by Aliza Green

Quarry Books, 2013

ISBN 978-1-59253-844-7

Paperback, 160 pages $24.99

The Soupmaker’s Kitchen is an excellent introduction of “how to” take those odds and ends in the kitchen and turn them into good stock and even better soup! It covers everything you need starting from a utensil standpoint and proceeds through various stocks and their primal ingredients and further into the world of soupmaking on a global scale. It is highly recommended for the beginning soupmaker!

The page layouts work to reinforce each of the recipes, with an interesting overview of the soup at hand, as well as step by step instruction on the actual recipe. Particularly helpful are well placed Soupmaker Tips that provide more information beyond the basic recipe. There are colorful representations of the finished product to offer further encouragement, and overall, the approach is one of making the process approachable and worthy of accomplishment.

There are recipes as simple as basic vegetable stock and as complex as Vietnamese Pho. Ms. Green takes great pains to anticipate the novice questions and provide clear direction along the way. The book ending Appendix further offers techniques in making the most of your ingredients and kitchen savvy approaches to saving time and effort. All in all, this is a wonderful introduction to the art of soupmaking, perfect for the beginner and enriching for the experienced.

--Reviewed by Michael Mallett