is already taken....
