Lobster Bob and The Tails were a rockabilly band out of Portland, Maine that broke up in the 60s but got together for another shot at stardom with a Bisque-O album in the 70s. It didn't pan out, and they returned to their lives, wives, and lobster pots.

In keeping with my notion of food holidays, Valentines Day comes hard on the heels of Super Bowl Sunday, which may be because it takes about a week for guys to realize they’ve been neglecting their gals during the entire football season. Of course, if that’s the way it’s been, a fancy dinner probably won’t put you back in her good graces, but it’s a start. Especially if you make a fancy lobster bisque like this.

First off, I did some research to see what I could steal. Here are some of the more promising links I found. Continue reading →

Clove (Source DiscountPosterSale.Com - click on image for their page)

Barb’s one of my “soup testers” and decided to resouprocate after receiving her sample of my Super Bowl 45 Chili.

Hers is a totally different animal, but a wonderful dish, and easy to prepare. I never would have thought to use cumin, cloves, and oregano together, but the result is a definite winner.

Thanks Barb!

White Chili

Barb says: Over the past 18 years I have only once actually found and used a Poblano chili in this recipe. My common substitutions: more green chilis; OR about a quarter of a fresh jalapeno chili, chopped fine; OR more hot sauce; OR use part of an Anaheim pepper; OR ignore the ingredient altogether. 😉 Continue reading →

If you hunt around, you can find pretty good deals on chicken broth or stock, or you can find yourself paying $4 a pint. Since one of soup’s virtues is its economy, and since chicken stock, or broth, is key to over half the soups I make, keeping the price of stock down as much as possible is a priority.

So, your best option would be:

A)      Clip coupons
B)      Watch the shelves for sales
C)      Use concentrated bases
D)     Make our own
E)      All of the above

I’m a fan of E) All of the above, but D) Make our own has a lot going for it. If we weren’t doing this for the fun of it, as well as economy, C) concentrated bases would probably edge it out price wise, but for quality, it’s hard to beat store bought. Or is it?

To find out, today’s soup is Chicken Noodle, by way of some stock experiments. Continue reading →

One of the things I love about this soup is that it’s pureed with my hand blender, then put through a sieve to strain it, so you get the smooth bisque you’re looking for. There’s something about a uniform texture to soup that I really like. Probably because it promises that every spoon will be as good as the one before it, and with a rich soup like this, that’s a really good thing to look forward to. Continue reading →