Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe

Run out of canned soup or just run out of time to prepare dinner? Let’s make cream of mushroom soup better than a beginner!

It seems that further we go down on the road of civilization, less we can trust the instincts we developed to get there, or so it seems when we are advised to listen to our body, to pick the right food for us.

There are skinny ones that no matter what they eat or how much they eat (or so it appears from the outside), they stay slim. The rest of us are left to struggle with our genetics in an unfair battle where we can only lose.

A couple of thousands years ago those with the genes that govern appetite and make people stop eating would have serious trouble fattening up for the winter holiday. Nowadays though, when food is abundant, and obesity kills more people than it saves, the skinny genetic comes out with a clear advantage.

Maybe, in a couple of hundred years, many of the people will have such genes already, but until then we have rely on our stomach rings, fat reduction and -what’s hardest- our willpower. If we are lucky enough then science will come to our rescue and soon release a pill that targets those hormones that make us hungry or full, and saves us from our eternal cravings for more.

Until then we must manage it on our own by getting in terms with our survival instincts.

Luckily, most of us have a clever thing, called Neocortex that can think ahead, figure out future scenarios and lay an action plan with various outcomes. Once we are able to tap into this ability, we don’t need to rely on our quickly waning willpower to resist the temptation of steaming chocolate chips cookies, cupcakes or chocolate braided bread because there will be none.

The key to self-control is the understanding of its underlying mechanics. Similarly, as we can’t stop water once it breaks through a dam devouring everything in its way, we can’t rein our instincts once freed either. As we can control the amount of water a dam releases to harness its energy, we can smooth out our impulses with careful planning.

Unfortunately, our modern world doesn’t really support this planning ahead notion of ours. In fact, many things in our life now, based on the impulses we have from popcorn buying in the movie theater, through grocery shopping at the petrol station to the cheap size upgrades at fast food restaurants.

Many of us got used to impulse buying so much that we can’t bother to plan ahead anymore, even at home. We decide what to eat when we are hungry, which is why fast-food restaurant, home delivery and ready-made food options occupy the top spots on our preference list.

Curiously, we don’t really like to be reminded of our laziness though, otherwise we would all be happy having cake mixes with eggs. When cake mixes were lunched, a couple of decades earlier, housewives didn’t feel the cakes of their own and sales lagged.

Once one of the companies figured out that if they require the cooks to add fresh egg to the mix instead of including dried ones, people will feel they are contributing something to the cake. Once housewives felt the cake of their own, sales took off and since then we have cake mixes everywhere we go.

Cream of mushroom soup didn’t have to go through such hurdles to be popular because we didn’t even know that something better is even existed before. Sure, the French and Italians knew about it, and they have been cooking it for centuries, but most of us have first encountered mushroom soup in a can and even then, as an ingredient.

Green bean casserole for Thanksgiving or tuna pasta when we feel like cooking something but not really so, would all be non-existent without a can of mushroom soup. Yet, this indispensable ingredient can just as quickly be made from fresh ingredients as the pasta or vegetables gets ready to be served.

The only thing we must think about is having the ingredients we need but if we use our neocortex to think ahead of our instincts, keep such things in our mind should be a piece of cake or soup.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon / 30g Butter
1 piece / 150g Onion (diced)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
1 teaspoon / 0.5g Black pepper
2 cloves / 3g Garlic (diced)
1 lb / 500g Mushrooms
½ cup / 100ml Dry white wine (optional)
2 cups / 700ml Water
¾ cup / 200ml Sour cream

How to make Cream of mushroom soup

Melt butter then saute diced onion and salt on high heat until glassy / translucent look, about 3 – 5 minutes.
Add diced garlic, black pepper and sliced mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms are collapsed and browned, about 5 minutes.
Stir in optional wine then cook away half of it, for about 5 minutes. Add water.
With and immersion blender puree the soup, then bring it to boil with the lid on.
Remove from heat, mix in sour cream. For serving make croutons or as an even better low carb option, saute mushrooms with garlic and parsley, it’s a real treat!