Autumn Soup

Autumn soup time is arriving. Camping in the fall has
it’s own challenges, one of which is the need for more
hearty food. Soups really fit the bill: they are filling, warming, and the epitome of comfort food. What’s more, they
are easy camping recipes to make. So it always surprises
me how few campers bother.

There’s nothing, after a day of outdoor activity this time of year, quite like a bowl of soup. Given the crisp days of fall, an autumn soup fills more than the body, it nourishes the soul.

Many campers suffer from the delusion, though, that autumn soup recipes are complicated and time consuming. In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. It often amuses me to find that the same camp cook who’ll spend an hour or two making a stew ignores soups, when they are, at base, the same kind of dish. A soup is nothing more than a thin stew (or, if you prefer, a stew is a thick soup).

And the fact is, most soups are either quick to make, or are time consuming only in the sense that they have to simmer for awhile. But there’s nothing wrong with doing other things while the soup bubbles in the pot. You can, for instance, put the autumn soup up to simmer while you work on the main meal, or fiddle with your gear, or even take a short walk.

Hearty soups, the kind you’ll most likely appreciate this time of year, can use the same ingredients as a stew. But, because the ingredients are, generally, cut smaller, they actually cook much more quickly. Yet they are just as filling.

There are, of course, no rules for making an autumn soup. By definition, soup is only a group of ingredients cooked in liquid. Many a soup has been made by merely tossing whatever is handy into a pot and adding water.

Are you familiar with the old story about stone soup? Three of Napoleon’s soldiers come into a poor village hungry as can be. The villages, however, have little, and don’t want to share what they have. The soldiers say, “that’s ok. All we need is a kettle and some stones.” The villages are intrigued, of course, and provide what’s needed. The soldiers proceed to heat some water in the pot, and add three largish stones.

As the stones simmer they talk among themselves. “Stone soup is good by itself,” one of them says, “but is really improved with a carrot or two.” Low and behold, one of the villages discovers that she does, indeed, have a couple of carrots down in the root cellar. And so it goes. Half a head of cabbage appears, in due course. And a couple of potatoes. And a turnip or three. Soon enough there’s a pot of vegetable soup, big enough to feed the whole village. And it was made with only a pot of water and three stones.

Alfresco soup recipes, like stone soup, or those merely combining leftovers with liquid, probably are the most common in camp. Still and all, there are many more precise autumn soup recipes. But, as with any other cooking, there’s no need to strictly adhere to the ingredients or amounts. Add or subtract ingredients as you will, or substitute one for another. There are a couple of techniques and methods to keep in mind, however.

The liquid is the heart of any autumn soup. But you’re not locked in to what the recipe says. Many soup recipes, for instance, specify chicken stock. If you have it, that’s fine. If not, a different stock or even plain water will serve just as well most of the time. I often find myself adding tomato juice as the liquid, for an additional layer of flavor.

I’m a big believer, too, in sautéing ingredients before adding liquid. Aromatics like onions, carrots, and celery particularly benefit from such treatment, as do most animal proteins. Many soup recipes call for pureeing as a final step. If you don’t have a food processor in camp, try forcing the ingredients through a strainer instead, or just mash them with a fork. Is even that too much trouble for you? Then just skip that step, and serve a more rustic soup.

One reason for pureeing is to create a more hearty, stick-to-the-ribs consistency. But you achieve the same end merely by cooking down the soup a bit longer. Overdo this and you’ll have a stew instead of an autumn soup. But do you really care? The idea is to create a good tasting meal, and what you call it is irrelevant.

Here are a few autumn soup recipes to get you started:

Lima Bean & Sausage Soup

2 cups dry lima beans (or substitute canned)
½ lb bulk sausage meat
2 leeks, sliced thin
2 talks celery, chopped
2 tbls flour
4 potatoes, peeled & sliced
Salt & pepper to taste


Soak beans overnight. Drain and cover with new water. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, covered, until tender, about 1 ½ hours. Drain beans, reserving the liquid, and return to kettle.

As beans cook, fry the sausage in a skillet. Remove meat and set aside, leaving one tablespoon fat in the pan. Sauté leeks and celery in that pan until tender. Sprinkle with flour and stir until blended.

In a separate pan, boil potatoes in water to cover until tender. Drain. Slowly add ½ cup hot bean liquid to flour mixture and stir until smooth. Add mixture to kettle along with potatoes and sausage. Heat thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. If soup is too thick, add additional bean liquid to achieve desired consistency.

Squash & Corn Chowder

1 butternut squash about 1 ½ lbs
1 heaping cup chopped onions
2 medium potatoes, diced
2 tbls butter
2 bay leaves
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried savory
3 ears corn, scrapped and kernels cooked
1 cup milk
3-4 drops hot sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
Water or stock as required

Peel, deseed, and dice the squash.

Put the squash, potatoes and onions in a large pot. Add water or stock to one inch below the level of the veggies. Bring to boil, add butter, bay leaves, thyme and savory. Cover and simmer over low heat until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

Scoop out two heaping cups of solid ingredients, mash them well, and return to pot. Add the cooked corn kernels and enough milk to achieve the desired consistency. Season to taste and simmer over very low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Kohlrabi Soup

1 chicken, cut up (or substitute thighs)
4-6 kohlrabi
1 ¼ tsp salt
2 tbls chopped parsley
4 tbls butter
3 tbls flour
2 egg yolks
½ cup cream

Cook chicken for 30 minutes in salted water to cover. Peel the kohlrabi and cut into julienne strips. Add to the chicken with the sale and continue cooking until chicken and kohlrabi are tender, about another 25-30 minutes.

Remove chicken and kohlrabi and set them aside separately. Defat the broth. In a small skillet, wilt the parsley in butter, add the flour and blend. Stir in 1 cup of the soup and continue cooking until thick and smooth. Thin with remaining soup.

Remove chicken from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return chicken and kohlrabi to soup and heat to boiling. Mix the egg yolks with the cream; temper mixture with a little hot soup, and stir into the pot.